The “Exploring Our Faith” Chapter provides an active and engaging way to teach key elements of our faith to junior high students. Each lesson begins with a game followed with a teaching. After the teaching is a short prayer to help conclude the lesson.
The Game: Communication Challenge
The Teaching:
As you discovered playing the Communication Challenge game, it is possible to communicate with another person even when you are not able to speak directly to that person for one reason or another. This is in fact the way in which God communicates most of the time. Out of respect for our free will God chooses to speak to us more subtle ways than through direct face to face conversations.
For many this form of communication is simply too hard and therefore they refuse to believe in God. For others the lack of face to face communication leads them into a life of simply following the rules of a religion in order to avoid punishment at the end of their earthly life. For Catholics however, we believe that we are being called by God to have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with Him.
Prayer is its simplest form is more than just communicating with God it is in fact answering the call to enter into a deep personal relationship with our God. How does one then begin to develop this relationship with his or her Divine Creator? Surprisingly a man or woman begin to develop this personal relationship with God in much the same way they would with another man or woman.
Imagine for a moment that someone you have never met before enters the room and that you have decided to interact with this person and to try to begin a friendship with him or her. The first thing you will do is to talk with him or her and you will probably begin this conversation in much the same way that other people would by saying something like, “Hello, how are you today?” “Hi, can I help you,” or “Welcome, my name is…” These formulaic beginnings to conversations are tried and true. In much the same way, we can begin our conversations with God by using a tried and true formula of words. When we pray using already predetermine sets of words like the Our Father, the Act of Contrition, and Glory be we are using what the Church calls “formal” prayer. Eventually though conversations move from formal speech to informal impromptu talking and the hope of the Church is that all formal prayers leads to informal prayer where you and God talk about what is going on, how you are feeling, and what are your dreams, hopes, and fears.
After you have talked to that person for a while and if you still wanted to know that person better, you would eventually want to meet his or her family and friends. In much the same way, Catholics are called not to simply get to know God but also to get to know His family and friends and so as Catholics we gather together around God’s table for a family meal and we gather together in parish communities to grow together in love and knowledge of God.
Finally if you really wanted to get to know the person better you may choose to work alongside that person or to participate in an activity that he or she is also doing. As Catholics we feel called to do this also but what exactly does God do with His time. This passage from Luke, answers that question for us:
John the Baptist sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' "At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. (Luke 7:1-21)
In other words God is all about doing service. And so as Catholics we stress service by encouraging people to perform what have come to be known as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Corporal Works of Mercy
To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To shelter the homeless
To visit the sick
To ransom the captive
To bury the dead
Spiritual Works of Mercy
To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted;
To pray for the living and the dead
Prayer:
Begin with the Sign of the Cross, then ask each person to name something that they are going to do within the next week to build their relationship with God and finally end by having everyone pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be together.
The Game: Bible Code Game
The Teaching:
The Sacred Scripture, also known as the Bible, are central to the Catholic faith because we believe that they are divinely inspired and through the pages and stories of the Scripture God reveals himself to us in a special way.
The Bible in one way is a guide to living. God is our creator and He knows what is best for us. An analogy might be if we were all cars that God our engineer and just as an engineer knows what type of gas works best in the car, God knows what is best for us. In a very real sense the Bible is the manual God gives to each one of us so that we may know how to take care of ourselves and others.
The Bible is also a love letter from God informing us of how much God really loves us. We learn through Sacred Scripture that God loves us so much that He willingly died to save us.
One of the key to understanding the Bible is to realize that it is actually more like a library of books and not just one book. The books of the Bible are composed up from many different literary styles and genres and just like you would not go to the fiction section of the library to find information about a nonfiction topic like Abraham Lincoln you have to know what type and style of book that you are reading.
Within the Bible there are…
Historical Accounts: Some parts of the Bible are written as actual historical accounts of what really went on in history. It is important though to note that not all the Bible is written in this manner and that all the human writers that God used were also influenced by their faith as they wrote.
Letters: There are letters written from one person to another person. Sometimes the hardest part about understanding the Bible is trying to figure out what the author assumes the reader will already know. Just as you would not rehash something that someone already knew about in a letter so these human authors did not. We are then challenged therefore to also read in between the lines for what is not being said is sometimes just as important as what is being said.
