Catholic - Technically Speaking

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tty87WDBukk]

WebResourcesArticle

Here is an article I was asked to write for parents of high school aged students. I attempt to offer some basic Catholic web resources grouped into categories like "activist" "fashionista" etc. There really is a lot of good the media can offer to a young Catholic if they know where to safely look.

Check out the video and the web resources article linked here. There is a pasted image of it below.

*Please do not reproduce the article without my consent.

1. Majesty in the Mass --- Intro Post

Relclaiming the Royalty in the Mass

The new translation of the Mass offers us the perfect opportunity to relearn the hidden treasures in the majestic meaning of the Mass. The most royal thing we can do as a Catholic is attend the Mass. But, it doesn’t always feel, look, seem, or sound royal. That is precisely why I challenge you to Reclaim the Royalty in the Mass for yourself, for others and to give Glory to God in the Highest.

In these long winded posts, I will attempt to shed light on the little things we miss in Mass everyday. But first, get rid of the guilt...

I plead guilty?

The main guilt many of us have about the Mass is that we just aren’t feeling it. Therefore, we don’t fold our hands. We don’t respond, or open our books to sing. We may leave early with Communion still in our mouths, or worse we may just stop coming all together.

The devil’s first tactic might be to make us feel like we just must not be holy. Ever felt this way? "The girl levitating next to me must be really holy, I'm just not made of that “saint material” because I just don’t really “like” Mass. I could never levitate. Oh well...just 20 more minutes to go..."

His second tactic might be to keep discouraging us from trying to participate. He tries convincing us that a different type of service would help us to “get something out of it.” He may propose to us that this old school ritual isn’t in touch, that the Church doesn’t care, maybe that it’s just some requirement that should have died a long time ago.

I could go on and on. You name a struggle you have had with Mass and he’s tried it on a million other souls.

In my opinion, one of satan’s most basic tricks is taking advantage of a disinterest or a guilt he has planted within us and distracting us so that we never choose to become educated. We miss the sheer majesty of many things because of this, including the Mass. Therefore, before reading this post disregard any guilt you may have about your boredom, feelings, insufficiencies or failures when it comes to the Mass. Those aren’t important. This is my attempt to bring a royal mindset back to the most Majestic event that has ever happened on earth. The fact is: we are certainly unworthy of an invitation to this event. Yet, we are invited anyway, then made worthy by a Merciful King. Sorry, but that trumps your feelings of guilt.

Reclaiming by Relearning

My 7th and 8th grade students were shy to admit that they thought Mass was boring...(not a hard guess), but once they got it out there the discussion was easy. They were sure it was their own problem and a sin that they weren’t automatically pumped about the Mass.  It was a grand relief when their “holy” religion teacher wasn’t mad and actually had felt the same way. ("You weren't born liking sitting still, being quiet, and listening to long speeches!?!?! No Way Miss L!!!") But, when they were allowed to admit their lack of enthusiasm (or even desire to be in a Church) they gushed forth their pure desire for an understanding of the Mass, exposing the truth that they all had a natural draw to the Mass after all. On student put it this way: I wish I could just get it to "click". I think I could be really holy if  it all would "click".

And yet, even with a desire to understand the Mass more, we all cop out. Whether we are advocates or practicers of the "gangsta genuflection", the "wipe yo face" sign of the cross, or the "free nap time pious look" during a long Eucharistic Prayer, we all have felt a little awkward at Mass or frustrated at Mass. My students would be quick to admit they just feel like it's bad to fake it when you don't feel like it's real yet (Key word: yet), they feel like they are being hypocrites.

("Deep Seated" Analogy Time)

Hopefully, you would not feel bad for walking into your grandmother’s home and not sitting in a chair she has never allowed anyone to sit in. You would just do it trusting that the owner of this house must have some profound reason that she prefers no one to use the chair. She clearly must still value the chair, or else she would have removed it from the room years ago and replaced it with something that would be more sensible for sitting in. You may be relieved that you never sat in the chair when you find out years later that that was your grandfather’s favorite chair. From this everyday “recliner throne” he would tell his old farm and war stories, watch only the positive news, preach his fatherly teachings to his children in the evenings, entertain his grandchildren with old records, and doze in and out of conversation. He was the perfect match to the old woman sitting in the identical adjacent chair. That chair was never suited for another, and was a reminder to your grandmother every day that her 60 year marriage partner is still with her in her house in the empty moments.

