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Engaging Faith

Practical Lesson Ideas and Activities for Catholic Educators
Archived - May 2014

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Summary of Pope Francis' Visit to the Holy Land

Pope Francis historic visit to the Holy Land is over. The Catholic bishops of the region have prepared and maintained a webpage with images, articles, and video of the trip. Included in this detailed reference is an article of other papal visists to the Holy Land. Among the many other items to share with your students is the official anthem of the Pope's visit, written by a group of Holy Land musicians. The English refrain and lyrics are below: In the footsteps of Francis Refrain: With you we go onward as witnesses to Christ Spreading the light of the Word in the footsteps of Francis 1. With you we go like Mary with the light of the Nativity We keep the covenant that we gained in the water of baptism And the Cross of our Redeemer, its power, protects us We carry it and go forward, good news for the enslaved. 2. With you we seek the face of the Redeemer in every human being We plant love that blossoms into joy, we witness to faith And the Church of our Redeemer invigorates us with her sacraments We are nourished by them and we go forward immersed in safety 3. With you we vest the cloak of mercy among all creatures We become apostles of peace among the nations of the earth The Gospel of our Redeemer, its light guides us We live by it and go forward calling for amity. 4. With you we raise our prayer from the land of holiness We pray for the East in pain, lost on its way The love of our Redeemer preserves us and enriches us We clothe ourselves in it and go forward on the path of deliverance. 5. With you we sing the resurrection and proclaim life Bearing witness to Peter meeting his brother once again Jesus our Redeemer commands us to unity Let’s listen and go forward, our goal to gratify Him.

Prayer for Pope Francis’ Trip to the Middle East

From May 24 – 26, Pope Francis will be visiting Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. Father Rifat Bader who is organizing the trip, wrote this prayer in honor of the visit. Pray for the Holy Father's safety, the people of the Holy Land, and the success of his trip.   Heavenly Father, you never tire of being compassionate and loving, the successor of St. Peter, His Holiness Pope Francis, plans to visit the Holy Land sanctified by your Son’s birth, baptism, teaching, death and resurrection, be with him, sanctify and bless him, spread the mantle of your kindness over every stage of his pilgrimage among us, that one may we see in him a believing pilgrim, a wise teacher, and a humble leader Lord Jesus Christ, as you prayed for the unity of your Church, saying, “may they all be one”, make the meeting in Jerusalem between the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch an incentive to increase our efforts for the unity of your children, Make the encounter of the Pope with the political authorities fruitful for justice and peace, protect all the residents of this land and the adherents of the religions of the Middle East, so that they may be in harmony, dialogue and cooperation for the achievement of full citizenship Good Shepherd, whose image Pope Francis carries on his pectoral cross, walking in the spirit of humility with which you have graced him: deepen within us the awareness of our Christian identity, that as true disciples, we may bear witness to your Good News and your resurrection in our churches, our society, and all the world, especially by serving the sick, the poor and the refugees. Bless, Lord Most Holy, this fourth papal visit to our Holy Land, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, all the saints of the Holy Land, and the two new saints, John Paul II and John XXIII, Amen.

Divergent in the Classroom

Veronica Roth’s trilogy, beginning with the book and movie Divergent, has been a recent hit with teens. Sixteen-year-old Tris and eighteen-year-old “Four” live in the remnants of Chicago, an area ravaged by war, surrounded by a guarded fence. Their society is divided into five factions: Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, Candor, and Dauntless. At age sixteen, citizens are tested and decide whether or not they would like to stay in the faction of their family of origin or whether they would like to join a different faction. Some citizens are “homeless” or “factionless,” literally and figuratively if they have failed their faction’s initiation, if the faction expelled them, or if they left it voluntarily. The “divergent” are citizens whose minds are most flexible and could live in more than one faction. This last group is the target of Jeanine whose declared purpose is to create peace in the city. The divergent are more difficult to control and thus pose a challenge to her desire to be completely in charge. Tris and Four are divergent and fight against this woman’s attempt to wipe them out and their home faction of Abnegation.   Theology Connections/Assignments While this book and movie have many interesting angles, these are some more closely related to theology. 1. Each of the factions was created in order to combat a human characteristic that contributed to the war that almost completely destroyed Chicago. Abnegation or selflessness is a response to selfishness such as vanity, greed and envy. These people served others and led the city. Erudite or knowledgeable is a response to ignorance. People from this faction were teachers and scholars. Amity or peaceful is a response to violence and aggression. These people grew food for the city. Candor or truthfulness is a response to deceit. People from this faction served in the legal field. Dauntless or fearlessness is a response to cowardice. The Dauntless provide protection from the outside world and within the city Ask students, in small groups, to take the seven deadly or capital sins and create factions to combat them, defining the virtue that counteracts the vice and the role of each group in a small society. Christianity encourages growth in virtue. How does the approach from Divergent resemble and differ from the Christian approach? Ask small groups to take one of the capital sins and match it to a Divergent faction. If some do not fit, ask students to create additional factions to supplement the Divergent five.   2. While there is some mention of religion here and there in the book, it is not a major topic. Tris’s father explains that focusing on those who believe versus those who do not simply causes further division. Where in the book/movie do students see behavior that is typically religious? How might a shared faith have united the different factions?   3. Jeanine justifies killing some citizens in order to gain control over the majority of the people so that there will be peace. Do modern nations use this rationale in warfare? Can controlled people really have peace?   Summary You may have noticed that the heroine of the story is named Beatrice (Tris) and that the factions focus on a virtue that counteracts a vice is somewhat like Dante’s Purgatorio. Delving a bit into the way that Dante envisions Purgatory as a place that undoes vices through virtue might interest the students and provoke interesting conversation. If you worked on the seven deadly sins then this would be an interesting follow-up