Fr. F. says that no Catechist should teach a class without being well prepared. How true. I may have only two lessons under my belt yet each experience was different. The first time I was taken off-guard as I had made no preparation apart from a quick reading of the lesson before I left for Mass. .
The second time I suspected that I would be on my own as the senior teacher was busy with the Bible Quiz, I thought right. This time I was a little better prepared as I spent the previous evening going through the whole lesson. Did the second lesson go better than the first - truthfully, no. A Catechist, especially one in training, must spend a lot more time than I did, in going over the lesson, preparing notes, reading the Scripture texts related to the lesson, as well as reading the passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church related to the lesson in order to have a thorough grasp of the subject to be taught.
Everything that Fr. F. said about making a lesson plan is true. During the entire course if there was one fact that father wanted to drill into us, it was this. "YOU MUST HAVE A LESSON PLAN!!!!!!!!" There are no shortcuts.
The children in my class are preparing to receive Holy Communion this year. The name of the lesson to be taught is, "WE RECEIVE JESUS," Lesson 5, from the Reader 'CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF JESUS' Book 3 Part II.
If you are wondering whether my lesson plan was submitted to Fr. F. for review, the answer is yes. His assessment was encouraging. He pointed out that it was important when deepening the story to get the objectives of our faith experience clearly emphasized, so that the gospel meaning is deepened and makes a greater impact. All in all he said it was a good attempt. He reinforced what he has said often, "When you are able to do this for one class the rest becomes easy to follow."
WE RECEIVE JESUS
1. AIM – To give the children a deeper understanding of the Sacrament they are preparing to receive focusing on the aspect of becoming one in Christ and with one another when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
2. OBJECTIVES – By the end of the lesson the children should have a deeper understanding of:
- Who we receive in the Eucharist.
- The Eucharist as special food that Jesus gives us in order to share His divine life.
- The Sign of Peace that shows that we wish to be one with Jesus and with one another.
- What do we share when we eat the bread of the Eucharist.
3. TARGET GROUP – 9 and 10 years – children preparing to receive First Holy Communion.
4. MATERIAL NEEDED : duster, chalk, pictures
5. GUIDELINES FOR EACH SESSION
i) Human Experience : A Surprise Birthday Party
ii) Deepening the Theme : What does the experience tell us.
iii) Word of God – John 21:1-14
iv) Deepening the Word of God – The Eucharist is a celebration, it is a meal, it involves receiving and sharing, it unites us with Jesus and with one another.
- Extra explanation with regard to the theme
a) Sign of Peace which is a sign of forgiveness and witness of our relationship with Jesus and with one another.
b) Receiving Jesus we become members of the Body of Christ, the Church to which we all belong.
Human Experience
A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Tom and Jenny were twins. They were 9 years old and were going to celebrate their birthday in two weeks. They were very excited. Every year their dad and mum asked them to make a list of the friends they would like to invite for the party and she would prepare their favorite dishes. She would also bake a delicious cake and put candles on it – the twins would make a wish and blow the candles out together. Their parents always seemed to know exactly what they wanted as gifts. Last birthday Tom got a beautiful mountain bike and Jenny got a lovely toy sewing machine on which she could actually stitch clothes for her dolls. This year Tom was hoping to get a pair of skates and Jenny told her brother that she would love a pair too.
One day after they had returned from school they were playing with a ball in the living room, something their mom had warned then never to do. As they were tossing the ball to each other it bounced off Jenny’s hand and hit a lovely glass vase on the table. It fell to its side and there was an ugly crack. They were scared. It was an heirloom and had belonged to their grandmother’s family. What made it even more precious was that it was the last gift their grandma gave to their mother before she passed away. The children quickly straightened the vase and turned the broken side towards the wall. They talked it over and decided not to say anything to their parents about it. A few days later when their mother noticed the broken vase she asked the twins if they had broken it but they both lied repeatedly. The children knew that they had done wrong and were very unhappy that they had lied especially when they knew how unhappy their mother was, so at night after they had prayed the family rosary, they went up to their mom and confessed what they had done and said that they were very sorry. They offered to pay for the broken vase from their pocket money. Their mother forgave them but she said what hurt her more than the broken vase was that they not only did not confess immediately, but that they had lied. She told them once again to always remember that the devil was the father of lies. They both promised that they would never lie again.
As the days went by the twins noticed that their parents seemed very worried. They ran their own family business and had received a large order; they were not sure whether they would be able to meet the deadline. If they missed the deadline, they would lose a large amount of money Most evening the parents came home late and were very tired. They ate their dinner almost silently and when they spoke it was always about work. There was no talk at all about the upcoming birthday.
The two weeks quickly melted into days and their birthday was now only two days away on Sunday. Both Tom and Jenny were a little sad and disappointed but they remembered that they had lied, they also loved their parents very much and did not want to add to their worry by talking about a party. Sunday finally arrived. Although there were no new clothes, they dressed in their Sunday best and accompanied their parents for Mass. After Mass the children stayed behind to attend Catechism class and the parents drove away. The kids in the class knew it was their birthday and many of their friends wished them.
