You may wish to adapt this short activity to fill-in some extra minutes of class during the final weeks before the Christmas break.
Initially, have the students meet in pairs. Distribute a sheet of drawing paper to each pair. Make sure they also have colored markers or colored pencils.
Tell the students to share a “favorite Christmas memory” one at a time. After the first person has shared, allow the second person time to summarize the person’s story with an image, word, or design on the piece drawing paper.
Repeat the same process beginning with the second person sharing his or her favorite Christmas memory.
Periodically, use some class time in the days before Christmas to call on students to hold up the drawings and share either their own Christmas memory or the memory of their partners with the entire class.
Two Marian feast days will be celebrated by the Church in the coming days.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 commemorates that Mary, from the first moment of her conception was preserved immune from Original Sin. This also means that from the first moment of her existence Mary was full of grace, that is, free of any alienation from God caused by Original Sin.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 marks the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego in 1531 in Mexico City. Mary’s appearance was instrumental in the conversion of thousands of Native Americans.
Working individually or in small groups, have the students create presentations on one of these two feast days related to what they unearth for understanding about Mary. Allow time for two sessions for sharing their findings. Have the students use the following questions as the basis of their presentations:
How did the special date associated with this doctrine arise?
Is there a scriptural reference associated with this doctrine?
What are particular Church documents that explain this doctrine?
What does this doctrine teach us about Mary?
What does this doctrine teach us about Jesus?
What does this doctrine mean to the Church today?
What are some particular ways the Church celebrates this doctrine?
What is one additional interesting piece of information you discovered about this doctrine or about how the feast day is celebrated?
The following lesson centers around the poem "The Bethlhem Explosion" by Madeline L'Engle. The accompanying background material and lesson is taken from The Catholic Spirit: An Anthology for Discovering Faith Through Literature, Art, Film, and Music by Michel Bettgole, OSF, and James D. Childs.
Author Background
Madeleine L’Engle (1916–2007) was a prolific writer of more than sixty books in a variety of forms, including fiction, fantasy, biography, poetry, and prose. She is best known, however, for her children’s books. Her book of fantasy, A Wrinkle in Time, won the distinguished Newberry Medal for Children’s Literature. Madeleine L’Engle was a woman of profound religious faith. She felt strongly that all writers, especially Christian writers, had a vocation from God to bring hope and light into a darkened world. As she said in her book Walking on Water, the writer has a duty “to further the coming of the kingdom and to turn our feet toward home.”
Before the Reading
It is God’s will to reveal himself and his purpose for humankind. However, God has not made his revelation known all at once. He has revealed himself to humanity in stages. First he spoke to Adam and Eve, and made a covenant with them to send a Redeemer who would defeat death and sin. He then spoke to Noah and granted him dominion over all the things of the earth. Next, God spoke to Abraham and the Patriarchs and to Moses and made an everlasting covenant with the people of Israel. Finally, the Lord made himself most perfectly known through the revelation of his Son, Jesus Christ. “In times past. God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophet; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe” (Heb 1:1–2). All Salvation History leads up to the moment when Christ comes into the world as true God and true man. In her poem “The Bethlehem Explosion,” Madeleine L’Engle writes about a common experiment in a chemistry class. Because she sees the world with the eyes of faith, this common experiment becomes a sign and a metaphor for the coming of Jesus into the world.
“The Bethlehem Explosion”
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the world should be enrolled. And Joseph too went up from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child (Lk 1:1, 4–5).
The chemistry lab at school
was in an old greenhouse
surrounded by ancient live oaks
garnished with Spanish moss.
The experiment I remember best
was pouring a quart of clear fluid
into a glass jar, and dropping into it,
grain by grain, salt-sized crystals,
until they layered
like white sand on the floor of the jar.
One more grain—and suddenly—
water and crystal burst
into a living, moving pattern,
a silent, quietly violent explosion.
The teacher told us that only when
we supersaturated the solution,
would come the precipitation.
The little town
was like the glass jar in our lab.
One by one they came, grain by grain,
all those of the house of David,
like grains of sand to be counted.
