Wednesday's feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was celebrated in many ways, despite the most
inclement of weather.
Many high schools had their own special day of celebration in honor of Our Lady, including Bishop Verot Catholic High School in Florda.
How did your school celebrate the feast of the Patronness of the Americas?
Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, intercede for the Church, protect the Holy Father, help all who invoke You in their necessities. Since You are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the True God, obtain for us from Your Most Holy Son the grace of a firm and sure hope amid bitterness of life, as well as an ardent love and the precious gift of final perseverance.
Dearest Lady, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me Your ways of gentleness and strength. Hear my prayer, offered with deep felt confidence to beg this favor.
O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to Thee under the glorious title "Guadalupe" - the Virgin who crushed the serpent.
Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my path. Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.
Help me, as a living branch of the Vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify His divine charity always seeking the good of others. Queen of Apostles, aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior. Keep my apostolate fearless, dynamic, and articulate, to proclaim the loving solitude of Our Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain pardon, through the merits of Your Merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
“Children and adolescents are being deceived by false models of happiness pushed by adults who lead them down the dead-end streets of consumerism,” Pope Benedict XVI said this past Saturday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and also the traditional first day of the Christmas shopping season in Italy.
In the United States, more evidence of this dire warning abounds and has for some time.
In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-orient society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
Dr. James McGinnis, founder of the Institute for Peace and Justice in St. Louis, suggests several practical ways for teens and others to counter consumerism in his recent book Activities for Catholic Social Teaching. Share some of these ideas with your students. Ask them to suggest other ways to counteract rampant consumerism, especially during Advent and Christmas.
Some Practical Ways to Counter Consumerism
Use public facilities. Use the public library for books and videos and public parks for outdoor fun.
Critique advertising. As a way of resisting the appeal of advertising, talk back to TV commercials, magazine ads, highway billboards. Share some of this with your friends or family.
Enjoy the outdoors. The beauty of creation can delight far more than computer games and video arcades and lots of other consumer “stuff.” Walk or bike in nearby parks. Try hiking and canoeing, and camp out, even in your own backyard sometimes. Enjoy your local botanical gardens and arboretums and visit state and national parks whenever you get the opportunity.
Think before you buy. Are you an impulsive buyer or are you affected by the push to instant gratification? Is there a way you could slow down your shopping habits to allow for some time to reflect about whether you need an item before you purchase it?
Personalize your gifts. Personal “presence” can be more satisfying than purchased presents when we celebrate birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions. Surprise parties, albums with special photos and personal statements, homemade gifts, going to special places with the person being celebrated, etc., are all wonderful alternatives to consumer-oriented rituals.
Shop small. Shop at local stores and thrift stores, buy from local producers (e.g., open air or farmers markets), eat at neighborhood restaurants.
Consider the mall. Malls are everywhere, replacing many local stores and family-owned restaurants. How often and for what reasons do you go to shopping malls?
What functions has the shopping mall taken on in our nation? In your own life?
True or false: shopping malls have become the religious temples of America. Explain.
Institute an “Exchange System.” To reduce the amount of “stuff” you accumulate, for each new item you buy, give away a similar item to someone in need. This works especially well with articles of clothes but can also apply to books, games, CDs, etc.
Other Ideas
• Have the students visit the Affluenza and The Center for a New American Dream websites and come up with additional suggestions for combating consumerism.
• Read Psalm 34:1–11. Have the students consider what the Lord will do for the unfortunate who call out for his help.
• Use handouts from James McGinnis book that address this and other issues in social justice.
Dr. Daniel Smith Christopher, Professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University and author of The Old Testament: Our Call to Faith and Justice is a “hands on” teacher who has envied those in the math and science fields who are able to enhance their courses with work in a “lab.” He’s proposing that teachers of religion (and the other humanities) have the same opportunities to make lab or studio sessions part of their coursework. And he’s asking for your help. Here’s a sample of Dr. Smith Christopher’s favorite Bible Lab sample with a link to two more lessons.
We hope to grow the Bible Lab with the possibility of eventually publishing a book with the best interactive ideas for teaching and learning Scripture. We are seeking out some of your best ideas with the invitation to have them sited here for many to share. If you are interested please label and e-mail them to the attention of the Bible Lab! at this special address.
Dr. Moorey’s Mystery
Background
The most successful hands-on experiment that I have used in my freshman college courses (and with visiting high school students and in adult education settings, too) is what I call: “Dr. Moorey’s Mystery.” It is named for Dr. P.R. Moorey of Oxford University (who passed away in 2004), with whom I consulted on the original design of the this experiment when I first invented it while a graduate student at Oxford.
Preparations
You will need a total of four homemade clay pots for this experiment.
Pot 1 should be roughly made as a “pinch pot” without using a wheel. For my series, each of the pots has an obvious rim . Each of your four pots should have one obvious feature that remains constant throughout the series. This is a very significant clue, and illustrates what archeaologists look for in studying pottery styles.
The next three pots should be made on a wheel.
