In December 1531, a beautiful woman appeared to an Indigenous farmer named Juan Diego outside of Mexico City. Over the next few visits this woman, who Juan Diego eventually learned was the Virgin Mary, asked him to petition his bishop to build a church. She also told Juan Diego to bring roses to the bishop, though it was not the season for roses. When he did as she instructed and opened his tilma before the bishop the roses dropped to the floor and an image of Our Lady appeared on his cloak.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has named the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 as a day of solidarity with immigrants and refugees.
Have the students work together to print the following prayer developed by Catholic Relief Services on a large sheet of butcher paper. Pin the prayer on a wall in the classroom.
Hail Mary, Lady of Peace, we pray for the peace in our world; make us peacemakers.
Hail Mary, Friend of Common People, unite us across economic lines; together let us raise up the cause of the oppressed.
Hail Mary, Mother of Mexico, help us both appreciate Latin America’s culture and work to end its poverty.
Hail Mary, Mother of the Infant Jesus, we pray for all children who are victims of war and hunger; let us stand for them.
Hail Mary, Wife of the Carpenter, Joseph, we pray for the rights of hardworking laborers in all the world; let their dignity be recognized.
Hail Mary, Woman of All Generations, move us to speak for the elderly who lack adequate health care and shelter.
Hail Mary, Homeless Mother, we pray for those without homes; let us advocate for affordable housing.
Hail Mary, Lady of All Colors, show us how to love all people by challenging racism and discrimination.
Hail Mary, Mother of Our World, make us global citizens, working for justice and well-being in all the world.
Amen
Next, share a link to Native Land Digital. Have the students check in on the site and locate the native people that once resided on the land where their ancestors first came to this country. Provide colored markers and have the students print the name of the indigenous people from their ancestral land on the prayer poster.
When everyone has printed a place, pray the prayer together with the class.
This famous short story written by William Sydney Porter under the penname “O. Henry” was first published in one of the New York City newspapers at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is a remarkable story of unfailing love between a husband and wife, and of self-gifts, both appropriate topics for Advent and Christmas. Share this story with your students. Ask them to complete both the Comprehension and Reflection questions.
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Delia counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Delia did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”
The “Dillingham” had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Delia. Which is all very good.
Delia finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an eight dollar flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Delia, being slender, had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass, her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Delia’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Delia would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Delia’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: “Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One flight up Delia ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.”
“Will you buy my hair?” asked Delia.
“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”
Down rippled the brown cascade.
“Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.
“Give it to me quick,” said Delia.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.
She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value—the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.
When Delia reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth task.
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.
“If Jim doesn’t kill me,” she said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do—oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”
At seven o’clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.
Jim was never late. Delia doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the comer of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please God, make him think I am still pretty.”
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Delia, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
Delia wriggled off the table and went for him.
“Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again—you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”
“You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
“Cut it off and sold it,” said Delia. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I?”
Jim looked about the room curiously.
“You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
“You needn’t look for it,” said Delia. “It’s sold, I tell you—sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Delia. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year—what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
“Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs—the set of combs, side and back, that Delia had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims—just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”
And them Delia leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
“Isn’t it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
“Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ’em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.”
The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
Comprehension
How much had Jim’s salary been reduced?
What were the most precious possessions of the married couple?
How much was the wife paid for the sale of her hair?
What did the wife do with the money she received for her hair?
Why was the husband dumbfounded when he saw his Christmas gift—the platinum chain for his watch?
Reflection
What do the actions of the husband and wife tell us about real love?
Why does O. Henry compare this husband and wife to the magi of Scripture?
All Saints’ Day is on November first. This feast was officially initiated in 609 AD by Pope Boniface IV. Pope Boniface also established All Souls’ Day, which follows on November second.
On All Saints’ Day we remember those people who have died and who are now in heaven. Anyone who is in heaven is a saint, that is, someone who is holy. How many saints are there in heaven? Millions? Billions? We don’t know for sure but we hope that our family members and friends who have died are among them. We also hope to be a saint in heaven after we have died.
Typically on All Saints’ Day we think about canonized saints, those the Church has officially recognized for their holiness and who we acknowledge are in heaven. But as there are likely millions or billions of other saints who don’t have a capitalized “St.” in front of their name to us on earth and who are without an official feast day or memorial, All Saints’ Day is a time we should think about other holy people we knew in our lives, recognize them for the good example they left for us, and pray that they are in heaven. If, in fact, they are in heaven, we can ask them to pray for us too.
Have the students think about someone they know who has died and who they believe to be a saint in heaven. Go around the room in rapid order and have each student name the person and share one example of their holiness. (Or you may have the students write a journal entry on the same topic.)