Law: Strangely enough, God has even included texts of ritual and cultural law in the Bible and these passages help give us an insight also into God.
Parables: Parables were a favorite teaching method of Jesus. Parables are basically stories with a moral point to them.
Proverbs: Little pieces of spiritual wisdom are included in the Bible to inspire us to live a holier life.
Biography: Much of the Bible is focused on helping us to know more about the men and women who assisted or fought against God in His plan of salvation.
Prayer: A lot of the Bible is composed of prayers and spiritual songs and remind us and show us the important place prayer should take in our own lives.
Prophecy: Some of the most fascinating books of the Bible are the prophetic books which are the writings and sayings of some of Israel’s prophets. We believe that the prophets speak to us today just as much as he spoke to them.
Apocalyptic: Some of the most confusing writings in Scriptures are those that come from the Apocalyptic genre. The writers use vivid and sometimes confusing imagery to explain spiritual truths.
As a person tries to come to a better understanding of the Bible, he or she must see that the Bible as a whole of telling the story of Salvation History—all the events that were/are a part of God’s plan for saving the world. Here is a quick timeline of Salvation History according to the Bible.
Creation: The creation stories including the creation of the world, the stories of Adam and Eve and their children up to and including Noah explain how God created the world good and how sin has entered the world through human sin.
Patriarchs: God begins to enter into history again by calling Abraham to go forth. God will start to build a personal relationship with Abraham and His descendants.
Exodus: God comes to the rescue of Abraham’s descendents who had become slaves in Egypt.
Promise Land & the Kingdoms: The Israelites finally make it to the Promise Land but instead of thanking God for this blessing they turn away from Him time and time again.
Exile & Hope: Despite the warnings of the prophets, Israel continues to fall further and further away from God and eventually they are defeated by a foreign enemy that leads them into exile. Surprisingly though this is a time of hope as more and more people begin to turn back to God.
God enters into the world in the person of Jesus Christ and God Himself pays the price for sin on the cross. During His earthly life God instructs us on how we are to live.
With the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit Jesus’ followers led by the Apostles begin to understand the God becoming Man event—the Good News of Jesus Christ and begin to proclaim God to the whole world through both active preaching and letter writing. The Church is born.
Finally one last point to keep in mind when trying to understand the Scriptures and that is what the Catholic Church calls typology. Typology is the idea that images from the Old Testament for tell events in the New Testament and the parts of the New Testament help shed light on the meaning of the Old Testament. For example Moses leading the people through the Red Sea, from slavery to freedom, is a type for the Jesus’ death as He leads us through death to new and everlasting life from slavery to sin to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.
Prayer:
Ask everyone to make the Sign of the Cross on the lips, forehead, and heart as someone says “May the Lord be on your lips, your mind, and on your heart as your proclaim the Holy Gospel with your lives.
The Game: The Sketching Game
The Teaching:
As Catholics we believe that Jesus Christ reveals to us who God is. The word “reveal” means unveiling-to show what was hidden. For example a person may say that he or she loves another person but if he or she follows the declaration of love with a violent act against the person we would say that his or her real intentions were revealed and that he or she really did not love that person. It was not simply enough for God to say He loved us, it was necessary for Him to show us through His action. St. John tells us in His Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-19)
Jesus’ life on earth reveals to us just who God is and how much He loves us. We see in the Christmas story that God chose to suffer for us by freely becoming one of us. We see Jesus do battle with the devil for us in the temptation stories. The miracles that Jesus performed show us God’s compassion on all those who suffer. His death and resurrection show us that God’s love for us is not only total but also life giving.
The Prayer: Tracy Dawn’s Revelation of A Divine Romance Jesus Proves God's Love
The Game: Duck-Duck-Goose
The Teaching:
There are just certain moments in life when a person is changed forever and once experience a person cannot make things go back to the way they were. In the context of the game duck-duck-goose the moment a person is “goosed” he or she is now “it” and he or she cannot go back to not being “it” anymore. He or she now has a task to accomplish and that is to tag the person who “goosed” them.
The people around the time of Christ demonstrated this most clearly in the ceremony that made someone a soldier.
