Pitchers 15: Shoot

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We want a real Messiah

Here’s the board from the 11/28/12 Isaiah class. This is when the kids remind me that the Jews want the good old days back, when David and Solomon whipped Israel’s enemies, and the Chosen People weren’t little dogs being bossed around by big dogs. Some drawing accompanies me reading a series of Isaiah prophecies while the children figure out what they might mean.

The lower left sketch shows how highway builders trim down the high points and use that material to fill the low points to make a smoother road, as in: “prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level.”

Above that is the Temple on the Mountain, both of which figure repeatedly in Isaiah.

To the right is the sort of Messiah/ Mashiah/ Christos/ Anointed One which the Jews are hoping God will send them: a fighter who’s gonna get Israel some payback from the likes of Babylon. Once this cartoon is drawn, we start on the prophecies.

“Y’all tell me who David’s daddy was. Joseph! No, but close…Jesse!  Yes. And David’s son? Solomon!  Yes again. And what sort of Messiah were the Jews hoping for? One like David and Solomon. Yes. Now we’re going to learn about a lot of Isaiah’s prophecies to see what sort of Messiah the Jews were actually going to get.

Y’all tell me about the Jesse Tree from last week. It’s a tree that grows out of Jesse, and Jesus is at the top. Yes…here’s Jesse, he’s kind of lying on a sofa so the tree can grow out of him…here’s the tree, it goes way up. That doesn’t look like a person! So what? I just said it’s Jesse. Use your imaginations, you’re 6th-graders. Anyway, Israel’s enemies have conquered Israel, and cut the tree down (I erase it). All that’s left is…this…stump. There ya go. I need the green marker now…OK, what would Israel like to happen to this cut-down tree? For it to grow big again? Yes, like so, tall and green with a conquering King at the top. But let’s hear what Isaiah has to say about this stump: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse…” Do y’all know what a shoot is? No? Look, it’s like this…just a little green sprout with a leaf or two:

Could you build a house from that sprout, that shoot? No it’s too flimsy. Make a fishing pole? No it’s too small. So what’s it good for? Nothing. Right, it’s not very practical. But who is that little shoot coming out of Jesse’s stump? David? Umm, no, this is a prophecy, David’s in the remote past. Ummm…Jesus!  Yes! So why is Jesus a little green shoot instead of a big strong tree? Isn’t the Messiah supposed to be big and strong? Yes! So…? Well, Jesus wasn’t big and strong. Right. Isaiah is telling Israel that the big strong David and Solomon tree isn’t coming back, but a humble little twig will grow that’s related to Jesse and his kingly descendants.”

With this foundation we then look at about a half-dozen Jesus-specific prophecies, time permitting. The little shoot sets the mood for the rest of them. Now I could have just said hey, listen to this verse, it means that Jesus is meek and humble like a little alfalfa sprout, and he’s not what the Jews expected in a Messiah. But the kids learn so much better if they can access the emotional content, and see some fast sketching that helps them think.

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Gifts for Catechists: 4 CD’s to Use in Your Class

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Gift season’s upon us, and while I’ve never looked askance at that holiday favorite for catechists, the Gift of Chocolate, I’d like to share four of my favorite CD’s for use in teaching the faith.  Here’s a link to the local Catholic Store Finder, where you can support your nearest Catholic bookstore when placing your order.  Gift certificates and parish credits are always the right size!

This summer I received a gift copy of Marian Hymns of Ephesus from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Took me forever to break it open, but wow!  Stunning!  It is now my #1 CD to Bring Along on a Business Trip — exactly what you need to get your head on straight in between meetings.

What’s in it for catechists?  Gorgeous recordings of classic Catholic hymns and chants.  Most of them are better to listen to than sing-along, though a few are suitable for sing-along as well.  I e-mailed the sisters, and received assurance that catechists are welcome to enlarge and distribute copies of the lyrics for classroom use.  Here’s my article on meditative prayer in the classroom, to give you some ideas on how you might use a CD like this one as part of a class for elementary-age students.

Taking a look at the sister’s website, it appears that Marian Hymns is on back-order at this writing.  The Benedictine sisters do have a brand spanking new Advent at Ephesus CD just out, and it promises to answer the question of “How do I make my Advent classes more about Advent and not just The Three Weeks of Christmas?