Pot 2 should be made with thick walls. Leave your finger impressions on the side (e.g. do not smooth the walls on the outside). Don’t forget your constant feature (like the rims on my pots).
Pot 3 should be made with thin walls, smoothed surface, and even some decorations (e.g., a design, or even simple animal figures, etc.). After this one is made and fired, take it apart from the others, find a safe place to burn some paper, and set this one pot only on the burning paper to get some black sooty markings on this pot.
Pot 4 should be very much like Pot 3, but only with smooth walls, and no designs, and no burn marks.
When you have finished making these four, generally similar sized pots, each one of them should exhibit at least one generally similar feature (as I said, for my set it is rims around the top).
Next, break up (smash!) all four pots. Keep only a few pieces of the first, hand-made pot, including pieces that feature your main stylistic clue (e.g. rim, etc.). This is your “most primitive” pot, and should have fewer sample pieces than the others.
I keep all my pieces together in a box, and bring it to class on the very first day of the course, in order to have a surprising, “hands on” activity for a class that most students think is going to be bookish and slow.
Classroom Directions
I ask the entire class to stand, come forward, and draw pieces of broken pottery from the box. I then tell the entire room that there is a story in these pieces, and their task is to tell the story. Make up something fun, like, “While digging the foundation for my house, something incredible was found . . .” or “While the gardener was working in the garden by the school, he stumbled onto . . . .” I always stop, with a smile, and say, “This is not a true story.” Finish the story with: “These pieces are dying to tell you a story—your task is to give these pieces a voice! Tell their story!”
You must clarify, however, that the key to unlocking the story is that they must also seek the answer to a single critically important question that is answered with either “yes” or “no”. I inform them that they can ask any question they want at any time, but I will only answer the correct question. If the class is not moving toward this question, I give a hint – “it has to do with how they were found.” In the meantime, I tell the students to circulate around the room, collecting information about the pottery pieces.
They will make lots of good observations. Affirm the observations they make, like: “the pieces seem to come from more than one pot” and “the pieces are made from the same material” (suggests same people making them?). Eventually someone will say: “Were they all found at the same time?” That is the question and they immediately realize that the different pots they are discerning among the mixture must represent different pots from different times.
Now have them group the pieces, and try to guess which came first, then next, and analyze why they are saying this. The key to the experiment is making sure that students are not allowed to speculate beyond reasonable inferences from the evidence.
Teaching the Lesson
The point of the lab experiment to illustrate a number of critical skills for the study of biblical texts:
- biblical study requires careful, critical, and rational thought;
- biblical study requires historical analysis based on evidence;
- biblical study must rely on the evidence first and foremost;
- speculation must have a basis in evidence.
In this particular mystery, the evidence is the pottery pieces. In the Bible, the evidence is the text itself—not what we think it says, not what it is supposed to say…but what it actually says. The experiment teaches students to examine the evidence before making guesses as to meaning and purpose in biblical study.
And, it is lots of fun as you get better at guiding groups through the experiment.
The Church proclaims readings from the Book of Isaiah during Advent and on Christmas Day. Use the opportunity to remind your students that the Book of Isaiah actually contains the work of more than one writer, from more than one time. The book of Isaiah is usually divided as follows:
Isaiah 1–39.These chapters are mostly stories about, and sayings of, the actual prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem for whom the book is named.Isaiah 40—–55.A second, unnamed prophet known as “Second Isaiah” is credited with this portion of the book. Second Isaiah lived at the end of the Babylonian period and the beginning of the Persian period (545–534 B.C.) and likely witnessed the collapse of Babylon to the Persian Empire.Isaiah 56–66.The final chapters are thought to have been collected by disciples of Second Isaiah (called “Third Isaiah”), writings from Jerusalem and the Diaspora after thexile. These chapters emphasize the importance of the Temple and invite all nations to join Israel as God’s Chosen People. Have the students read the following passages from the Sundays in Advent and the Midnight Mass of Christmas and write how they refer to the coming of the Messiah and God’s Kingdom.First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 2:1-5First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11:1-10First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 7:10-14Christmas at Midnight Isaiah 62:11-–-12
This Saturday, December 8, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in which the Church celebrates the clean and pure beginnings of Mary, the Mother of God, from the time she was conceived. Tradition identifies Mary's parents as St. Anne and St. Joachim.
Tradition also plays an important role in the development of this Feast. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a good example of how the lived beliefs of the people led to the declaration of a Church dogma. From the earliest centuries, written testimony exists that Mary was free from original sin. In the East, the Feast was originally called the "Conception of St. Anne," meaning that Anne had conceived and given birth to Mary. As the centuries went on, devotion to Mary's Immaculate Conception grew, especially among the Franciscans and Carmeliites. In the fifteenth century, Pope Sixtus IV allowed the whole Church to celebrate the Immaculate Conception, but he did not command it. Finally, in 1854, Pope Pius IX elevated the Feast to the highest rank when he declared it a dogma of faith that Mary was conceived without original sin. He wrote:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from original sin (Ineffablis Deus
Interestingly, in the appearance of St. Bernadette at Lourdes, France, in 1858, the Lady eventually identified herself saying, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Many felt that this was Mary giving her approval for the Church's recognition of her purity. On December 8, 2007, the Church formally begins the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mary's appearance at Lourdes. This belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary also has roots in the Bible for the Angel Gabriel revealed at the Annunciation of Jesus' birth that Mary was "full of grace."