They would build these elaborate archways and a man who wished to become a soldier would walk through the archway reciting an oath. Once he got to the other side of the archway he was no longer a citizen he was a soldier. He was no longer subject to the civilian government but rather he was subject to his military leaders and code.
This ancient practice is carried on in our world today. For example it is not by winning the popular election, or even winning the electoral college that makes a man or woman the President of the United States but rather only when the man or woman have taken the Oath of Office does he or she become President of the United States.
Another key thing to remember is that Sacraments are physical signs of invisible realities. For example a stop sign is a physical sign of the invisible need to stop and a team jersey is the visible sign of the invisible reality of team unity. Sacraments are all around us.
In our Catholic faith we believe that God created seven specific Sacraments to help transform us into the people we are supposed to be.
Sacrament | Outward Sign | Invisible Reality |
Baptism | Water being poured over the head and the proclamation of the Trinitarian formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” | The person baptized is spiritually cleansed of original sin and in addition the person baptized is made a member of God’s family through adoption. The person baptized is now a child of God. |
Eucharist | The gifts of bread and wine are prayed over and given back to the people. | At each Mass we unite ourselves to Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross by offering ourselves symbolically through the gifts of bread and wine. We in return receive the Body and Blood of Christ for our spiritual nourishment. |
Confirmation | The bishop lays his hands on the person being confirmed and anoints them with the Sacred Oil of Chrism | Through the Sacrament of Confirmation the person becomes an adult member of the Catholic faith. He or she is tasked with living out his or her Catholic faith in a mature way . |
Reconciliation | Person confesses his or her sins to God’s minister and the priest says a prayer over him or her declaring his or her sins forgiven | God using the priest as his voice forgives the person’s sins and encourages that person to sin no more. |
Anointing of the Sick | Person is anointed with oil by a priest | The person is physically supported by God’s people and his or her sins are forgiven. |
Marriage | Two people exchange vows in front of the Church’s ministers | God unites the couple in an unbreakable bond of love and a new family is born. |
Holy Orders | A person is consecrated by a bishop for service to the larger Church and anointed with Sacred Chrism | A man is set aside and filled with the grace of God to be a spiritual servant. And as a trusted servant he is given new power based on the degree of Holy Orders that he has received. |
The Prayer: Have everyone renew their baptismal vows.
Celebrant: Do you reject Satan?
All: I do
Celebrant: And all his work?
All: I do
Celebrant: And all his empty promises?
All: I do
Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
All: I do
Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
All: I do
Celebrant: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
All: I do
Celebrant: This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
All: Amen:
The Game: Church Scavenger Hunt (Create your own scavenger hunt) or
Crack the Code (See Team and Faith Building Exercises) or
Mass Identification (See Team and Faith Building Exercises)
The Teaching:
Begin by asking a volunteer to hold a lamp in the middle of the room. When everyone’s attention is focused on the lamp asked the volunteer to turn it on. Of course the volunteer will be unable to because the lamp is not connected to an outlet. Now take some extension cords and use them to plug the lamp in and then have the volunteer turn on the lamp. As the extension cords bring the power of the electrical outlet to the center of the room the Church connected to Christ brings the power of Christ into the world today.
To better understand just how the Church brings the power of Christ to the world today one must look at the Church from several different vantage points.
Structural/Hierarchical/Political Model: People who look at the Church in a Hierarchical model appreciate the order of the Church. They are comforted by the fact that God has given us an institution that allows us to come and have our questions of faith answered by a legitimate authority.
Body of Christ Model: People who look at the Church in a Body of Christ model appreciate the fact that we are all equal in the eyes of God even though we all have different roles.
Sacramental Model: People who look at the Church in a Sacramental model appreciate the sacraments but also see the Church as a giant sacrament drawing all the people of the world together for God.
Pilgrim People: People who look at the Church in a Pilgrim Model see the Church as a tool to get people to heaven. We are fellow travelers in this life making our way to heaven. There is safety in number.
Servant Model: People who look at the Church in a Servant Model see the Church as Christ’s hands and feet in the world today. They feel a sense of obligation to serve the less fortunate and to correct the wrongs of worlds.
The important thing to remember is that all of these views are right in themselves but are not complete. They are all rooted in this passage from the Acts of the Apostles: The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. Acts 4:32-35
Prayer:
Have everyone stand in a circle and hold hands. Begin by reading the Scripture passage from Acts above. Next have everyone offer a prayer of petition. Finally conclude with the Our Father.
