Page 16 - Confirmation Junior High

Teaching the Lesson
Step 10 (10 Minutes)
Have the young people read the text in the left column under the heading “Participating in the Life of the Church.” To give the young people additional insight into why participating in the Eucharist
is such an important part of our relationship with God, refer them to paragraphs 2174–2178 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If enough copies of the Catechism are available, ask the young people to read these paragraphs aloud
in small groups, selecting the
main idea from each paragraph. The groups can share the ideas they have selected with the entire group. Or you can summarize these
Virtues
A virtue is a habit that enables a person to perform
an action with ease. Virtues can help us to live out the Commandments in our lives. Some virtues—prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude—are developed by practice (CCC, 1835–1838). They are called human virtues. Faith, hope, and charity are virtues given as gifts from God (CCC, 1842–1844). They are called theological virtues and help us live in relationship with God.
Virtue helps us develop good consciences. Your conscience tells you whether an action is right or wrong, and it urges you to do good and to avoid evil. Educating your conscience in light of the Word of God will be a lifelong task. You can count on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the Church, and the advice of others to help you.
Activity 2
The theological virtues help you live a moral life. Though some of their names might be unfamiliar to you, you probably already have several of them without even realizing it.
By yourself or with a partner, create a mind
map of the theological virtues. Look up their dic onary and Catechism de ni ons if you need to. How do you think these virtues relate to each other? How will you show these rela onships in your map—with lines, designs, colors?
Rela onships
Participating in the Life of the Church
Being in covenant with God is not just about breaking or keeping rules. God calls us to be members of the Church and the Communion ofSaints,whichincludesallfaithful people, living and dead.
Sacramentsconnectus. Above
all, we connect by participating in the Eucharist—the Mass—each Sunday. The Eucharist is the heart and summit of the Church’s life. The whole spiritual good of the Church— Christ himself—is contained in the Eucharist, the Body of Christ. Christ is present in the Eucharist, pouring out the grace of salvation to all members of his Body—the Church. The Eucharist unites us with all believers into one Body in Christ.
Our covenant with God also calls us to participate actively in the sacramental life of the Church. This participation gives us grace to
6 Lesson 2
transform ourselves, our family, our neighborhood, and our society.
The following ve rules are the precepts of the Church—positive laws that the Church has given us to guarantee that each of us will grow in love of God and neighbor:
1. YoushallattendMassonSundays and on holy days of obligation and restfromservilelabor.
2. You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
3. You shall receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
4. You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
5. You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church. (CCC, 2042– 2043)
For his part of the covenant, God gives us, by his grace, a share in his own inner life of love within the Holy Trinity. Jesus, the Word of God made esh,lovesusimmensely— beyond all we can imagine. He loves ustothepointofdyingontheCross so that he could offer us the promise of eternal life after death. This eternal life of love and joy begins even now in the sacraments. God, the Holy Trinity, wants to live this life together with us. He establishes a covenant relationship with us, loves us, and remains with us, simply because God is Love.
“Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.... Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.”
—Romans 12:9–10, 16–17
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paragraphs for the group.
After the small groups have had a chance to discuss the background from the Catechism, ask volunteers to take turns reading the precepts of the Church aloud.
Life
Step 11
Have the young people work in small groups to complete the I Respond
to God’s Word activity. Distribute Bibles, at least one per group.
Option A (10 Minutes) Organize the young people into
four groups and assign each group one of the Scripture passages and corresponding questions. Have the groups present their responses to the larger group.
Option B (20-30 Minutes) Organize the young people into
small groups and ask each small group to prepare a skit based on one of the Scripture passages. Have small groups act out their skits for the large group. Following each skit, lead the young people in discussing the questions for each Scripture passage.
After everyone has nished reading and responding to the questions, call on volunteers to share their responses to the questions. Discuss what all the Scripture passages together tell us about what is required of us in our relationship with God.
22 Lesson 2
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