 

 

For an accessible, easy-to-sing-along introduction to chant, I absolutely love John Michael Talbot’s Chant from the Hermitage.  I’m no technical expert, but I can say that having learned the genre via this simple and user-friendly CD, when I recently dived into The Parish Book of Psalms, it was an ‘Aha!’ moment — Yes!  Anyone can learn this! Yes! Anyone can sing this! Gregorian chant really is meant to be music for the masses!

The  CD contains Latin recordings of the Sanctus and Gloria, and the Greek Kyrie, and then a dozen or so psalms chanted in English.  This is an excellent introduction to chant and the Liturgy of the Hours for students, because the recordings are very down-to-earth, so students can easily follow along.  Very quickly students will get the knack for how chant “works”, and start chanting all kinds of silly stuff.  Brilliant recording.

 

A top-notch sing-along CD for classic Catholic hymns in English and Latin is the Sacred Hymns Collection from L’Angelus.  If the Benedictines of Ephesus win the award for ephemeral beauty, L’Angelus comes along and gives you the tracks the kids can use to learn to sing the Panis Angelicus and Tantum Ergo themselves.

English-language hymns include The King of Love My Shepherd Is, Be Thou My Vision, as well as an upbeat, folksy riff on St. Patrick’s Breastplate, This Day God Gives Me.  There is a smattering of Cajun French, Spanish, and Gaelic as well. Cool factor: Pictures of the kids who make the music.

 

My final catechist-recommended CD is a homegrown prayer collection (spoken, not sung) by a personal friend of mine, John Hathaway.  Hide Me in Your Wounds is John sitting at home in front of his PC, recording about 10,000 classic Catholic prayers, including quite a few you’ve probably never heard before.  The recording volume jumps from track to track, but within each track the sound is fine.  I recommend this CD because in using it in class, I have found the kids respond very well to it.

Why do I like it?  Three reasons:  1. It’s a pleasure for all of us to be able to listen to someone else’s voice for a change.  2. Lex orandi lex credendi – after learning about the clergy, the prayer for priests is a breath of fresh air, knocking out the pedestal and praying for our holy ministers, human faults and all.  3. I particularly like using the obscure and very powerful saint’s prayers in observance of various feast days throughout the year.

 

That’s my list.  How about you?  What’s on your catechist wish-list this year?

 

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http://www.stjameschurchclovis.org/Photos/2008_Christmas_Pageant/Christmas%20Pageant%20010.jpg
 …and they followed the North Star to Baby Jesus’ igloo.

 

I remember the time one of my kids came up to me after class looking serious.

“Hey, Stratopops? Hey, what? I…I want to be moved to 7th grade. Oh yeah? Why’s that? I’m in 7th grade in school, but I went to a Christian school last year, so this year I got put in your 6th grade class. Besides, I already know what you’re teaching. Oh…what am I teaching that you already know? The Bible, we learned it in Christian school. Hey, that’s great, you have a head start. So you already know what Melchizedek has to do with Mass? Well, we didn’t learn about Mass. Oh. How about Melchizedek, you already knew about him before we covered him a couple of weeks ago? No we didn’t have that. Oh. How about Isaac and Abraham? I know about them. Do you know what they have to do with Mass? No, we didn’t talk about Mass! Oh yeah, that’s right. How about Manoah and the angel? What? You know, Manoah, Samson’s daddy, and the angel? Y’all didn’t cover them I guess. Umm, no. Or how that angel is part of Mass? Uh-uh.

How about Passover? Yes! And what does Passover have to do with Mass? I don’t know. That’s ok, we’ll cover that later. And Moses and the bread and flesh in the desert? Yes! And how that fits in with Mass? We didn’t have that. Oh..how about sprinkling blood on the people, and mixing it with water and all that? We didn’t have that. Huh…we were learning about the Meeting Tent last week, didja know about it? Yes! Good! Do you already know how a Catholic Church is like the Tent? Huh? Never mind, we’ll get to that next week. Look, it’s ok with me if you move to 7th grade, it’s not my call anyway. But there’s a whole lot about the Bible and Mass and being Catholic that we’ll learn this year that you wouldn’t get in Christian school, and because you already know a lot of Bible stuff it’ll be interesting for you. So I think you oughta stay in my class.”

