Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois offers a unique perspective for those who are unable to participate in the celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
Share his video reflection with your students. The quotation Bishop Paprocki references from Pope Benedict XVI is taken from his book Behold the Pierced One. There are several reflections taken from this book online.
St. John Paul II's encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia (The Church from the Eucharist) discusses the centrality and importance of the Eucharist. You may have the students read the entire encyclical and report on references to "spiritual communion" and what is meant by spiritual communion.
Assignment
Have the students research prayers of saints who have made a spiritual communion and record one that is their favorite. Here is a prayer of spiritual communion of St. Alphonsus Ligouri
Jesus, I believe that You are present in the blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Your sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As.though You were already there, I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should never be separated from You. Amen.
Ask your students to define the term paleographer.
Ask them to speculate what a paleographer would have to do with translating and studying original copies of the Bible.
Share the following text from Abba Isn’t Daddy and Other Biblical Surprises: What Catholics Really Need to Know about Scripture Study to further explain the importance of paleographers in studying and understanding the Bible.
Missing Vowels, Spacing, and Punctuation
Ancient Hebrew (like modern Israeli Hebrew) had no vowels! That’s right—no written vowels! Of course, Hebrew speakers pronounce vowels when they speak or read from the page, but the vowels are not written. So imagine what confronts the reader of an ancient page from a Hebrew Bible: long lines of uninterrupted consonants across the whole page. How in the world do readers make sense of what they’re looking at?
Let’s try to visualize this experience, as best we can, in English. Look at the following English text written without vowels, without word breaks, and without punctuation:
drjhnwntmnwhknwswhtlvsllbtyrgnrskndthghtflpplwhrntlkydmttbngslssndnfrryhvrndmfrt
hrmnyrnfryhvnflngswhtsvrwhnwrprtcnbfrvrhppywllyltmbyrsglr
What in the world does this mean? And how can we derive meaning from—dare I say exegete—this scramble of consonants? The interpreter gets some help by at least inserting word breaks. With this help, the text looks like this:
dr jhn wnt mn wh knws wht lv s ll bt y r gnrs knd thghtfl ppl wh r nt lk y dmt t bng slss nd nfrr y hv rnd m fr thr mn yrn fr y hv n flngs whtsvr whn wr prt cn b frvr hppy wll y lt m b yrs glr
Is this much help? Perhaps, but let’s get some more help by now supplying vowels:
dear john i want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior you have ruined me for other men i yearn for you i have no feelings whatsoever when were apart i can be forever happy will you let me be yours gloria
Aha! Now we’ve got it. It’s a love letter from Gloria to John! So now let’s just clean it up a bit simply by adding punctuation—some periods, commas, capital letters, and the like. And here’s what we get:
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy. Will you let me be yours?
Gloria
Some of you might now recognize this text. It’s made its rounds on the internet for some time. If you’ve already seen it there, then you’ll know that this exact same text can be radically transformed by simply changing the punctuation. Note, nothing else in the previous text has been altered but the punctuation (the commas, periods, capital letters, etc.). Now look at this differently punctuated version:
Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn. For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy.
Will you let me be!
Yours,
Gloria
Not only is the meaning of the text different, but the meaning and intent of the letter is really just the opposite of the previous text. The meaning has been completely changed simply by altering the punctuation.
I hope this exercise gives you a little sense of what confronts paleographers (“those who study ancient handwritingt”) and the other readers of ancient Hebrew biblical manuscripts. Now, lest we get upset that the biblical text could be subject to such widely disparate interpretations, depending on who edits the punctuation or adds the vowels, let’s remember that most of the texts of the Old Testament were already very well known and widely memorized by many ancient students of the Old Testament. So most ancient readers of the Bible already knew what the texts of the biblical books said. For many ancient readers, the letters on the parchment or papyrus were simply mnemonic devices, that is, aids to their memory. These readers had little difficulty correctly reading and understanding the ancient page.
It’s also important to note that the very important word breaks of the biblical texts were not inserted, for the most part, until around the fifteenth century with the advent of the printing press. These first printed Bibles and all of the others up to this day all have their roots in the ancient Hebrew and Greek hand-copied texts.
We cannot celebrate Easter fully if we have not taken the time to prepare for the celebration. We cannot be restored if we have not taken the time to identify the ways in which we are broken. By the second century Christians were preparing for the Easter celebration with a two-day (forty-hour) fast. No one within the community was to take food or water during the hours that Christ was in the tomb. Also, during the same time, Lent developed as a forty-day period of preparation for those who were to be baptized at Easter. Catechumens were to fast with just one meal per day for forty days in imitation of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.
This fast was seen as having several purposes. First, people believed that fasting gave fervor to prayers, strengthened them to fight against evil and helped prepare them for the reception of the Holy Spirit. Second, fasting allowed one to give money to the poor that would otherwise be used for food. For many fasting was a response of love. The rest of the Church participated in the fast as a way of supporting the catechumens and as a way doing penance for their sins and recommitting themselves to their own baptism.