You didn’t know why you respected the chair, or why you awkwardly avoided it, it may have even annoyed you at times, but there was a reason, and a good reason at that. And, you certainly wouldn't call yourself a hypocrite for respecting a rule that you didn't understand.

So, “Fake it till You Make it.” Popular saying, yes? Also, a great motto for Mass. Strangely enough I imagine God is okay with us praying this prayer:

“God I will be reverent, but I don’t get it. I will fake it till You make it. Jesus, make me understand.”

Super Fans.

Three of my friends had always dreamt of attending a Cold Play concert to witness their favorite musicians at work. They couldn’t wait for the experience of seeing these talented celebrities in the same room (though a very large and very crowded event center of a room). They were outrageously worked up dancing, singing and going crazy. Later, when an attendant in the arena walked through the nosebleed section, she noticed their extreme excitement and offered the lunatics front row seats to the show. This was an effort to help get the rest of the humongous audience even more in the spirit for the grand Opening Act. They were also the perfect fans for the shots from the concert that would show up on the live music video. It's a smooth publicity move to situate your most devoted, and zealous fans in a position to influence the rest. The hope would be that their energy would be caught in an epidemic fashion by the rest of the crowd and create an even more memorable experience for all fans.

We are all capable of being like these “superfans” with the power to inspire others around us to check in to the experience they are about to miss. (Maybe we could fill in those infamous front row seats that Catholics religiously leave empty...I'm definitely backseat junkie). But, first we have to look up and around to find the truth behind the big words, the strange rituals, the old art, and the exhilarating Mass aerobics (sit, kneel, stand, repeat)

As we gather for Mass, we get our whole hearts and minds ready. Not for an amazing concert, or a famous band, but for our Step into Heaven. Christ the ultimate celebrity is coming! That’s a fact. Do we act like it? How do we get ourselves truly excited about something we do all the time...something that is so hard to grasp?

The more we understand about the Mass, and the stronger our relationship with the owner of the House, the easier it will be to get excited for the Sacrifice that is about to happen. But, we all have to start somewhere.

NEXT POST: Pregaming the Mass--Mass Preparation, genuflection, fasting, etc...

It's Our Love Story: Salvation History

For my 7th Graders as we study the Bible and how it is all ONE BIG STORY, OUR LOVE STORY.

 

It's so easy to relate to the sinners in the Bible. Put yourself in Adam and Eve's shoes as the Devil is trying to mess with their concept of YAHWEH, a loving Father by convincing them, using the name Elohim, that He is just a jealous, power hungry, vulnerable God. Does the devil ever get the better of you with his tricks?

Or relate to the travelers in the Exodus who had to wait 40 years for the promised land because of their own unwillingness to trust in God. How about the Hypocrites, who could never get their words and actions to match, the Sadducees who had no hope, the pharisees who liked the idea of being great? What about Peter who denied God, or Moses who doubted the God who had brought him so far?  You can relate to them too, I bet. And there are a lot of them in our story.

Does the devil play mind and heart games on you like he did to Adam and Eve and all of our ancient family members? If so, welcome to our story...the one God wrote, we kept messing up and He redeemed. (It was looking pretty bleak there for a while wasn't it?) Join the cast list with those who eventually said yes after years of addictive despair, pride, vanity, faithlessness, and sin. It's a pretty funny lot if you really examine it, but it's God's lot. He's the master character developer.

 

Our Love Story

(To Taylor Swift's Love Story)

(God):Adam was there when I first made her.
I closed his eyes, and then I formed her,
She’s standing there, 
In the garden in the summer air.