The inn was full. When Joseph knocked,
his wife was already in labour; there was no room
even for compassion. Until the barn was offered.
That was the precipitating factor. A child was born,
and the pattern changed forever, the cosmos
shaken with that silent explosion.
Reading for Comprehension
1. Where was the chemistry laboratory located?
2. What does the student do with the individual grains of salt-sized crystals?
3. What is meant by “supersaturation”?
4. What happened when the final grain was dropped into the solution?
5. What is the final event that causes “the silent explosion in the cosmos” that completes God’s plan?
Reading for Understanding
What aspects of the birth of Jesus are represented in the poem by: the glass jar, the grains of crystal, the silent and violent explosion in the glass jar?
An explosion destroys the surface order of things to reveal the power that lies beneath. Read John 1:1–3. Explain how Christ’s birth reveals the dynamic love of God that was present from the beginning of creation.
God speaks to us as individuals at various stages of our life. In a gradual manner or by a sudden event, he makes himself known to us and enables us to see people, events, and God himself in a clearer way. Examine a decisive moment in your life. What did it tell you about yourself or the world? How would your life be different if that event had never occurred? How did God speak to you in this event? What was the Lord trying to tell you?
Activity
God revealed himself to Israel, his Chosen People, over a long period of time. Read the following stories from the Bible:
the creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:4–24);
the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 14);
the prophecies about the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13–53:12).
How can each of these episodes be compared to the grains of crystal described in L’Engle’s poem? Read the account of the Transfiguration found in Matthew 17:1–8. How is this manifestation of Jesus in glory another example of a “silent explosion”?
December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas. On his first journey as pope in 1979, St. John Paul II went to Mexico "to invoke on my pontificate the motherly protection and assistance of Our Lady of Guadalupe; to repeat to her with greater vigor prompted by new and immense obligations: 'Totus tuus sum ego!' (I am all yours!), and to place in her hands the future of evangelization in Latin America. He composed the following prayer for the visit. Pray it with your students by dividing the class in half to alternate each praying aloud each stanza.
O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church!, who from this place reveal your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection, hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.
Mother of Mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities and our sorrows. Grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother. We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church; hold us always with your loving hand.
Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the Bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole people of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in the faith and zealous dispensers of God’s mysteries.
Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.
Our hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the Sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul.
We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.
Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
If you can excuse the reproduction quality, here's an icebreaker idea you might use in the next couple of weeks. Design a page like this Christmas tree with several bingo items your students can sign off on. This will get them moving around the room and talking to everyone in an informal, holiday-like atmosphere. You can play for a winner (the first person who gets all the Christmas tree boxes signed) or just for fun. In either case, call on several volunteers to share remembrances of the occasions indicated by the boxes they signed.
"Hail Mary, full of grace." These words were spoken by the angel Gabriel to Marry to announce the birth of Jesus. This meditation will place your students in the role of Mary: listening to the angel, responding and trying to understand. Arrange a quiet place for prayer. Allow some time for the students to relax and focus. Then begin by reading the meditation. Pause between lines. Allow a longer time for reflection on when the words are printed in bold face. You may choose to accompany the prayer with appropriate instrumental music.
This meditation was written by Patty McCulloch and was originally published in Encountering Jesus: 20 Meditations on His Care and Compassion.
Quiet yourself.
Relax.
Feel yourself just letting go of everything.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Breath in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Let go.
Totally relax.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Imagine . . .
You are in your home.
You are a young girl.
Engaged to be married.
You are doing some housework.
Picture this in your mind.
See yourself doing chores.
Imagine your wedding.
Suddenly you feel a presence.
It is hard to describe.
You are not afraid but very calm and at peace.
Be with this feeling.
"Mary," you hear your name and look around.
You walk outside
to see who is there.
"Mary, don't be afraid."
You seem something in the yard.
Go over there.
The voice continues.
"Rejoice, O highly favored daughter.
The Lord is with you, blessed are you among women."
Listen to these words.
Repeat them in your mind.
What do they mean?
Could this voice be an angel?
You hear, "Don't be afraid, really.
You are his favorite.
