Level 7, Notes for Lesson Plan 4, Chapters 4, 5, & 6: "God's Plan of Salvation", "The Holy Prophet Moses" & "God's Special Spokesmen, The Prophets"

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1 Level 7, Notes for Lesson Plan 4, Chapters 4, 5, & 6: "God's Plan of Salvation", "The Holy Prophet Moses" & "God's Special Spokesmen, The Prophets" Showing the full picture of our Catholic Faith through salvation history. Many times our faith is presented in a fragmented form, much like just a few notes from Beethoven's Symphony #5: "Dum, dum, dum, dum". It's not bad, but by itself not all that impressive. What we would really like is to be able to hear more of it because it is beautiful and captures us. We want to learn about the "Why's" of our faith. To do that we need the complete picture which is found in salvation history. God created the angels (pure spirits). Salvation history starts with the creation of the world and the creation of Adam and Eve. What was life like before The Fall? o Never had to work, never got sick, had all they wanted, wouldn t get hurt. o Adam and Eves passion were in order. They had their priorities straight: God 1 st, my spouse 2 nd, the animals 3 rd, etc. What was it like after The Fall? (Read Genesis 3:1-24, The Fall) o Reread the snippets from Genesis 3 What were the consequences of The Fall? o Original Sin (birth mark) o Strong inclination to sin. o In other words, easy for us to sin. o Examples: Mom and dad ask you to wash the dishes while you are busy on the internet or reading a great book. First inclination? Guy cuts you off in traffic? First inclination? Stayed up too late on Saturday night, now it s Sunday morning and time to go to Mass? First inclination? Pulling self away from the TV Lack of patience with my children/spouse snappy, yell. o Sin enslaves us Natural tendencies We don t like when we react that way... maybe feels good at the moment, but we really don t like. Sin enslaves us, makes us suspicious, anxious, worrisome, fearful. Sin leads us to seek for happiness outside of God. **Does not mean free from a cross, JPII, Mother Teresa... Free! o Disordered my passions: What are things you like/enjoy?

2 Sports, outdoors, computer, money, ice cream, family, friends, God. These are passions. They are not bad in and of themselves; however, because of Original Sin they become disordered. **Draw these things on the board. Sometimes it is difficult for us to keep God first, on top. Example: Because I stayed up late watching TV on Saturday night, I slept in and missed Mass. In this case, my priority was TV, not God. Example: Someone was making fun of my Catholic faith, I didn t speak up because I didn t want to look dumb. My priority was myself. Example: I spend several hours talking to my friends today and didn t spend even a minute talking to God. My priority: My friends over God. o These are all examples of effects of Original Sin. o Closed the gates to Heaven. The Need: o After Original Sin, it set us up from someone to redeem us, to save us, to show us the way. **Mark on the Board** o Adam and Eve, Original Sin o Have them name other Old Testament bible characters. (Use the following details (between the asterisks) as time allows to fill in the gaps as you prompt the youth to tell you the names and what they know about the following O.T. people (and events).) ********************************************************************************** *********************** Abraham and descendents God established a covenant (an oath binding two parties together) with Abraham (name means "father of many people", 2100 B.C.), promising him land, descendants, and a blessing. Abraham in return agreed to be obedient and to trust in God. God called Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. God intervened and substituted a ram for the offering. God tested Abraham; Abraham showed God he loved him more than anyone else. The sacrifice of Isaac prefigures the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross: *Only begotten son is sacrificed. *Sacrificed by the father. *The son carried the wood for the sacrifice. *The son is the Lamb of the sacrifice. *The son rose from the sacrifice. God rewarded Abraham's love by promising to continue his covenant through Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. God gave Jacob a new name, Israel, which means the man who strives with God." Joseph

3 Jacob had 12 sons (the twelve tribes of Israel), the youngest of who was Joseph (born 1915 B.C.). Other brothers were envious. Other brothers sold him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. In Egypt, he was bought by an important ruling family; became trusted servant of the Pharaoh; became second in command in all of Egypt. Famine occurs in the land of the chosen people where his family lived. Joseph, after forgiving his brothers, invites them to move to Egypt. Joseph prefigures Jesus: *Rejected by his own people. *Sold for pieces of silver. *Life of service. *Innocent, though found guilty. *Saved people, gave what was needed for a happy life. *Forgave others. Moses For 400 years the Israelites lived in Egypt --- treated with love and respect while Joseph was alive. When a later Pharaoh had forgotten Egypt's relationship with Joseph, he enslaved the Israelites to do heavy manual labor including building many of the pyramids. (God's people began to think the Lord had abandoned them.) They were great in number, for they were blessed by God and had the best land. The Pharaoh feared the Israelites might over-throw the Egyptians if there was a conflict. As a solution, Pharaoh enacted a law that required the killing of every newborn Israelite boy. This would decrease their numbers; Egyptians could then marry the Israelite women and regain the best land. An Israelite woman in Egypt, hoping to save her newly born son (1526 B.C.), hid him in a basket by the Nile River. The Pharaoh's daughter found him and adopted him as her own son. His name ---Moses. He grew up in the royal palace and was treated as one of the family. Moses killed an Egyptian who was hitting one of Israelite slaves. Moses fled to the land of Midian where he became a herdsman, married, and raised a family. The time arrived when God, because of the covenant he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, answered the prayers of his enslaved people. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush and told him to return to Egypt in order to deliver the Jews form their slavery. The Israelites accepted Moses as a prophet sent from the Lord, but Pharaoh refused to let the Lord's people go. In order to punish Pharaoh's stubbornness, God sent 10 plagues (water turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of livestock, sores and boils, hailstorms, locusts, darkness, death of firstborn). Even after these first 9 plagues, Pharaoh refused to obey the will of God in letting the Jewish people go.