She saw the lights, saw the beauty, the goodness.
He awoke and beheld her anew,
He said “at last!”, 
and they knew ew ew,

they were special, 
They were dear to my heart,
as a daddy I said, "Stay away from the apple tree."
And I was crying in their hearts, 
Begging them, "Please don't go".

But she said,
"Adam, eat this it will make us wise.”
But I was waiting, all that's left to do is trust.
You be the child, and I'll be your Father,
It's a love story, baby, just say, 'yes'."

So I come in to the garden to see them,
They kept quiet,  thinkin, "we're dead if he knew",
But close your eyes, 
Believe in my Mercy for a little while.

'Cause after their fall, 
My heart ached for their hearts ,
And I promised, "I will make all things new."
Because they were everything to me, 
I was Begging them, "Please just trust".

But many said,
"I can’t do this, I’m gonna run away from You."
Adam, Jonah, Moses, Peter, David, and you too.
You be the child, and I'll be the Father,
It's a love story, children, just say, 'yes'."

(You): "Jesus, save me, satan’s trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
(God): I said: Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess,
It's a love story, Mary just said, 'yes!'."

(You): Well, I got tired of waiting,
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in You was fading, 
When I met you in the smallest of towns.

And I said,

"Jesus, save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting for you, but you never come.
Is this in my head, 
I don't know what to think,

"I knelt to the ground, and heard as you said,

"Love me, child, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, that's all you need to know.
your sins are forgotten, I died on the cross, 
It's your love story, child, just say yes."

Ohhhh ohhh

 

No matter what I have always loved you...

No matter what I have always loved you...

Lenten Confession: Christ's Reclaiming of Your Royalty

CONFESSION DURING LENT

 Side note: This was is a reflection packet given to my students during Holy Week that they could use during a long penance service. I will provide links to the different resources I mention later.

As you prepare your hearts during this Holy Week, you are being given a great opportunity to approach God’s “Tribunal of Mercy” in Confession. This is your time to experience His mercy and love both in Confession and with Him in the Eucharist while reflecting on all that He has done to save you from sin and the worst kind of unhappiness.

Read through these sections and write down your answers to the questions or your reactions and thoughts to each reflection. Allow the Holy Spirit to move in you as you read and write.

1st THINGS FIRST
It is so important to remember that in our faith we are loved by God. Once we really know this we show that we know it by our response: loving Him in return. We don’t naturally or easily love something just because we are told to love. It’s hard to love a brother just because our mom or dad says, “you have to love him, he IS your brother.” Instead, we usually experience love from someone and love them back. For example: If your older brother travels far to see you and spends a lot of time with you it might be easier to want to love your brother, and you certainly won’t have to be told to love him either.

Therefore, it makes sense that when we try to love God without first experiencing or knowing His love it can be hard, in fact, frustrating may be the better word. We should try to reverse our order and let God do the loving first and then we can receive it and give it back. The truth is any love we can give comes from God first. For “God is Love.” (1JN 4:16)  and  “We love because he first loved us.” (1JN 4:19) While we may not always “feel” the love of God it is always present. Sometimes we have to love when it doesn’t make sense. Take some time and effort to seek to understand how much God loves you. Read on.

DOES GOD REALLY LOVE ME?
If you have ever wondered, “Does God really love me?” right now is your time to consider the facts. Open your missalettes to April 1st and reread the Gospel which is the Passion Story. While you read consider your question of “Does God really love me?” and remember that every abandonment you read about (Apostles not being able to stay awake, shouts against Him, etc.) and every physical pain He underwent (Scourging with broken glass, nails, splintered wood, and whips; crowning with a helmet of thorns crushing into His skull, forehead and neck, etc.) was all done for you. He is not angry with you for this suffering, but instead embraced His suffering because you needed it. You were enough for Him to suffer through it all.

Reflection 1: Imagine His eyes blurry, burning, and clouded with blood and sweat. They are gazing at you from above where His tattered and torn body is hanging upon a Cross. It’s strange because these eyes aren’t angry with you even though you were among the crowds yelling, “Crucify Him!” by your sins, and doubts. Instead, His eyes gaze at you with love, affection and the message of how cherished and precious you actually are at this very moment.