So- did this child stay in my class? Umm…I don’t remember.

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Methodology: Catechizing from the Four Dimensions of the Faith

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Does your lesson plan incorporate the four dimensions of the faith?  You may ask what are the four dimensions?  They are: The Faith Professed, The Faith Celebrated, the Faith Lived and the Faith Prayed.  It is important when speaking about these four dimensions that they are seen as a unity, as a whole and not merely four individual aspect of the faith.  When these four dimensions are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (2:42) they are seen as what the faithful devoted themselves to in response to the birth of the Church and being followers of “The Way”.

All four dimensions should be included in each lesson.  For example, if the topic is the Sacrament of Baptism, which is most especially under “The Faith Celebrated”, it should also include an understanding that God have revealed Himself and made us partakers in his divine life (the Holy Trinity).  In addition our response to the Sacrament of Baptism is the Faith lived in union with Christ and seeking Him continually as we “pray” for a deeper union in Him.  Therefore all catechetical lessons should keep in mind each of these dimensions in order that the faith may be seen as an organic unity.

 

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Pitchers 14: Ziggurats & All That

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As usual for these whiteboard posts, my comments are limited to the images and don’t describe the whole class content.  Click the image for a bigger version.

Class starts with a quick review. That is, the kids tell me whom we’ve covered so far: God/ Adam & Eve/ Cain, Abel, Seth/ Enoch/ Methuselah/ Noah. I introduce Abram & Sarah. Brackets indicate 10 generations from Adam to Noah; and 10 more from Noah to Abram. As usual, a child objects to ‘Abram’; I tell him God will change Abram’s name in a few minutes.

The kids tell me about Mesopotamia. A quick map illustrates Abram’s journey from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan. While I draw they talk about the rivers, the people, the ziggurats. I draw a ziggurat. I mention Sumerian beer. They laugh.

When Abram gets to Canaan he makes an altar & offers a sacrifice [I add that beside the ziggurat]. We see that “offerings are typically done on something that gets the offering closer to heaven…such as…altars?  Yes, or…mountains?  Yes, or artificial mountains like…ziggurats!  Yes.” But on one occasion, a priest named Melchizedek offers bread and wine for Abraham. “The Mass mentions Melchizedek, so y’all pay attention at Mass and tell me when. He’s the King of Salem, which means King of Peace. Whom do you think of when I say King of Peace? Jesus.Yes. Melchizedek, like Abel (and Isaac, who hasn’t come up just yet), is a type of Christ.”

I add Abraham’s wife Sarah. Quick review: “God is…? Powerful? Yes, and…knows everything? Yes, he’s ‘omniscient’. And…powerful? You said that already. [I start to draw a heart] Love! God is love! Yes. Remind me what love always wants to do. Ummm…create! Yes. Love creates. So tell me about Abraham and Sarah. They were married. Yes, so...they were in love? Yes, so…what does love do? Create! So? So their love made babies! Well, not just yet.” We discuss their sadness, and jump into the Hospitality of Abraham using this mosaic:

And this fresco:

One of the kids explains mosaics; I add that a fresco is painted on wet (fresh) plaster to make it permanent.

When Sarah later gave birth to their only son, Abraham & Sarah were so happy they named him Yitzhak, laughter. In English we call him Isaac. I tell the kids that the neighboring tribes worshiped false gods such as Baal and Moloch, to whom the people sacrificed their firstborn sons. So Abraham knew he was getting a good deal from his God who didn’t seem to require that.

But years later, God wants Abraham to make that sacrifice; we use the mosaic to guide our discussion. I draw Mount Moriah and add Abraham’s altar on top. A child asks how Isaac would have felt. I say he and his parents probably weren’t surprised that God would eventually ask for this sacrifice; but they’d sure be happy to swap a sheep for a son!

Class is over when this line of discussion ends.

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Liturgy and Catechesis: The Blessing for a Child in the Womb

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“The kids don’t know anything!  They don’t go to mass!” Put two catechists at a table, and it’s a complaint you’re likely to hear.  Why does it matter? In addition to being one of the obligations of the faithful, and essential to the well-being of the soul, the liturgy is also an integral part of catechesis.  I want to take a look today at an upcoming event in my diocese, as a way of illustrating how our weekly formal religious education programs fit as one piece in the bigger puzzle of catechesis and evangelization.