The Game: Two Truths and A Lie
Each person will be given a chance to say two true statements about themselves and one statement that is false. The other players are then supposed to guess which of the statements is a lie.
The Teaching:
Whenever we make a choice in life we are necessarily choosing between two things. If I go right I cannot go left. If I vote for one candidate I cannot vote for his or her opponent. Catholic Morality then is based on the law of love: “"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31).
The Ten Commandments are in a way guidelines from God on how to live out the law of love. If we avoid breaking the commandments we will find that we are actually living out the law of love in much the same way that someone who practicing a lot for a sport discovers the added benefit of being healthy.
Ten Commandments
1. I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
As Catholics though we do not simply follow the Ten Commandments out of fear of being punish we follow them because we want to find happiness. Another word for “happiness” in this context is “beatitude”. As Catholics we also look at the eight beatitudes. Each beatitude is scene in the eyes of the Catholic Church as an exhortation of Jesus to choose the good and to avoid evil. The following are a list of the beatitudes and the attitudes that we reject by choosing them.
Beatitude | What is Rejected |
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit | Wealth brings happiness |
Blessed are they who mourn | Being able to laugh at others misfortunes brings happiness |
Blessed are the meek | Security brings happiness |
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness | When I am comfortable then I will be happy. Who cares about everyone else? |
Blessed are the merciful | Happy are you when you get revenge |
Blessed are the clean of heart | You will be happy when you use other people for your own selfish desires |
Blessed are the peacemakers | You are great when you can take things by force |
Blessed are they who are persecuted | Happiness exists in being popular. |
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
The Game: Collage: Divide everyone up into groups of 4 to 6. Give each group a poster board, some old magazines, scissors and some glue and instruct them to create a collage that says something to them about who God is to them. When they are finished have them present I to the rest of the group. Make sure that everyone contributes.
The Teaching:
Faith in some sense is the gift of being able to see God in everyday things and to trust that God does want what is best for us and He desires our happiness. Most of the problems that we get into happen when we stop trusting God and start trying to be God.
As Catholics we believe that God did not simply create us to watch us wander around aimlessly. God desires our participation in His Divine plan of creation and redemption. Searching for our role in His plan is called searching for our Vocation. The word vocation comes from the Latin word “Vocare” which means “call”. So when we are speaking of our vocation we are speaking of our calling in life.
First every human being is called to love like God loves and this vocation is called the universal call to holiness. Holiness is not something simply reserved for priests and nuns. In fact God calls each and everyone to love and to make the world a better place. For Catholics there are four ways that we can live out that call. We can live it out as a priest, as a religious, as a married man or woman, and as a dedicated single person.
Priest: A priest hears the call to stand up and be a leader in the Catholic Community. He shows us God’s devotion to his people by living out his vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty.
Religious: A vowed religious person inspires us to focus on God above all things through their vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty.
Married life: Married couples show us God’s inner life of love by continually sacrificing in the marriage to show the love they have in their heart to their spouse and like God’s love it becomes fruitful and life-giving.
Dedicated single life: A person who is trying to discover God’s will in their life or has chosen to remain single is being called to holiness too. It is up to him or her to live out their faith to the best of their ability by dedicating themselves to God’s will.
Each of these vocations are equal in rank and dignity. Sometimes people though get confused because when talking about vocations we often confused it with careers. You might hear someone say I want to be a lawyer so therefore I cannot be a priest. This person has made the mistake of confusing a career with a vocation. There are many priests out there who are lawyers, doctors, etc. So it is important to realize what it is exactly we are talking about when it comes to finding our vocation or helping someone find his or hers.
There are three stages in everyone’s vocations. The first is the vocation part in other words listening for the call and trying to discern God’s will for oneself. The second part is the probation or exploration part where a person learns whether or not a certain vocation is for him or her. For example for a person feeling called to the priesthood this would be his time in the seminary for a couple who feel called to marriage this would be their dating and/or engagement time. Finally there is the oblation part, the giving oneself entirely to one’s calling. With this stage there is no going back.
The Prayer:
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve,
and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.