HOW DO I LOVE HIM BACK?
“We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” (1JN 4:16)

Reflection 1: Jesus knew His death was coming. He knew the horrible things He would suffer. It would have been one thing if everyone around Him was helping Him, encouraging Him, and cheering Him on, but instead He could not even get His apostles to care enough to stay awake with Him while He was in so much sorrow and agony that He sweat blood. Do you keep watch with Jesus or do you find it hard to stay with Him? Do you become weary and tired and give up rather than continue to do the right thing? Do you abandon others in their sorrow?

Reflection 2: Even our First Pope could be a dope.

In the reading of the Passion in your missalettes find the part where Peter tells Jesus that He would never deny Him. Then read about how Peter does deny Jesus. What is your initial reactions to this? How does His cowardice make you feel?

Peter is passionate about the fact that he would follow Jesus, His closest friend, even to death. However not much later He can’t even admit knowing Jesus. How have you been like Peter in your own life? Do you want to do good things and then fail in the moment? Do you consider yourself holy but then look at your actions and realize how much you fail in the heat of the moment like Peter?

But...even after Peter’s failure there is mercy. Read this passage from John 21:

Jesus and Peter.* 15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,* “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”* He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep.i 18* Amen, amen, I say to you,j when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”k

Remember that Peter had said he would follow Jesus even to death? Remember how he messed that up? Remember how he didn’t only mess up once but three times? How many times did Jesus ask Him if He loved Him in this passage? Could it be that Jesus is showing Peter His mercy? Giving Him a second chance to get it right this time? Could He be Helping to set Him straight in His mission to go on from his initial cowardice into heroic courage? He said he would follow Jesus even to death. Peter did die for Jesus on an X shaped Cross. His sins did not define him and he turned from them and towards real love that doesn’t just “talk the talk” but actually “walks the walk.”

(Nerd note: Fires are not often mentioned in the New Testament...It is interesting that in both stories Peter is next to a fire: At his denial: “They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them.”  When He is asked by Jesus after His resurrection if He loves Him: “When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.” Some people wonder if this was a way to help Peter understand that this questioning was a second chance to get it right this time.)

CONFESSION IS OUR ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS AND HIS LOVE

After reflecting on God’s love for us and our love for him, and all that we have done or failed to do, we go to meet Jesus. Do you feel like an apostle who didn’t care that their best friend and Messiah was sweating blood? Or do you feel like Peter who wants to love Jesus but fails miserably? Either way Jesus understands. While He was on earth He experienced these moments of rejection by people and He has experienced yours too. But, that takes absolutely NOTHING away from how much He loves you. He’d do it all again for you.

So, here is your moment to trust. When we go to Confession we take all of our sorrow and guilt and we hand it over to the man we have hurt most. And always, without fail, no matter how terrible you think you are He will offer you forgiveness. Not the kind with strings attached, but real forgiveness. Jesus even spelled it out for us when He would appear to St. Faustina, a young Polish nun in the 1930s. He told her to tell all of mankind about His mercy especially in confession.

Read Message for All Catholics: “Jesus is in the Confessional” in your packet. What parts bring you the most comfort? What parts help you not to be afraid to confess your sins? What parts surprised you?

Remember, when going to Confession, you can ask Father questions, you can say what you need and you can leave knowing that it was always Jesus with you listening and responding to you.

EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE BASED ON LOVE

First, if we truly love God and give Him our trust we will follow all of His laws out of love. Jesus never taught anything unless it would make us deeply happy, we can trust that all of God’s laws are for us and not against us.  Read and reflect on the sheet that begins with Prayer Before Examining Your Conscience.

Second, read Examination of Conscience: The Law of Love in your packet.

AMEND MY LIFE. AMEN.

