LESSON PLAN DESIRED RESULTS What do you want your students to know and be able to do?

Transcription

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS This lesson was designed to illustrate how the unity of body and soul which composes the human person is essential in understanding human dignity. This reality is important when understanding the unique place that human beings have within the created order, as well as the ways in which the Church s sacraments, sacramentals, and liturgical rites respect this substantial unity. This lesson is designed to precede the in-depth discussion of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist which will meet diocesan standards Sacraments The lesson is designed to take 90 minutes, with the intention that it could be divided and taught at different times or all at once. LESSON PLAN DESIRED RESULTS What do you want your students to know and be able to do? Goals Learning Standards Essential Questions Knowledge 1. Students will identify that every human being is a substantial unity of body and soul. 2. Students will identify that the human body is good because Christ Himself assumed a body. 3. Students will identify ways in which the Church uses material things (water, oil, bread, wine, the laying on of hands, etc.) to accomplish spiritual ends. 4. Students will explain how what they do with their body affects their soul. 1. Students will explain what the word creed means. Doctrine Students will discuss what to believe means. Doctrine Students will recite the Apostles Creed. Doctrine 6.4 What/Who is a human being? How can we say that the human body has dignity? Why does the Church use material things to accomplish spiritual ends? How can the body influence the soul? How can the soul direct the body? 1. Students will consider the uniqueness of the human being in creation, his elevated status because of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of acting according to what is good. 2. Students will develop an awareness of the material things used by the Church to accomplish spiritual ends. ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE How will you identify what students know and are able to do? Teacher observation of student attentiveness. Teacher observation of student participation in class discussion. 6-1

2 IMPLEMENTING THE LESSON PLAN How is the lesson structured to accomplish this task? Resources needed: Apostles Creed handout Chalk/chalkboard; dry-erase marker/whiteboard; marker/large sheet of paper Learning Activity Pass out copies of the Apostles Creed handout, and read together aloud. The beginning of the Apostles Creed says, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. Days of Creation: Day 1: Created time; Day 4: Rulers of time Day 2: Space; Day 5: Rulers of space Day 3: Life; Day 6: Rulers of life Day 7: Sabbath/rest CCC 362: The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." [Gen 2:7]. Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God. Sample Teacher Questions Can someone tell me how the Apostles Creed begins? (I believe in ) What does it mean to believe? Here s a hint: it s a verb (and verbs are action words). To believe means to hold as true. The word creed comes from the Latin word credo which means to trust [that something is true]. When we say the Apostles Creed when beginning the rosary or the Nicene Creed during Mass on Sunday, we are saying that we believe every word in the Creed to be true. That is why at the end of the Creed we say, Amen. Amen means it is so or truly. Saying amen means that we are in agreement with what has been said/prayed. Does anyone remember on which day of Creation God made human beings? (Sixth day). Why were human beings the last of God s creation? (Because they were the greatest of all creation, being in His image and likeness). When God created human beings, He created them with a body and with a soul. The soul was meant to rule over the body, because God gave the soul knowledge of Himself, of what is good, and how to act. God did not only give Adam and Eve their souls, but He gave each one of us our soul as well. Can you see your soul or someone else s soul with your eyes? (No.) Can you see your body with your eyes? (Yes.) We say that the body is corporeal or made up of matter, and that the soul is spiritual so 6-2

3 it is not made of matter that we can touch. Jesus says, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body (Mt 10:28). If the soul is more important than the body, then is the body bad? The influence of the body on the soul. If you wanted, you could discuss the importance of making an examination of conscience here. (See also Spirituality6.2.) But the soul is still very important, even more important than the body. Is the human body is bad or good? (Good!) Remember, God created human beings and saw that they were good; Jesus had a human body too, so we know that the body is good. Can you use your body to be mean to another person? Might you say unkind things or gossip about someone? Think unkind thoughts? Even hit someone, or take their things? Do these actions make your body bad? (No.) If you did these things, would you need to go to Confession? (Yes.) Look at what you ve just said! You said that what you do with your body -- in this case your mouth, or your mind, or your arms affect your soul. And you re absolutely right! Because the body and soul together make up the human person, they cannot be separated (except at death, at which point a human corpse [dead body] remains) and so what the body does influences the soul. This is true for both bad and good actions. It is also why the Church uses bodily/tangible/corporeal/material things to effect spiritual goals. Jesus Christ, aware of our human nature because he assumed it Himself, has ordained the sacraments to be the ordinary means through which grace is given to the human soul. The sacraments tangibly communicate His love, His life, and His grace to human souls. These sacraments necessarily include material things. Each one of the sacraments has at least one material thing which is needed for its celebration. Let s talk about three of the sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. What is the matter necessary for: Baptism? Water (while oil is used as well to anoint, it is not necessary for the sacrament to take place). 6-3

4 Confirmation?: Anointing with chrism and laying on of hands by the bishop or his delegate priest. Eucharist?: Wheat bread and grape wine. The need for tangible things. The Church also uses objects which we call sacramentals to make us ready to receive the graces given in the sacraments. Depending on the composition of your class, it may be nice to find some holy medals, ask the priest to bless them, and distribute them to your students. Why do we need things that we can sense (see, touch, taste, smell, hear)? (A human being has a body with senses by which he/she interacts with the world.) The soul interacts with the world by means of the body. The body and soul are a team that always work together, influencing one another, because they are inseparable [until death]. Can anyone give me an example of a sacramental? (Blessed rosary, crucifix, scapular, holy medal, holy water, etc.) What are sacramentals? Why do we use them? What do they do? (Sacramentals are blessed objects which are used for prayer or other holy purposes, and help to prepare the human person to receive the graces given in the sacraments). Does anyone have a sacramental with/on them? If so, would you like to show it to the class? This could also be a time to talk about: 1) Other sensory objects/actions that the Church uses during its liturgy (incense, candles, kneeling, etc.) 2) A discussion of these things within particular times in the Church s liturgical year Lent and the Triduum especially. 3) Ways to prepare for Mass (Sacrament6.4). Summarize the lesson. When we recite the Apostles Creed, we are saying that what is contained within it is true. We believe that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and that He created human beings to be a unity of body and soul. Because of that, what we do with our body affects our soul; good actions 6-4

5 produce good effects, and bad actions produce bad effects. We must practice good actions, and confess bad ones. The human body is good, as it was created that way by God and was given an even greater dignity when the Son of God became man. Because of this, the sacraments of the Church use tangible, material things to communicate grace, and sacramentals use tangible things to prepare a person to receive that grace. Closing. Let us pray the Apostles Creed together again, and let us think about each word as we profess our Faith. 6-5