Additional Lessons
Explore more about the relationship between Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 80-84.
Point out the relationship between the dates the Church commemorates in the life of Mary: the Annunciation (March 25) is nine months before Christmas; the Immaculate Conception is nine months before the birth of Mary (September 8).
Relate the story of Mary's appearance at Lourdes. Explain something of how the Church officially approves apparitions. Include mention of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). If possible show all or part of the film, Song of Bernadette.
Using a concordance or Bible search engine, have the students look up every Scripture passage that refers to Mary. Ask them to use the Biblical commentary to report on the meaning of one or two of the passages.
Demonstrate how clean water comes from a clean sponge. Point out how it was necessary for the sinless Savior to be born of a mother who was also preserved from sin.
Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi (“Saved by Hope") has many applications to catechetical instruction, including offering a reminder that the Christian message is not only "informative" but also "performative," that is, "the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing," Pope Benedict says. Released today, the encyclical teaches that it is in receiving God through Jesus Christ that we receive hope.Pope Benedict illustrates this point narrating the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, an African native who was sold and resold several times in slavery yet never gave up hope. Her spirit was free and her spirit eventually triumphed.A summary of today’s release of Spe Salvi is found at several news sources.A discussion of the informative vs. performative elements of catechesis with high school students was the subject of Daniel Mulhall’s article discussed below.Also note that a new Ave Maria Press book The Cross, Our Only Hope: Daily Reflections in the Holy Cross Tradition likewise claims boldy that the "Cross of Christ is our hope."
As part of a recent in-service day at Notre Dame, several high school theology teachers offered lesson plans to share. Presented below is another in a series of lessons that will be offered from time to time on the Engaging Faith blog.
By Joan Kruger
St. Ursula Academy
Cincinnati, OH
To help celebrate the start of Advent and the birth of a new Church Year, have the students search the Bible for a specific Scripture verse they can make their own. Here is one Scripture search engine that will help with the activity.
The idea is to look through various books of the Bible and find a verse from one of the books that corresponds with the month and day of their birth and also speaks to something particular about the person. For example: January 3=Genesis 1:3 “Then the Lord said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
Some books will not have enough chapters to handle some of the later months, and some chapters don’t have enough verses for 31 days, so some students will have fewer verses available to them. Nevertheless, the results are always interesting!
After choosing their own Birthday Scripture, have the students make a piece of art to display the passage. They write it out in a decorative way and illustrate it in order to bring out the meaning. Of course, the book, chapter, and verse are included in a prominent place on the art piece.
The Birthday Scripture verses can be used to decorate the classroom, and we get to know people’s birthdays as we see their special Scripture verse.
You might also give extra credit if a student writes her Scripture verse on the test. This encourages the students to memorize a Scripture verse and make it their own.
It was just about one year ago in our semi-regular Engaging, Minds, Hearts & Hands newsletter that we asked Catholic theology teachers to share some of the challenges they face. We received several responses, including the following:
The greatest challenge we have is in helping the students understand that the work and activities that take place in theology class are probably some of the most important work they will ever do in forming their future.
—Barb Stanley, Notre Dame Preparatory School, Scottsdale, AZ
Every year my students come to school with the idea that their faith doesn't really matter or is somehow unrealted to peace, love, and justice. My challenge is to overcome indifference and lead them to see that without Christ and his Church, peace, love, and justice are doomed to fail.
—Jeff Lauer, Bishop Dwenger High School, Fort Wayne, IN
Teaching religion in an all-girls Catholic school does not guarantee that all the students will be Catholic. In fact, there are classes where less than half the class is Catholic, let alone an active Catholic. My challenge is this: how do you teach religion to someone who doesn't believe in the practice of your faith! I struggle every day.
—Sarach Glaser, Immaculate Conception Cathedral High School, Memphis,TN
In the same issue, Daniel S. Mulhall, current Assistant Secretary for Catechesis and Inculturation for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and former high school theology teacher, wrote a lead article in which he asked the question: "When the students you teach finish four years of high school, would you rather they know what they Church teaches or believe what the Church teaches. He mentions that the most common answer he receives from teachers is "both." Dan then goes on to explore why both approaches are equally valid and important.
Our intention with this Engaging Faith blog is to provide a forum for Catholic high school theology to do as the banner says: Both share practical lesson ideas and comment on current events with other theology teachers. As we share information, read your comments, and provide a forum to exchange lesson plans and resources, we appreciate the chance to engage with you a discussion of the Catholic faith as you head off to the classroom each day to do the same with your teenage students.
To read Dan's entire article, "Which Way Do You Learn?" and more teacher responses to the the challenges they face teaching theology, please view the Fall, 2006 issue of Engaing Minds, Hearts & Hands at the same link above.