In confession in our Act of Contrition we make a promise to amend our lives. What does this mean? Consider the difference between Peter and Judas. Peter proclaims that He would never deny Jesus yet he doesn’t only deny Jesus he does it 3 times! Judas sells Jesus to the chief priests and helps Jesus get handed over to be killed. Both committed some pretty nasty sins. One is our first Pope and a great Saint, the other is not.

Their difference lies not in the degree of their sins, or who was worse, instead it all comes down to how they responded. Peter broke down and cried but went running back to Jesus. Judas, afraid of his sins and without trust in his heart, killed himself and did not believe that God could bring hope and peace to him after his sins.

Your commitment to avoid sin and try to live a better life does matter. Sure you will mess up, God knows that too, but if you can imitate Peter and keep trying even if it takes you a long time God can promise hope, happiness and heaven. How will you avoid sin and try to do better now that you have received God’s mercy?

Advent: Coming Home

Advent can be a hard thing to prepare for sometimes in school because everyone is so focused on Christmas and we almost don't have time for Advent with break, Christmas programs, parties, and all sorts of gift giving. I'm definitely not complaining about all of that, instead, I want to offer some of the ways that I have helped keep my students and myself focused on Advent BEFORE Christmas takes over.

First, I have them watch this video by Busted Halo and we discuss their impressions.

Second, I use this worksheet below. (I'm not a huge fan of worksheets so I use it more as a journal and discussion piece. Use it however you wish).

_________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT IS ADVENT?

BY MARK HART

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hide-an-seek was my favorite game growing up. The strategy of securing the perfect hiding place, the frantic scurry to hide, the thrill of the count, holding my breath as I heard the seeker getting closer … it was almost too much pressure for my little heart to take.

The lessons learned in hide-and-seek are lessons we can carry with us throughout life: the ability to think under pressure, the integrity to not look while counting, the self-control in remaining silent for long periods of time as well as the pure joy of playing a game with friends, just to name a few.

Too often, however, I treat my relationship with God like a game of hide-and-seek. I run and try to hide from Him (as if He cannot see me!). At times I even hold my breath and don't talk to Him. I figure that if He can't find me, He can't ask me to change.

There's just one problem with that thought process: We can't hide from God.

To God everything is exposed: all of our faults, imperfections, personal secrets but also all of our talents, traits, successes and achievements … that's the good news. The even better news is that God is always seeking you and me.

'For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost' (Luke 19:10).

That is one of reasons why the Church gives us the season of Advent. Over the four weeks preceding Christmas, we prepare not just for Jesus' coming as a baby in a manger but also for His Second Coming. The word Advent means 'to come,' and the Church, with great wisdom, nudges us with a 'wake-up call' to ensure that we are honest with our God and in right relationship with Him before He comes again.

God is seeking you. Are you hiding from Him? If not, good. If so, stop. You have no reason to hide yourself from Him.

He loves us even more than we love ourselves, so let Him. He's coming back at some point. The fact is only scary if we're not where we need to be in our relationship to God. A relationship with Jesus is all fun without any of the games.

Advent is a beautiful gift, so seek God and make the season one of depth and of honesty. Expose your soul before God and allow Him to love you for who you truly are: a sinner in need of His mercy, a work in progress.

As hide-and-seek reminds us, 'Ready or not, here He comes.'

'Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?'Psalm 139:7

______________________________________________________________________

1.    What are ways you prepare for Christmas during Advent?

2.    Is there anything new you can do this year to be sure that you are preparing for Jesus’s birth in a personal way?

3.    When you think of Jesus’s second coming what you do you feel?

4.    What are ways this advent you can prepare for Jesus to come again?

5.    Do you ever hide from God? Why?

_________________________________________________________________________________

Third, we discuss the second coming using some of the questions from the above worksheet. Most of the time kids will be honest about how the concept of the second coming scares them. A lot of time that fear comes from the unknown. Both the unknown of what the end of the world will be like and also the unknown of meeting Jesus. They forget that Jesus is the one they will encounter in that moment. The same Jesus that is with us at Mass, in confession, in prayer, and in our hearts. Here's where things start to hit home. To help them to imagine and get comfortable with the idea of a second coming and being brought home I show them images they have seen before using this video, and this video. Both are videos of soldiers coming home unexpectedly and surprising their children. In both videos the children are overwhelmed with joy. After watching the two videos we discuss a couple of things.

