Rite of Christian Initiation for Children The Association for Catechumenal Ministry LESSON #4 The Last Seven Commandments Objective: The students will learn that all the Commandments from the Fourth Commandment through the Tenth have to do with loving our neighbors as ourselves [the first three commandments have to do with our proper relationship toward God]. The students will understand that our neighbors are all others, including family members as well as those living far from us. Open with a Prayer: Our Father, Hail Mary. Review with the students the first two lines of the Apostle Creed and continue with the third line. Teach: Today we are going to learn about the rest of the Commandments which continue to show us how we should behave toward others. Review the First Commandment: You shall have no other Gods before me. The Second Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy. Introduce the fourth through the Tenth Commandments: The Fourth Commandment: Honor your Father and your Mother. The Fifth Commandment You shall not kill. The Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal. The Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The Ninth Commandment You shall not covet your neighbor s wife. The Tenth Commandment You shall not covet your neighbor s goods. Introduce: Human beings are born with a clear sense of right and wrong, of what is fair and unfair. Even if no one ever taught you, it would feel wrong to you if someone just walked over and snatched your lunch right out of your hands. Or if another person who is not a member of your family just decided to move in with your family without being invited; maybe they decided they liked your house better, or they wanted to have your stuff one day you came home from shopping and another family had just moved right into your house! Most of us would be more than a little surprised, probably shocked, if that actually happened; in fact, most of us would ask the uninvited guests to leave, politely at first more emphatically if they refused because we know it s just not okay to take someone else s belongings. - 1 -
Each of the next Commandments reminds us that we should treat one another the same way we would like to be treated in return and that, by extension, it is wrong to steal anything away from another person. Whether it is their possessions, or their reputation, or even someone they love. We are also called to love and respect others, recognizing in them their dignity and worth as children of God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. HAND OUT THE TEN COMMANDMENT BOOKLETS. Ask students to turn to the page with the fourth Commandment printed on it. Read the Commandment together. Ask: 1. What do you think the Fourth Commandment means? (answers may vary; Honor and respect your parents) 2. What does it mean to honor your parents? (answers may vary; act respectful toward them, obey them, willingly help them, speak respectfully about them, etc.) 3. Why do you think God is reminding us to honor and respect our mothers and fathers? (answers may vary; they love us, they gave us life, they sacrifice their time and money to provide for us, etc.) 4. What other authority must we respect according to the Fourth Commandment? (all other legitimate authority) 5. What do you think is meant by legitimate authority? Examples? (answers will vary; school, government, church, police, etc.) 6. Which authority do you think is greater, God s or the government? (God s moral authority) TEACHER S NOTE: Background on St. Thomas More "I die the king's good servant, but God's first." Last words of Saint Thomas More Died, Tower Hill (Tower of London), 6 July, 1535. He was the son of John More, a prominent lawyer. As a boy he served as a page in the household of Archbishop Morton. He studied at Oxford University in England. In 1499 he determined to become a monk and followed the discipline of the Carthusian Monks. - 2 -
During his early manhood, he wrote comedies and spent much time in the study of Greek and Latin literature. He became a close friend with Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466-1536) and became a great humanist. More's sense of obligation to active citizenship and statesmanship finally won out over his monastic inclinations, although he remained dedicated to his Catholic faith. He entered the parliament in 1504. In 1510, he was appointed undersheriff of London. During the next decade, More attracted the attention of King Henry VIII, and served frequently on diplomatic missions to the Low Countries. In 1518 he became a member of the Privy Council; he was knighted in 1521. Two years later, More was made Speaker of the House of Commons. As speaker of the House of Commons in 1523, More helped establish the parliamentary privilege of free speech. However, he refused to endorse King Henry VIII's plan to divorce his Catholic wife, Catherine of Aragon (1527) and marry Ann Boleyn. In doing so, King Henry the VIII was separating himself from the pope and the Roman Catholic Church, and establishing himself as the head of the Church of England. His work in the law courts was exemplary, but he resigned in 1532, citing ill health and feeling that he could not in good conscience serve a government that was persecuting people for remaining faithful to the Catholic Church. Two years later he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to denounce the pope and acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England. He was found guilty of treason, on evidence that was probably falsified. