Fifth Grade Lesson Plans. Session Thirteen The Sacrament of Reconciliation

Transcription

1 Fifth Grade Lesson Plans Session Thirteen The Sacrament of Reconciliation Materials needed: Dry Erase markers (in Mouse House) Are All Sins Equal? handout (2 pages) 1 set per child Prayer: Our Father/Hail Mary/Glory Be Lesson: Say: We re going to spend the next two weeks talking about the sacrament of Reconciliation. What do you know about this sacrament? This sacrament was one of the very first things that Jesus gave us after he was raised from the dead. He appeared to His disciples and said these words to them: Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained. (John 20: 19-23) We go to reconciliation to tell our sins to a priest. Did you ever wonder why we do that? Everyone wants to know! But you will need a little knowledge to be able to answer that question. Jesus gave the disciples (no one else) the power to forgive sins through Him. The disciples acted in persona Christi or in the person of Christ when they forgave someone s sins.

2 The bishops of the Church are the descendants of the disciples. As the disciples died, the power to forgive sins (through Jesus) was handed down to the bishops. As the Church grew and grew, priests were ordained and were given the power to act in persona Christi when they hear confessions. Since the bishops and priests cannot forgive or retain sins they don t know about, we go to them to confess our sins. Reconciliation and the forgiveness of our sins was Jesus plan right from the very beginning. So, what is a sin? The Hebrew word for sin is Hata, which means to miss the mark. It was used to describe the breaking of a covenant. When we sin, we break our covenant with God. What? When did I make a covenant with God? At your baptism. Your parents spoke for you but a covenant between you and God was sealed on that day. God promised to be your God, to take care of you and do everything possible to be sure you spend eternity with Him. YOU promised to obey God and live as Jesus teaches which means following the Ten Commandments. SO what is sin? Any time we break one of the commandments, we sin. How many of the Commandments can you name? (See how many kids can name)

3 I am the Lord your God, you shall not have strange gods before me. You must not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor s goods. Next week we ll look at each of these commandments and what they mean in our own lives. There is one more thing to understand about sin before we re done today. The Church teaches there are two kinds of sin: mortal (deadly) or venial. Mortal sin kills our relationship with God. Last week I asked you if you would rather die physically (which is over soon) or spiritually (which is eternal). You have to do three things to make a sin mortal: The sin has to be serious (Killing someone vs. pushing your brother down). You must know the sin is serious and that is wrong and do it anyway.

4 The sin must be committed with your own free will. (If someone else forces you to do something wrong, it is not a sin.) A MISTAKE IS NEVER A SIN. We die eternally when we commit mortal sin because it kills our relationship with God. That sounds bad! How can we fix it? (By going to Reconciliation and confessing our sins. The priest then absolves us of our sin in the person of Christ.) Venial sin is less serious sin. It weakens our relationship with God but does not kill it. The bad thing about venial sin is that if we don t recognize it and stop it, we can easily fall into mortal sin. FILL OUT THE ARE ALL SINS EQUAL? HANDOUT TOGETHER AS A CLASS. Play Mortal sin, Venial sin or Mistake Pictionary Students take turns being the artist. Give the artist a sin to draw. After the class has guessed the sin, they must decide if it is a mortal sin, a venial sin or not a sin at all. 1. Tripping your brother (venial)

5 2. Robbing a bank (Mortal) 3. Cheating on a test (Mortal) 4. Accidently breaking a dish (not a sin) 5. Telling a white lie (venial) 6. Refusing to share your dessert (venial) 7. Destroying another person s reputation (Mortal) 8. Spilling milk on the floor (not a sin) 9. Stealing candy from your brother s Halloween bag (venial) 10.Missing Mass to sleep late (Mortal)