1. How did the children react?

2. Did any of them say, "Wait a minute!? Come back in a month when I get my room cleaned or my math grade up?" Here is where we discuss and drive home the point that when Jesus comes both at Christmas and at the second coming we want to throw ourselves on His love and mercy, not shy away from Him. This comes from building up a relationship with Him that will build up trust and confidence. I do not use this as a guilt trip for students to think that it's just because those kids already were perfect when their parents came back, because we know they probably were not. I also like to focus on the boy who was in ROTC and how he was hoping to follow in his dad's footsteps as an analogy for us following in Christ's footsteps too. I use all of this more as an image of where we want to be in our relationship with Christ. A lot of times this brings kids to tears imagining this and viewing the love between the children and their fathers or mothers. It definitely plants a seed in their hearts of desire for a relationship like that with Christ.

3. Finally, I ask how their view of advent has changed. Usually this brings up a lot of awesome reflection and new desire for what they want to do to be ready for Christ. They usually seem to "get it" a little bit better and the pressure to have a good advent has now been converted to a desire to have a good relationship with Christ.

Finally, we make advent chains to carry this lesson throughout the rest of advent up to Christmas break. You can view my post on advent chains here.

Sometimes I add the Jesse tree lessons, or advent calendar lessons but I don't want to overwhelm them or leave no time for our other lessons.

Grace was here!

Advent Chains

Easy Pleasy Advent Activity:

Advent Chains

I'm a huge fan of easy activities that have a big impact. After prepping my kids for advent I cut out strips of pink and purple paper (you can even plan it to have pink on the week following Guadete Sunday if you want to get specific) and then I have each student write an idea they have for an all class activity we can do together on one of the strips. I then fold the strips and make them into a chain.

Each day of advent we take off a link of the chain and do whatever it says together. Students were really pleased with this because they were in charge of what we did for the first five minutes of each class. They were also really pleased with their ideas, as was I. So far we have sang a song to Jesus in the chapel, prayed a few decades of the Rosary, read the Nativity from the Bible in the courtyard, and committed to multiple good deeds each day. It's been an awesome way to change up class for a short amount of time to enter into the advent prepping spirit.

I'll be posting more soon about how I first prepare my students for what advent is and how we prepare for it.

Grace was here!

Jesus Please...Personal Prayer Class Activity

Catholic school kids are really used to saying intentions to their teacher and either following it with a Hail Mary, we pray to the Lord, or some other response. What they are less used to is praying in their own words to Jesus for what they need, what they are thankful for, or simply just for what they want to say. It's something my students were a little awkward about at first. So, I decided we needed some practice. I knew once I introduced it they would eat it up, and that's exactly what happened.

I took my students down to the chapel in our school where we have Jesus present in the tabernacle. I reminded them that we were in front of Jesus, Himself. In some classes I had them close their eyes to picture Jesus and let the Holy Spirit enter into their imaginations. Then I explained that we were going to say what we wanted to pray about directly to Jesus. I reminded them not to say their petition to me and told them if they were struggling they could simply start out their prayer with, "Jesus, please..."

I started out with an example that blended things on my heart with examples of thanksgiving, random thoughts, and petitions so that my students felt comfortable saying whatever they wanted. We started out by going in order so that each student got practice talking to Jesus in this personal way. Then I let them keep going. Each class loved it. They talked to Him out loud asking Him to keep them close in the future, prayed for traveling relatives, the poor and more. They were truly bringing their whole selves into their prayers. I'll give you examples below. At the end I thanked Jesus for caring and hearing all of us and we left and went on with our class. It was incredibly powerful and I could tell all of my students had just had an encounter with Jesus. Even my students who struggle to take things seriously couldn't help but be wrapped up in awe at getting to speak like this in front of their class directly to Jesus. It definitely was an experience of heaven on earth.