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535, by order of King Henry VIII. More was canonized in 1935. Emphasize: This is a very sad story about St. Thomas More. St. Thomas More lived in England hundreds of years ago during the times of powerful kings and queens who could pass whatever laws they wanted. He was faced with a problem of having to choose between following God s laws and the King of England s laws, which went against God s laws. He courageously chose to follow God s laws, but was severely punished for disobeying what the King of England wanted from him. In our country, we have freedom of speech and of religion. We are allowed to worship in whichever faith we wish, and can never be arrested for following our faith. The founders of our country were Christians who believed in the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Christ to love God and one another. However, they included in our Bill of Rights freedom of government interference in every citizen s practice of religion. England now has the same protection to allow people to practice their religion freely. - 3 -
Most of our laws in America are founded on God s laws as the founders recognized the importance of respecting the inherent dignity of each person as well as the rights and property of others. As Christians, we are called upon to treat all people with equal dignity and respect. In the Catholic Church, our pope and the other bishops prayerfully determine how to help us best live out our lives as followers of Christ. The church has set out certain guidelines according to God s laws that help to show us the way to live as loving members of the Body of Christ, helping each other when needed. In addition, Jesus himself established the sacraments to provide the grace which gives us the strength to follow Jesus path. Introduce the fifth Commandment. Read it together. Teach: We all know that taking an innocent person s life is wrong. Every society has rules against the taking of another s life. The Fifth Commandment clearly says, You shall not kill, but the church also teaches us that there are special situations when taking the life of another can be acceptable. 1. Are there any situations that you can think of where taking another person s life might be allowed? (punishment for murder; a just war, self-defense) The church has set out very clear guidelines for each of these situations: The death penalty should only be used when a society cannot ensure the safety of its citizens through other means; for example, by using maximum security prisons. The death penalty should be so rare as to be practically non-existent. A just war has very clear boundaries to determine whether or not it is moral to go to war; for example, 1) all other diplomatic or other actions need to have been tried first, 2) it has to be in defense against an aggressive act, 3) the response cannot be beyond what would be a reasonable reaction to the aggression, 4) the war must have a reasonable expectation for success. Killing in Self-defense should only be used in situations of immediate and grave danger to one s life. Each of these situations can result in the taking of human life as the direct consequence of aggressive actions on the part of another. None of these actions are desired; however, in unusual situations, they may be necessary. In the final analysis, only God knows what is within - 4 -
the hearts of each one of us, so we must do our best to honestly assess our own behaviors and try to treat each other as Jesus would want us to. TEACHER S NOTE: The purpose of going through all this is not to overwhelm the kids with information, but rather to help them see that the Catholic Church takes this matter very seriously and that it has prayerfully considered appropriate responses. The students will learn that the Fifth Commandment includes all our behavior toward others. As followers of Christ, we are asked to behave with compassion and forgiveness toward others. Teach: Have you ever had the experience of deliberately choosing to do something wrong and had someone else get very mad at you? How did that make you feel? Did you ever ask yourself why you chose to do something wrong? Were you angry? Scared? Frightened? Feeling left out? Have you ever responded in anger by bullying or gossiping about another person? Did you feel better or worse after making another person feel bad? How does it feel to know you have disappointed someone else? Your friend? Your mom or dad? Your coach or teacher? How about disappointing God? Did you know that when you hurt another, you also hurt God as well? (allow students to share if they choose) You may have heard a saying called the Golden Rule that is, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, treat other people with the same love and respect that you would like them to show toward you. In his Great Commandment, Jesus said, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, meaning that we should love other people and pray for their health and happiness the same way we would for ourselves. 1. To help the children integrate what they have learned so far, ask the students, How does God expect us to respond when we have been hurt by another? (we should not respond in anger, but rather continue to treat the other person with respect; while we may not feel loving toward them, we should continue to respond in love). Read through the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth Commandments. TEACH: These last Commandments all have to do with taking something away from others, whether it s robbing them of actual possessions or robbing them of their dignity as human persons. Lying and stealing can be more than just words or actions against another. It can also include failing to behave toward others in ways that would fulfill Christ s Second Great Commandment to love others as ourselves. - 5 -