Conclude the session by praying the responsorial psalm for All Saints Day:
Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who Is St. Faustina?
St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938 ) was a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. On September 13, 1935, Jesus revealed himself to her in a vision. Her feast day is on October fifth.
Born as the third of ten children of a family of poor Polish peasants on August 25, 1905, Helena Kowalska felt the call to religious life from an early age. She lacked her mother’s permission and spent some time working as a housekeeper in order to provide her family financial support. At age nineteen she went with her sister to a dance at a local park and had a vision of the Suffering Jesus who spoke these words to her: “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off.”
Helena made arrangements immediately to leave by train for Warsaw, eighty-five miles from her home. There she went into the first Catholic Church she saw and asked a priest for advice on which convent she might enter. Only the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy accepted Helena, provided that she first earned enough money to pay for her religious habit.
Taking the name Sr. Maria Faustina, her life as a religious would have been ordinary except for Jesus’ choice of her to be his “Apostle of Mercy.” She recorded Christ’s words in her diary, which she titled Divine Mercy in My Soul: “I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.”[1]
Sr. Faustina also wrote that Jesus told her to paint an image according to the pattern revealed in a vision to her, with the words “Jesus, I trust in You.” She was not an artist, and three sisters in the convent refused to help her draw. In 1934, her spiritual director, Fr. Michael Sopoćko, introduced her to artist Eugene Kazimierowski, who painted the image of Jesus and Divine Mercy as she described it to him.
Fr. Sopoćko had Sr. Faustina evaluated by a psychiatrist who was associated with the convent to gauge her mental health. She was declared mentally sound, and Sopoćko fully trusted her visions. On September 13, 1935, Sr. Faustina wrote about a vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Jesus also revealed to Sr. Faustina mystical visions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. These, too, are recorded in diary entries.[2] For example:
On Heaven
I saw its unconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom. This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures.
On Hell
Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a great place of torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is. The kinds of torture I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is conditional darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses, and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are tortures designed for particular souls. These are torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned.
On Purgatory
I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls called Her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] “My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.” Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.
St. Faustina died from complications of tuberculosis on October 5, 1938. She was only thirty-three years old. When a sister asked St. Faustina if she was afraid of death, she replied, “Why should I be? All my sins and imperfections will be consumed like straw in the fire of Divine Mercy.”
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was revealed to Sr. Faustina Kowalska comes from a vision of Jesus in which he told her to offer to God the Father the gift of his Body and Blood as a way to appease God’s wrath, specifically over a “most beautiful” Polish city which had fallen into sin. Jesus told Sr. Faustina to “unite yourself closely to me during the sacrifice of Mass and to offer my Blood and my wounds to my Father in expiation for the sins of that city.” Sr. Faustina prayed the following words, given to her by Christ: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.” This prayer remains central to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, today prayed on the beads of a rosary.
Sr. Faustina was questioned by her spiritual director, Fr. Michael Sopoćko, about the visions, and he recorded her response. When the Chaplet was printed on a holy card of Sr. Faustina after her death, Catholics around the world began to pray it for the benefits promised by Christ, specifically that everyone who recites it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Sr. Faustina had written these words of Jesus in her journal: “When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand before my Father and the dying not as the just judge but the Merciful Savior.” Sr. Faustina also prayed in her own words to Jesus, “to be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners.”
Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope, opened an investigation into the life of Sr. Faustina in 1965 while he was the archbishop of Krakow. Pope John Paul II would eventually beatify Sr. Faustina in 1993 and canonize her in 2000. He also established the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. Praying the Chaplet on the nine days before this Feast of Divine Mercy brings, in the words of Jesus to St. Faustina, “every possible grace to souls.”
How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
You can use Rosary beads or special Divine Mercy Chaplet beads to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Opening
1. Make the Sign of the Cross
2. Pray an Optional Opening Prayer
St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon you and I beg your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with you for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of you light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in his mercy. God will not deny his mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to your feet that they may glorify your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us.
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you! (Repeat three times.)
3. Pray the Our Father
4. Pray the Hail Mary
5. Pray the Apostles’ Creed
Body
6. On a large bead pray the Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
7. On the ten small beads of each decade say:
For the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Repeat for the remaining four decades.)
Concluding Prayer
8. Pray the Holy God
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Repeat three times.)
9. Pray the Closing Prayers
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to your mercy—to your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth's exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to you, we implore you: anticipate us with your grace and keep on increasing your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do your holy will all through our life and at death's hour. Let the omnipotence of your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as your children, await your [Son’s] final coming—that day known to you alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through his merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).
[1] St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1588.
[2] The following three quotations are taken from St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, entries 777, 741, and 20, respectively.
