Preparation. Lesson Plan: The Gift of Piety. What You Will Need. Prepare Yourself

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1 Lesson Plan: The Gift of Piety Preparation What You Will Need Chalkboard, marker board, or flip chart (large paper) something to write on & display Understanding Discussion Guide Understanding Lesson Summary Jeopardy Signs & Cards Prepare Yourself Read through the lesson and make sure that it is all clear to you. If you have any questions, feel free to use the online resource center at to ask them. The Gift of Understanding is the guidance of the Holy Spirit that gives us deeper insight into revealed truths. Reflect on your road of learning about your faith. Try to identify those times when your understanding of your faith extended beyond your natural intellectual abilities. If you cannot recall any such times, try to recall times when concepts of the faith clicked for you when you had epiphanies of understanding. If you are able to take some more time to pray, read Luke 24:13-35 and Acts 2:1-41 slowly and prayerfully. Reflection: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit allow us to put on Christ by sharing in His attributes. Jesus imparted understanding on those who loved Him, allowing them to become part of His plan of salvation. This understanding and the participation in His saving actions that it enables is a form of intimacy with Christ, which he invites us into as well.

2 Starting the Lesson Opening Prayer You are, of course, free to use any opening prayer you would like. One is provided for you below if you d like to use it. Heavenly Father, you invite us to become part of your family by uniting ourselves to your Son. We are filled with awe and wonder at a God who loves us like His children, and not as a master loves a slave. Grant us the grace of your Son while we look forward to receiving the Gift of Piety, so that our hearts may be opened to your love and so that we may live our lives as children of the Kingdom. Amen. Central Point The following phrase encapsulates the main point of the lesson. It is recommended that you display this phrase prominently on a chalk board, a white board, or a poster. Piety is the Gift of the Holy Spirit inspires us to love God as children love their parents.

3 Opening Discussion Ask the candidates: What is unique about the way a child loves his or her parents? Discuss the uniqueness of filial love and of parental love. Stress that family love is Unearned we are made part of a family before we are even able to deserve it Total most parents are willing to sacrifice everything for the good of their children. Permanent family love lasts forever and is unconditional. We are loved by our family as a complete package, with our strengths and our faults. Centered on the gift of life family love is all about creating and nurturing life, and about giving each other life as a family grows together This is the kind of love that God has for us. Briefly discuss how we know that God s love holds each of these elements: Unearned we are made members of God s family through baptism, usually as infants before we can even think about earning such an honor. Of course, we could never earn such an honor even as adults. But infant baptism reminds us that God loves us first, and our love is always a response to His. Total Jesus showed us the extent of God s love when He emptied Himself to take on human nature, and especially when He gave His life for us on the Cross. Permanent Jesus works and teachings show us that God s love is unconditional. Even St. Peter is reconciled to Jesus after denying Him three times. Life-giving God is the author of all life. He gave us life through Creation. He continues to give us life through grace. The Main Lesson The discussion guide for the main lesson should be mostly self-explanatory. The outline below offers a big picture of the lesson. Instruction The instruction for this lesson is interspersed among discussion questions and scripture verses. The ideas in this lesson are somewhat basic compared to the other Gifts, offering you the opportunity to focus the discussion much more on God s love for us.

4 Salvation History Timeline Game After you read the section of the discussion guide on Piety and the Covenant, bring out the Salvation History Timeline Game. The goal of this game is two-fold 1. To match the description of each event in salvation history with the appropriate image and label. 2. To put the events of salvation history in proper order. This activity can be run any number of ways. Here is one recommendation. Lay out the images in random order on the floor. Give each student a description card, but tell them not to look at them and to place them upside down. Give each student ten seconds to look at his/her card and to make a match. Once every student has had a turn, go through the answers in the order the images are lying on the floor. Next, see if the students can work together to put the events in the proper order. Once you go through the correct order, explain to the class that each event in salvation history is a move by God to invite humanity back into the family to teach us how to love. Lesson Summary Next, have students fill out the study guide, called a lesson summary because the act of filling out the guide helps students to summarize the most important points of the lesson. Most of the terms on the study guide are emphasized by bold text in the discussion guide.

5 Closing Celebrate the Gift! Ask each student to share one thing he or she really likes about his/her family. Close by sharing that everything good about our families are only reflections of the goodness of God s family. Closing Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, you love us so much that you call us your brothers and sisters. You call us to be Sons and Daughters of your Heavenly Father, and to become heirs with you of the Kingdom of God. Help us to unite ourselves to you in love, so that we may be members of the Family of God for all eternity. Amen.