Emphasize: We know that God expects us to be kind toward each other because each one of us is a child of God and we are all beloved by him. He wants the very best for each one of us, so he is counting on us to be his voice in the world. He asks us to make sure that our own actions show this great love that God has for each one of us. Knowing this, think about the following situations. Think carefully about whether your answers reflect the teachings of the last Commandments, to love one another as ourselves. 1. You have just heard the most outrageous secret from one of your friends. Revealing this secret to others could really embarrass this girl, maybe even damage her reputation, so you shouldn t tell; on the other hand, there was that time she told everyone that you still sleep with your favorite blanket even though she promised she wouldn t breathe a word. It would be great to pay her back! What should you do? It would be okay to tell just one really trusted friend, wouldn t it? 2. Last month, a new kid named Mike moved into your neighborhood. Mike has a huge house with a swimming pool, an Xbox 360 and lots of cool games, a media room, huge screen TV, a pool table, and just about everything else you can think of. His family must be loaded because they take him to all kinds of super places, and because he s an only child, he s told you that his parents often let him bring a friend along. In fact, the next trip they are going on, in a couple weeks, is out to a dude ranch in Arizona, and Mike said his parents have already told him that you can come along. The only catch is that it s your old, best buddy s birthday the same week and you already said you would come to his party. But, hey, it s probably just a stupid party with balloons and pizza; and anyway, Mike will understand after all, he s always been your friend and he ll have other birthdays. What should you do? Wouldn t be okay to just make up a small lie and say you forgot that Mike had already asked you to go? 3. One of your sixth grade buddies has had a best friend, Kyle, from his neighborhood, practically from the time he was born. Although their birthdays are only three months apart, to the exact day, Kyle ended up being in the class behind the rest of you. Still, it has never mattered! Kyle s a great pitcher and a good kid to be around. The two neighborhood families have been so close over the years that they all take vacations together, renting a cottage by Sebago Lake in Maine every year for the last ten summers. Now, you and your buddy are going into the sixth grade at the middle school and it just doesn t seem right that he should still hang around with a kid from elementary school. Maybe you could kind of make fun of Kyle and remind him he s still in elementary school. - 6 -
Maybe you could just sort of forget to include him. Maybe if Kyle is out of the picture, your buddy would spend more time with you instead of with a fifth grade baby. Wouldn t that really be okay? After all, he s not the same age as the rest of you. 4. Everybody, but everybody is wearing (girls - really short jean skirts with tanks/ or boys - low- rider pants) to school. So what if it s hard to move in them; they re really cute. Mom has said you may not wear them to school, but you have figured out a way just hide them in your backpack and change at school. She ll never know and you ll get to do what you want. No one s hurt, right? And, anyway, what s the problem with wearing these clothes to school? Ask: Have students take a piece of paper (3x5 card) and write down a time when someone hurt them and they have had trouble forgiving that person (brother, sister, friend, parents, teacher, coach, etc.). Then ask them to write down a time they did something to hurt another person. Give them a few minutes to do this; these should not be shared! When they have finished, have a basket ready for them to place their card. Pray the following prayer with them as they begin to reflect: Dear Jesus, you have listened patiently to my worries and have helped me to feel better when I ve been sad. Let me remember your loving presence when I am having a hard time forgiving another person for an unkind word or action. Lord Jesus, you have shown me how to act, what to say, what to do, and yet I sometimes act in anger and find it difficult to forgive others as you so often have forgiven me. Help me to remember your unconditional love and forgiveness toward me whenever I need a forgiving spirit toward another. Amen Have all students recite the Lord s Prayer together ( Our Father, who art in Heaven ). Ask the students how they feel now that they have asked God s help to forgive. Encourage them to continue praying for help with forgiveness. Conclude with a Hail Mary and the first three lines of the Apostle s Creed (practice the Creed several times with the students). - 7 -
THE APOSTLES CREED The Apostles Creed is the Church s statement of beliefs. If you read the creed carefully, you can see that what it is really saying is that we believe in God, in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. It also says we believe in the holy Catholic Church, in the community of all saints, in the forgiveness of sins, and in eternal life with God in heaven. Most theologians agree that the creed was created within the first 100 to 200 years after Jesus death and resurrection. Over the years, the words have changed but only very slightly. Every Sunday at Mass, the entire congregation recites another version of the creed called The Nicene Creed. It is a little longer, but it is the same set of beliefs. I believe in God, The Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, And is seated at the right hand of God, The Father Almighty. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, The holy Catholic Church, The communion of saints, The forgiveness of sins, The resurrection of the body, And life everlasting. Amen. - 8 -