Due to our human dignity, all people have both the responsibility and right to work. However, work is not equated with the type of work we do or the product we make. Because work is an expression of human dignity, through our work we are able to join with God in shaping the world.
1. Hold a class debate. One side should take the stance of Genesis 2:15 on work; that is, work is part of our nature and our destiny. We participate in God’s work. The other side should take the stance of Genesis 3:17-19; that is, work is a curse for human sin.
Have the students meet as a team and come up for reasons that support their position on work. Call on representatives from each team to share a reason. Allow the other team to respond to the point. Then switch the order.
To conclude the debate, have them students individually write short answers to the following questions:
Why do you think both messages about work appear in Scripture?
Why do you think the Church adopted the teaching of Genesis 2:15 rather than Genesis 3:17-19?
2. Have the students explore Jesus’ attitude toward work by reading the following passages and writing a short essay under the heading “What Jesus Believed about Work.” Tell them to reference at least three of the passages in their essay.
Luke 4:14-22
Matthew 12:9-14
John 5:1-30
Mark 2:23-28
Luke 14:1-6
John 9:1-17
Trust is an important component of friendship, and closely related to faith. Trust is something people use to critique their personal relationships—both friendships and dating relationships. Create a worksheet with the following sentence starters. Each sentence should be finished with a first name. Accompany the activity with a discussion about trust and what the students learned from writing down these names.
Whom Do You Trust
Fill in the blanks of people you trust to
. . . keep a secret
__________________
. . . offer you sound advice
__________________
. . . always be there for you
__________________
. . . tell the truth no matter how bad—or how good—it is
__________________
. . . borrow your car
__________________
. . . stick up for you
__________________
. . . use your debit car
__________________
. . . look at your phone
__________________
. . . take care of you when you are sick
__________________
. . . take care of you if you were permanently disabled
__________________
Your theology classroom is likely a place for great discussion opportunities in both large and small groups. Consider these six basic principles to guide any discussion.
1. Quality vs. Quantity
Don’t try to finish all the items of a particular agenda or every question if some items are taking more time than anticipated. Carry the less urgent items to another discussion, or drop them altogether.
2. Make the Questions Available to Everyone
Have the questions or discussion items posted or on a handout where everyone can take a look at them before having to speak.
3. Have Clear Rules So that Everyone has a Chance to Speak
Establish a set of rules that everyone understands. For example, no one speaks a second time until everyone has a chance to speak, raise your hand if you want to speak, be courteous, etc.
4. Offer a Chance for a “Pre Response”
Allow everyone to jot down their response before being called on to speak.
5. Rotate Leadership
If a group has a moderator or leader, switch the roles so that everyone get a chance to be a leader.
6. Affirmations
Consider beginning any group discussion with having everyone go around the group or with a partner by offering a heartfelt compliment or affirmation to the person.
As the start of a school year draws near, you might appreciate this helpful acronym master catechist Frank Mercadante developed to help him remember what it means to E-D-U-C-A-T-E his students.
E mphasize Interaction
D iversity of Learning Approaches
U tilize Life Experience
C ontent Moderation
A pplicable to Real Life
T hree-fold Response
E nvironment of Concern
Here are some additional notes on each point.
Emphasize interaction with the students by breaking up your lesson presentations with discussions and other group-centered involvement (e.g. panels, forums, one-to-one conversation). Allow plenty of room for questioning.
Use a diversity of learning approaches by connecting with the four basic catechetical models suggested by the National Directory of Catechesis:
Community: For a sense of belonging among your students, not just in your classroom but within the larger student body and the Church herself.
Worship: Provide many opportunities for participation in liturgy and for personal prayer. Have you created a prayer corner in your classroom?
Service: Build in applications to every lesson. How will the students take what they have learned into their families and larger communities. Consider assigning in-class and outside of class service projects along with each unit of study.
Message: Don’t feel the need to water down the academic piece. Students are used to challenging courses in other subject areas. Your class can keep those standards.
Keep content moderation in mind. Your students don’t have to learn everything there is to know about God, Jesus, the Church, Scripture, and morality during one semester. In God’s Providence, they will have other chances in the future to go deeper on the same material.
Use both contemporary and historical examples of Catholic witnesses to make the lessons applicable to real life. Share everything from the examples of the lives of the saints to the lives of their peers.
Remember the three-fold response: catechesis involves educating whole person: head (knowing), heart (believing), and hands (doing).
Cultivate an environment of concern. This step can trump them all; if you like your students and they like you, it makes all the difference. You draw on their energy and they draw on yours. They feel that they are loved and cared for. It’s how Jesus was an effective teacher.
Best wishes on the start of the new semester!