In some parts of the early Church Lent—the word means “springtime”—was the appropriate time for those guilty of serious sin to complete their process of reconciliation. At the beginning of Lent those who were called penitents would put on special garments. They would be sprinkled with ashes and then be solemnly expelled from the Church. They would not be able to participate in the prayers of the faithful or the Eucharist until they were solemnly reconciled with the Church on Holy Thursday.
The Lenten season originally began on the sixth Sunday before Easter and ended with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. Because there was no fasting on Sundays, the Church of the fifth century decided that six more days should be added to Lent in order to have forty fast days. To accomplish this, Good Friday and Holy Saturday were separated from the Easter Triduum and added to Lent and the four days preceding the sixth Sunday before Easter were also added. Thus Ash Wednesday was born as the first day of the season of penance. When the practice of expelling serious sinners at the beginning of Lent and restoring them to the Church at the end of Lent faded out of existence at the end of the first millennium, the practice of sprinkling ashes was retained for all the faithful.
Today, Lent is seen as a time of conversion with a threefold emphasis on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We seek a greater openness to the word of God, a more complete participation in the liturgy, and a stronger commitment to works of charity (almsgiving). Our practice of fasting (not eating) and abstinence (giving up certain foods or behaviors) is designed to turn our hearts to God and remind us of the plight of those who are hungry. During Lent we abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, on every Friday including Good Friday. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday we also fast between meals. Today’s Lenten season extends from Ash Wednesday to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. It is forty-four days long if Sundays are included and thirty-eight days if they are not.
Assignment
A common modern practice during Lent is for Catholics to substitute a meal of soup and bread or other simple items on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. Then, the difference in cost between what is usually spent on meals for these days is donated to the poor. Describe other communal or individual penitential acts you are aware of for Lent.
February 1 to 14 is National Marriage Week.
Share with your students three graces of married life and what they think each grace means. (See pages 122-123 of Your Christian Vocation for more information.):
Married couples are given the grace to love each other unselfishly.
Married couples are given the grace to strengthen their unity and the indissoluble bond they have made with one another.
Married couples are given the grace to lead each other to holiness.
Then take the students through the following activity:
Write each of the following questions, focused on the graces of the Sacrament of Matrimony, at the top of a sheet of butcher paper, leaving room for students to write responses under the question (if your class has more than twenty students, you may wish to make a duplicate set of questions on butcher paper, so that you can divide the class into six groups rather than three):
How can a married couple perfect their love?
How can a married couple strengthen their unity?
How can a married couple grow in holiness?
Hang the butcher paper on the walls around your classroom. Organize the class into three groups, giving each group a different colored marker. Send each group to one of the three stations, where they will stay for approximately three minutes, writing responses to the question on the paper. Encourage them to be concrete and specific. After three minutes, have the groups move to the next station. Repeat this process once more. Then allow an additional three to five minutes for the groups to revisit all the stations, writing comments and questions on their classmates’ responses. The different colored markers will enable you to track which responses, comments, and questions came from which group.
Reconvene the class back at their desks. Pose the following questions for discussion:
Which of these questions was easiest to answer?
Which was most challenging?
What is the most interesting response from another group that you saw on any of the papers?
Remind the students that the three stations correspond to the three graces of married life. In and through the sacrament of their marriage, God gives couples the grace to perfect their love, to strengthen their unity, and to grow in holiness. Explain that these three tasks overlap and are interwoven in the daily fabric of married life. Conclude by asking each student to write a prayer for married couples based on the day’s lesson.
At the beginning of Black History Month in the United States, spend some time focusing on the experience of black Catholics in the United States. Use information on African American Catholics provided by the United States Catholic Bishops to present an overview of the African American Church in America.
Also share information on Franciscan sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990), whose cause for canonization has been opened.
Play the 35 minute video of Sr. Thea’s address to the US Catholic bishops from 1989. At the conclusion of the video have the students write a short four to five page essay that answers the question “What Does It Mean to be a Black Catholic.”
Basketball legend Kobe Bryant (1978—2019) and eight other people, including his thirteen-year-old daughter Gianna, were killed on Sunday, January 26, in a helicopter crash in Southern California. They were on their way to a youth basketball game. Kobe was the coach, his daughter was a player.
The Bryant family members are practicing Catholics. Kobe attended 7 AM Mass at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach prior to boarding the plane. Attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion was one of the last things he did in his life.
Take some time to reiterate the necessity of attending Sunday Mass. Remind the students of some of these reasons and have them suggest others:
Going to Mass helps to fulfill the Third Commandment.
As a member of the Church, it’s important to obey its laws.
It is sinful to deliberately miss Sunday Mass.
There is no greater grace than to receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
Mass is a foretaste of heaven.
The Church misses my presence when I am absent from Mass.
Jesus asked us to go to Mass to remember him.
Going to Mass is a good example to my peers and younger siblings.
Mass participation helps me to fulfill my baptismal promises.
Also discuss some excuses students may give for missing Mass:
My family doesn’t go to Mass.
Sunday is my only day to sleep in.
I have to work on Sunday.
I catch up on homework on Sunday.
I don’t have a ride to Mass.
There are very few my own age at Mass.
I have a basketball (or other sport) game on Sunday.