The coolest part might have been that at the end of both classes one student in each asked if we could make this a weekly thing. It changed the whole dynamic of the rest of our class. Students seemed more united in the most Christian sense of the word. I could tell they all felt bonded in Christ...which is pretty hard to describe.

Here are some examples of their amazing prayers said outloud:

Jesus, please help us to remember that you want our happiness, so this Christmas when we open our presents help us to remember the happiness we feel makes you happy too.

Jesus, please help my mom who struggles to provide for me and my siblings on her own. Help her with money and with her stress.

Jesus, please help us to remember that you didn't make any of us equal but instead gave us unique gifts and we all deserve to be loved by you.

Jesus, please keep us united and close to each other and to you.

Jesus please help us in our finals and our stresses.

I could go on and on. The prayers were personal about members of our community suffering cancer, about grandparents they hope get to heaven, about recent deaths, they prayed for each other by name and put their hands on the backs of each other to acknowledge it. The coolest image we discussed afterward was how it was like we were the saints in heaven in front of God together praying for those who weren't with us...ya that struck me pretty hard since we are currently studying saints.

Grace was there!

Love Your __________ Neighbor

Objective
This lesson helps students to identify where weak spots are in their heart as far as loving their neighbor and helps them to see their call to love all people no matter what.

Bible verses 
Mt 5:44 "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
Mk 12:31 "Love your neighbor as yourself"

Virtue
Charity- loving someone no matter what.

Description
Love your enemies sounds great in paper, but put it into practice in the reality of gossip, grudges, resentment, competition, or even a middle school classroom and you've got a real challenge. That's why I created this lesson for my students as something to do to strengthen the virtue of charity in our classroom.

We started out by sitting in a circle (VBRD style) and I introduced the idea that there are always people in our lives that are especially hard for us to love. I gave an example to the class first. I told them that arrogant adults can be really hard for me to be patient with or to be charitable toward. Then we passed around a talking piece for each student to share who they struggle to love. They really enjoy this part because EVERYONE has a personality trait or group of people that is a personal pet peeve in this area. Students said everything from obnoxious, mean, stuck up to anti-God, poor, or ugly. They were surprisingly honest.

After they got it all out there I brought it back in by reminding them that, hey, guess what? this shows an area of weakness on our part, not on the part of the people we just complained about. I also reminded them that we all have parts of ourselves that are hard to love but we still want love. (In some classes I add more questions like what part of yourself may be hard to love? or How do you show love to these people even when it is hard?)

One striking example I'll share is that one of our Mexican born students who immigrated to the United States shared that she has a really mean, racist neighbor who she finds very hard to love because of how he treats her. This was a hard but perfect example to use with the class. We acknowledged that his behavior is in need of changing but that she doesn't have any control over his choices. Instead, she has control over her own. She can choose to show him love even if it doesn't feel like he deserves it. Then we talked about how if we start picking and choosing who deserves love we are not imitating Christ's love for us or the many sinners He chose to die for.

Next, I have them listen to the song If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns using this link. They watch the words and take turns going up to write two adjectives on the board pictured below. Essentially it is a board that says: Love Your ___________ Neighbor and they fill in the blank. I let each student write two adjectives while they quietly listened to the song and journaled on what they were getting from the song and the lesson.

Their responses were awesome! One student wrote about how important it is not to pick and choose who should be loved and how Jesus would die for anyone of us but we can't just be loving toward each other. Another student shared how the activity helped them realize that the Body of Christ really has a job in this area and that she needed a reminder. We closed up the lesson with a reading of the verses above.

I decided to make the poster a permanent item in our classroom since it is such a good reminder to students to love those they don't really like to love. They use it in examples all the time and it is a great reminder while they deal with the normal drama of middle school.

In some classes we talked about the difference between liking and loving. In others we tied it into the unchanging dignity of everyone. You can tie this into all sorts of lessons and bend it in whatever way God asks of you.

Grace was there!