You shall conceive and bear a son and give him the name Jesus.
Great will be his dignity and he will be called Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father.
He will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will be without end."
Answer, "How can this be since I do not know man?"
Hear the angel say, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."
Be with these words.
What do they mean to you?
Then the angel tells you something amazing about your older relative.
"Elizabeth, your cousin, who was thought to be sterile, has conceived in her old age."
She is not in her sixth month,
for nothing is impossible with God."
How are you feeling?
What do those last words really mean, "nothing is impossible with God?"
Respond to the angel, "I am the servant of the Lord.
Let it be done to me as you say."
Feel the angel leave you.
Repeat the angel's words to yourself.
"I am the Lord's servant.
Let it be done to me as you say."
What do these words mean for your life?
Breathe in,
let it be done.
Breathe out,
to me.
Breathe in,
let it be done.
Breathe out,
to me.
Let the words just come naturally as you continue to breathes.
Ask Jesus what meaning these words have for your own life.
Then slowly come back to this place.
What do you want to remember from this meditation?
What does God want you to remember from this meditation?
Open your eyes.
Slowly get up.
These saints have feast days in early December. You may want to give this matching assignment to individual students or to groups of four so students can pool their common knowledge. Complete the matching by working on any empty spots with the whole class or ask students to research the answers on their own. Students could also look into each of the saints, learn more about them and share their findings with their classmates.
Column 1
An appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mexico to St. Juan Diego
One of the first Jesuits who preached the Gospel to India, Ceylon, Malacca, and Japan in the sixteenth century
Born into poverty in sixteenth century Spain, this Carmelite monk was a reformer with St. Teresa of Avila. While imprisoned by his own order, he wrote beautiful mystical poetry
A fourth century pope who commissioned St. Jerome to translate the Bible into Latin
The son of wealthy Christian parents in fourth century Asia Minor. He was famous for his generosity, became a bishop and fought against Arianism
A priest who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries AD who wrote religious poetry and defended Christianity against heresies
A fourth century governor of Milan, who was popularly appointed bishop because he encouraged Christians and Arians to work together peacefully
A martyr of the third and fourth century, killed because she rejected a man who then accused her of being a Christian
Column 2
a. St. Francis Xavier (3)
b. St. John Damascene (4)
c. St. Nicholas (6)
d. St. Ambrose (7)
e. St. Damasus I (11)
f. Our Lady of Guadalupe (12)
g. St. Lucy (13)
h. St. John of the Cross (14)
Ave Maria Press editorial assistant Barbara Brutt reminds teachers of some traditional Advent ideas appropriate for classroom additions and students of all ages.
There are a few simple Advent traditions that can aid you as you seek to center yourself in remembrance of Christ’s coming.
1. An Advent Calendar
A quick internet search shows many potential calendars and the ability to find one that will perfectly fit your classroom or family. An Advent Calendar functions as a daily reminder of Christ’s coming and each wisdom shared can be carried with you throughout the day.
2. An Advent Wreath (incorporating the Christ candle and the Mary candle)
The candles of this wreath are traditionally lit on the Sundays of December leading up to Christmas day. This can easily be shared with your family, but for a classroom, the students might be encouraged to really delve into the meaning and history of this tradition.
3. A Christmas Tree
Rather than filling the tree with decorations immediately, consider leaving it empty and focus on the expectation and waiting of Christ’s coming. In the days leading up to Christmas slowly add ornaments to the tree. Meditate on St. Boniface’s words: “The fir tree is the wood of peace, the sign of an endless life with its evergreen branches. It points to heaven. It will never shelter deeds of blood, but rather be filled with loving gifts and rites of kindness.”
Many tools are available for walking into the Christmas season with Christ-focus and serenity. Don’t be afraid to brainstorm new ideas yourself for drawing those around you deeper into relationship with God and the sacredness of the season.
In addition, Ave Maria Press colleague and religious educator Jared Dees offers links to several more Advent activities at The Religion Teacher website.
We wish you and your students the blessings of the season as they celebrate the coming of our Savior in the midst of their busy academic schedules.