1. We start with the Catechism

What does the Church teach about sex and marriage?  About the sacredness of human life?  Quite a lot.  Openness to children is one of the essential elements of a Christian marriage.  Abortion is always and everywhere a grave evil, because the innocent child in the womb deserves protection and respect. We teach this to our students at every age.  We lay the foundations with very young children by talking about how much Jesus loves them, how precious they are to God, and how important it is to show our love and respect for others.  As students mature, we fill in the details year after year.

2. We support the efforts of parents as primary educators.

Sex, contraception, abortion . . . these are sensitive topics, and we rightly leave parents to decide when each child is ready to learn which facts.  Organizations like Family Honor host “Catholic Sex Ed” courses that students can attend with their parents.  Parishes can use curricula such as Ascension Press’s Theology of the Body for Teens to teach purity and chastity to teens; a course or handbook for parents (as well as parental oversight and consent) is an essential part of these programs.

3.  We give students chances to act on our faith.

Do you take up a collection for the local crisis pregnancy center?  Does your youth group march in a local or national March for Life?  Is your parish tallying Rosaries for Life this month? Within the religious education program, and as part of the ministry of the parish and the community, even the  youngest students can have a chance to act on their faith.

How do you explain “crisis pregnancy” or “abortion” to a very young child?  Try these:

Having a baby is a big responsibility.  Some parents don’t have enough money to buy their babies the things they need, or to pay their doctor bills.  Some mothers don’t have friends and family to help them care for their baby.  The “crisis pregnancy center” is a place mothers and fathers can get help to take care of their baby.

When we go to the “March for Life”, we are showing that we want our government to pass laws that protect all children, even teeny tiny babies.  When we pray a “rosary for life”, we are praying that all babies will be well taken care of, and that nothing will ever hurt them.  We are also praying for parents, that they will have everything they need to be able to take care of their babies.

We can get frustrated at students who don’t participate in our programs and events as much as we’d like.  Remember that sometimes the reason the student is absent is because the family is in the midst of a crisis — the student is getting hands-on experience in living out the faith at home.

4.  Enter the Liturgy: Lex Orandi Lex Credendi

The USCCB has written an official Rite of Blessing for a Child in the Womb to be used within or outside of mass.  Here’s the heart of the blessing our bishop will be extending this Sunday at my parish:

God, author of all life,
bless, we pray, these unborn children;
give them constant protection
and grant them a healthy birth
that is the sign of our rebirth one day
into the eternal rejoicing of heaven.

Lord, who have brought to these women
the wondrous joy of motherhood,
grant them comfort in all anxiety
and make them determined
to lead their children along the ways of salvation.

Lord of the ages,
who have singled out these men
to know the grace and pride of fatherhood,
grant them courage in this new responsibility,
and make them examples of justice and truth for
these children.

The simple act of showing up and saying the blessing sends a powerful message from the bishop, priest, or deacon: Your child matters.  Parents, I support you.  I want you recognized for the part you play in the plan of salvation.

A friend shared that she had been present at a blessing for unborn children before she even knew she was pregnant.  Shortly after, she lost the baby to miscarriage.  She was greatly consoled to know the Church blessed and remembered her precious child, barely known to man, never for a moment forgotten by God.

5. And back to catechesis.

After our Mass for Expectant Parents this Sunday, there’ll be information tables for parents. (Also snacks, of course.) The diocese has lined up representatives to share information on Natural Family Planning, to support parents facing a difficult prenatal diagnosis via Be Not Afraid Ministries, and has invited the local Catholic schools and homeschooling groups to give parents information about their choices for Catholic education for their children.  We’re fortunate to also be able to giveaway four copies of Sarah Reinhard’s new book, A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy, a treasure-trove of catechesis.

Cramming for Finals?

As catechists, we can sometimes feel the pressure to teach the entire Catholic faith in twenty weekly lessons.  That’s neither possible nor desirable.  As a Church, do we say “Christian Formation” and think “CCD class on Wednesday night from 6:30-7:45″?  Do we talk about young people participating in the life of the Church, and reduce it to a special club for teens, led by the one person in the parish who “works with youth”? Our baptismal calling isn’t like a restricted driver’s license, limited to certain hours until we’ve reached the age of 18.