Conclude bymaking copies of an article about Kobe Bryant and his Catholic faith and assign it for reading.
Requiescat in pace
Kobe Bryant
Gianna Bryant
John Altobelli
Keri Altobelli
Alyssa Altobelli
Christina Mauser
Sarah Chester
Payton Chester
Ara Zobayan
In support of this year’s March for Life, have the students explore the website and look for ways they can participate in this effort throughout the year from wherever they are.
Also, have the students consider some of these pro-life actions they can incorporate into their own lives. Write examples like these on the board. Have the students suggest more to add to the list:
Respect your own life. Eat the right foods. Get proper rest. Exercise. Avoid harmful substances.
Respect the dignity of others. Treat all people fairly.
Remove prejudicial feelings from your life.
Share your resources with the book.
Drive carefully. Do not text while driving.
Learn pro-life responses to pro-abortion arguments.
Support the unborn by writing letters to legislators, government officials, and the media, or by participating in pro-life rallies.
Support health care initiatives for poor women and children.
Show extra care for the disabled and those with special needs.
Speak out against euthanasia. Help those who are sick and elderly to offer their suffering to Jesus.
Visit the sick and elderly. Help to care even more for their spiritual and physical needs.
Pray.
Just released this week, Your Christian Vocation is a new textbook from Ave Maria Press that supports a high-school course on all Christian vocations and states of life, including marriage, holy orders, consecrated life, and committed single life.
Please contact Bob Wieneke to receive a complimentary sample copy of Your Christian Vocations for your Catholic high school.
One of the hallmark's of Ave Maria Press textbooks in the Encountering Jesus series is a variety of teacher support materials. Included here are three approaches for coverage of the issue of homosexuality as it appears in Chapter 5 on marriage. Care is taken in presenting authentic Church teaching in a pastoral way geared especially for teenagers.
Teaching Approach 1
Explore material from Life Teen that presents Church teaching on homosexuality in a youth-friendly manner. Organize your class into three groups, and assign each group one of the following articles from the Life Teen website:
“Too Catholic to be Gay”
“This Is How to Talk to Your Friend Who Is Gay”
“7 Ways to Love Our Brothers and Sisters Who Experience Same-Sex Attraction”:
Note: All Life Teen materials support the teachings of the Catholic Church.
First, give students about ten minutes to read their assigned articles quietly and individually. Taking notes is advisable. Then have the students meet with those who read the same article (if the three groups are too large to be productive, they may subdivide into two smaller groups). They are to compare notes, discuss, and compose questions to bring to the large group.
Reconvening the class together, have student volunteers summarize the contents of each article. Then invite students to pose questions about the articles. You may wish to begin with basic, factual questions that give you the opportunity to clarify Church teaching as needed. Then move to deeper, more philosophical, and/or discussion-oriented questions. If time does not permit you to address every question, keep a list (perhaps on your board) of questions to address in a subsequent class session. For homework, direct students to write a one-paragraph reflection sharing their thoughts, feelings, and reactions regarding the content of today’s lesson.
Teaching Approach 2
View and discuss the film Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Produced by Courage International, this 2014 documentary examines the lives of two men and one woman who acted on their homosexual attractions in the past and are now living the Church’s message of chastity. The film is available to stream online at https://everlastinghills.org/movie; a DVD is also available for purchase.
Taking into account the film’s length (1:03:05), determine how best to show it to your students while also allowing adequate time for discussion. With a long-block schedule, you could view and discuss the film in one class session. With a traditional schedule, you will need two class periods to watch the whole film and discuss it. If your class time is very limited, you could preview the film and select excerpts that you wish to show your students.
An extensive study guide for the film is available at https://everlastinghills.org/study-guide. You may wish to select questions from this guide that seem compelling for discussion with your students; perhaps select an additional question to which students respond in writing for homework.
Teaching Approach 3
Engage your students in an honest, open, respectful conversation about homosexuality. Homosexuality, including the Church’s teaching regarding it, is a controversial and sensitive topic. Your students would likely greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss this topic in an open manner. Hopefully, in your course for several months, they have developed a degree of trust in one another, so that such a conversation can occur in an atmosphere that respects both Church teaching and the dignity of every student. In order for this discussion not to devolve into a debate or, worse, an argument, careful preparation is essential.
First, direct students to review this section of the Student Text and to write two lists:
points that they understand and that make sense to them
points that they are struggling to understand, find confusing, or find troubling
Then have the students exchange their lists with a partner and engage in a brief discussion, noting similarities and differences in their lists.
Drawing the class back together, facilitate a large-group discussion, beginning with the points that the students understand (be sure to acknowledge and affirm these) and moving on to the points with which they struggle. Allow students to share their honest perspectives and questions, but be sure to moderate the discussion well, lest it become a free-for-all.
One discussion in one class session is unlikely to answer every student’s questions or to bring every student complete clarity. However, all students—especially those whose views regarding homosexuality are evolving and/or who struggle to understand the Church’s perspective—can benefit from the opportunity to voice their concerns and pose their questions freely and without fear. They may ultimately be more open to the Church’s teaching if they can approach it critically and thoughtfully, rather than feeling that it is being “forced” upon them.