4 Before sending the final plague, the death of every first-born son and animal, God told Moses to have each Israelite family hold a special religious meal which would be a sign that they were members of his sacred people. Every family was to kill a lamb (the Paschal lamb) and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs --- eating this meal standing up, ready to leave on a journey. Before finishing ceremony, they were to sprinkle the lamb's blood on their wooden doorposts a signal to the angel of death that the home was to be spared from the tenth plague. The Passover sacrifice and meal protected the Israelites from the angel of death and prepared them for the exit (exodus) from slavery. The Passover ceremony prefigured how Christ would save us from our sins, through his sacrificial death. Comparison of Passover to the Paschal Mystery and Mass: *Israelites gathered together for the Passover by God's command; we Catholics come together on Sunday for Mass as Christ commands us. * Jesus' Last Supper was a Passover meal. *The Passover lambs were sacrificed on the sixth hour of the day of preparation; Pilate condemns Jesus on the "the day of preparation... about the sixth hour. * The Israelites were not to break any bone of the Paschal Lamb; the soldiers did not break any of Jesus' bones. *The Israelites sacrificed the Paschal lamb; we offer the Father the Eucharistic sacrifice of Jesus, who John the Baptist calls "Jesus the Lamb of God" (Jn1:19). *The Israelites ate the sacrificed lamb; at Mass we are invited to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus. *The Israelites sprinkled the blood of the sacrificed lamb on their doorposts so that death would not come to them; at every Mass the precious blood of Jesus is sacramentally shed for our sins so that we might be saved from eternal death (hell). *The Israelites were to use a hyssop stick to mark their doors with the blood of the Paschal Lamb; the soldiers gave Jesus vinegar to drink which is soaked in a sponge that is place on the end of a hyssop stick. *The Israelites were freed from their slavery; because of Christ's sacrifice we are freed from slavery to sin and the devil. Pharaoh, after the tenth plague, finally relented and freed the Israelites; only to change his mind and pursue them with his army. God saved the Israelites by parting the Red Sea. They were given the 10 Commandments, turned their back on God by worshiping a gold calf, reconciled with God, and had their covenant renewed by God. They were called by God to worship him in the desert for 40 years before being led into the Promised Land (Canaan) by Joshua (1406 B.C.), Moses' successor. Comparison of Moses to Jesus: *Saved the Israelites; savior of all mankind. * Shepherd; the Good Shepherd.

5 *Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians; we are slaves to sin. *Led God's people to freedom through the waters of the Red Sea; sets us free from sin by the waters of Baptism. *Gave the people God's Law on Mount Sinai; fulfilled the Law, especially with the Sermon on the Mount. *Led God's people to the Promised Land; brings us to the true promised land---heaven. King David ( B.C.) Prefigures Christ. Both are shepherds Both are kings Both lead the people of God. Prophets Prophets are witnesses to the truth, who sometimes foretell the future. They are messengers. They speak in God's name as a teacher to help and guide God's people. Prophets call man back to the ways of God. The Israelites waited for the coming of the Savior, or Messiah. The ultimate mission of the prophets was to prepare for the coming of Christ. Isaiah ( B.C.) is one of the greatest prophets, having prophesied about the Messiah. He lived 800 years before Christ. His messages help man to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. John the Baptist is the last and the greatest of the prophets. He was a bridge between the two parts of salvation history and the herald of the Messiah. He was the cousin of Jesus. He would tell the people to repent and baptized people with a baptism of repentance. **************************************************************************** ****************** Christ comes along o He does something than no one would ever imagine, He becomes one of us. o That s how close he wishes to be with us. He not only wants to leave us His Words, His laws, but now himself. Christ has run the race... showed us how to live, gives us yet another means to be connected to the light. He got his hands dirty. o He dies for my sins, busts open the gates of Heaven, I love you so much, I want so much for you not to be a slave to sin, to disordered passions, I broke open the gates of Heaven, so you can be forever fulfilled happy, in the next life. o He connected us to heaven by leaving Himself for us in the Eucharist. o We can now be connected to Heaven in a very distinct way.

6 Name other NT characters, those who came after Christ. Peter, Apostles, Saints, Mother Teresa, John Paul II, Pope Benedict, You! Our part in salvation history, God is trying to redeem me; He is trying to save me. What means does He give us?