As soon as class was over, both the children ran to the car where their father was waiting to pick them up – they wanted to leave quickly before any of their friends asked if they were having a party. Their dad did not take them home right away but drove first to the garage and then to the store to buy a few groceries. The twins sat in silence behind. When they finally reached home their dad opened the door and they was a loud shout of, “Surprise!” All their friends were there. There was a beautiful chocolate cake on the table with 10 pink and blue candles already lit. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers. There were party caps, whistles, funny masks and lots of gifts from their friends. Jenny and Tom had big, happy smiles on their faces. As always their parents knew exactly what they wanted and there was a pair of beautiful shiny skates for each of them. They played games, cut the cake, blew out the candles together, and ate the delicious meal their mum had prepared. After all their friends had left both the children ran to their parents and both spoke at the same time saying, “Thank you, we thought you had forgotten. This is the best party ever.” Their parents hugged them and said, “How could we forget?” The children were very happy. Once again they told their mother how sorry they were that they had lied and promised to be better children in future. At night when the twins knelt down beside their bed to say their prayers they thanked God for all the lovely gifts they had received but most of all they offered grateful thanks for the loving parents that God had given them.
DEEPENING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
- God always knows what we need.
- When we disobey our parents we commit a sin.
- We are unhappy when we sin and offend God. But if we are sorry, repent, confess and make reparation, God forgives us.
- God never forgets us. He cares for us always.
- Because God is good we must try to please Him by doing what He wants us to do. Study well, obey our parents and teachers and do whatever we are supposed to do.
- All the good things we receive come from God.
All the members in a family belong to one another. We share what we have. We look out for one another. We help one another. We must be understanding and not worry our parents to give us expensive gifts especially when we know that they may be having a difficult time at work. Our parents work hard to provide us with a good education and to give us the things we need. We must show our appreciation by being good, studying hard, helping around the house, by being truthful and obedient and by encouraging our brothers and sisters also to tell the truth to be obedient. We must trust our parents to know what is good for us. We must have a grateful and thankful heart.
Word of God John 21:1-14
1 After this Jesus revealed himself to the disciples by the Lake of Tiberias. He appeared to them in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas who was called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples were together; 3 and Simon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.” They replied, “We will come with you” and they went out and got into the boat. But they caught nothing that night.
4 When day had already broken, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus called them, “Children, have you anything to eat?” They answered, “Nothing.” 6 Then he said to them, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they had lowered the net, they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish.
7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” At these words, “It’s the Lord,” Simon Peter put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish; they were not far from land, about a hundred meters.
9 When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it, and some bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed into the boat and pulled the net to shore. It was full of big fish – one hundred and fifty-three – but, in spite of this, the net was not torn.
12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast,” and not one of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” for they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish.
14 This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after rising from the dead.
DEEPENING THE WORD OF GOD
These are the same disciples who all ran away when Jesus was arrested. Peter denied Jesus not once but three times exactly as Jesus had said he would. After the Resurrection, Jesus had appeared to His disciples many times – they knew that Jesus had a special mission for them. Jesus had taught them for three years and had prepared them to be His witnesses through out the world and yet one day when they were altogether Peter told his companions that he was going fishing. They had given up this occupation to follow Jesus. The others who were with him decided to go join him as well and they spent the whole night fishing but they caught nothing. When we follow our own way instead of doing what God wants us to do we will always be sad, and disappointed. Whenever we do anything that is against God’s will we will gain nothing. When it was morning they saw Jesus standing on the shore but they did not recognize Him. When Jesus told them where to throw the net they obeyed and they got a big catch of large fish. Sometimes Jesus might tell us to do something that we do not want to do because we tried it and we did not succeed but if we obey Him we will be rewarded just as Peter and the others were rewarded by the large catch of fish. When they came to the shore they found that Jesus had already lit a fire there was fish cooking on it and there was bread. Jesus invited them to have breakfast and He gave them fish and bread. We must remember that Jesus always has what we need and He will always give us what we require if we obey Him and do what He wants us to do.
Before we receive Holy Communion and after the Consecration when Jesus is really and truly present on the altar. The Priest says, “Peace be with you and we reply, “And also with you.” The Priest in the person of Jesus give us His peace and we share that same peace with each other as His body.
We bow to the Priest as we make our response and we bow to those beside us to left and right and to those in front and behind us and we smile and say, Peace be with you. It is a witness of our relationship with Jesus and with one another.
When we receive Holy Communion we share in the Body of Christ and we become one Body in 1 Cor. 10:16-17 St. Paul says,16 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ? 17 The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.”
At Mass we show that we want to be one with Jesus and with one another so we say a special prayer together, the prayer that Jesus Himself taught us, the Our Father or the Lord’s Prayer.
What sign do we give to show others that we forgive them and that we forgive them and that we forgive ourselves for our faults or sins?
We offer each other the Sign of Peace. By this sign we wish Christ’s peace to one another and we are better prepared to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
RECALL & SHARE
We have spoken about Jesus sharing food with His friends.
We too will receive Jesus in special holy food, Holy Communion.
Close your eyes and think of a time you had a special family meal. Who was there? What did you do together? What did you like best about the meal?
Say the Lord’s Prayer and offer each other the Sign of Peace to show that we believe that God wants us to receive and share His love with others.
Let us all stand and read 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ? 17 The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.
Each child says to the other When you eat the Bread of Life N______ you are receiving the Body of Christ.
Join hands and say the Lord’s Prayer
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