How does your parish integrate liturgy, service, and catechesis?  As we embark upon the Year of Faith, how would you like to see your students grow in their understanding and practice of the faith?

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Weird Catholic Customs

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Other religions, even other Christians, often look at Catholics with curiosity or disdain due to our customs and Traditions.  We may not even know the origin of some of the things in question, or we may have questions ourselves.  I will attempt to clear up some of the most common misconceptions about our faith.

Wearing a Crucifix:  Catholics wear crucifixes rather than just a cross, not because we are morbid, neither because we have forgotten that Jesus is our Risen Lord.  To the contrary; we chose to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us by dying on the cross.  He lay down His life, so that He could take it up again. ( John 10:11-18  )  We are not wearing a symbol of torture, but rather a reminder of love. “Proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes again.” 1 Corinthians 11:26

The Eucharist:  Some, of other faiths, believe Catholics to be idol worshipers due to our belief in the Eucharist; however Sacred Scripture clearly points out why we believe what we do.

In John 6:31-66 Jesus repeatedly instructs us to eat His body and drink His blood.  When the crowds questioned Him, He did not correct them and explain that it was a “symbol,” rather Christ let them leave as they would not follow His teaching.  We see further evidence of this in 1 Corinthians 11:17-33 when the words of the Lord are repeated and clear instruction is given to receive this gift equally and worthily. Study of early Christian Church shows that the Eucharist was celebrated with the understanding that it was the Body and Blood of Christ well into the 1500s.

Saying the Rosary:  Many misunderstand this beautiful Catholic prayer.  They equate it to “prattling” as we are instructed not to do in scripture. (Sir. 7:14).  The basic truth of this scripture is that God hears our prayers and we do not need to repeat them to be heard, nor to repeat them just to be seen by others as holy. The Lord often repeated Psalms and other prayers.  He, Himself, taught us The Lord’s prayer.  He clearly encouraged us to pray it. He did not object to formal prayer, just to the misuse of prayer.

The Rosary consists of a few prayers: The Creed (which just states our belief in the Trinity, the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ and our hope in the life to come), The Lord’s Prayer, The Glory Be (again just expressing belief in the Father, Son and Spirit) and the Hail Mary.

What many don’t realize is that the Rosary and especially the Hail Mary is Biblical.  The Mysteries of each decade describe an event in Christ’s life.  The entire first verse of the Hail Mary comes from scripture. “Hail, full of grace… blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  (Luke 1:28- 43)  The second verse is asking the Blessed Mother to pray with us and for us.  We do not worship her, we honor her as Christ’s mother and a wonderful example of holiness to us.  “Holy Mary, Mother or God.” Luke 1:43 (Elizabeth refers to Mary as “the mother of my Lord.”  In Luke 2:35 and in John 2:5 we are reminded that Jesus respected His mother and would do what she asked of Him, this gives us the courage to go before her and ask for her help when we talk to her Son.

 

Saying the Sign of the Cross:  Many Christians end their prayers by saying, “In Jesus’ name.”  This is a reference to the Bible verse which instructs us to ask all things through Jesus. (Col. 3:17)  What about the rest of that verse though?  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  When we make the sign of the cross, we are honoring Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and offering our prayers to the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is referenced at the end of Matthew. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the holy spirit.” (Matt.28:19)

 

Telling a priest your sins (Reconciliation or Confession):  “Catholics are strange, they don’t realize they can tell their sins to God, so they tell them to a priest (who is just a man).”  That’s what we sometimes hear even in our own Church. Well, the first answer is that we have been instructed to do so.  Jesus himself instituted the Sacrament of Confession and the priesthood.  “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt 18:18

 

Jesus also states, “Receive the holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.” John 20:22-23 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”  James 5:16 He stated this to His Disciples, His first Priests.

 

 

In the Catechism of the Church 1457, we are reminded that, “after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year.”   We are instructed by the Church to go to confession whenever we have committed a mortal sin and furthermore, to confess venial sins. 

 

Confession helps bring about accountability.  It is hard to move past a sin if you are just holding it privately in your heart.  Saying it out loud (and having to repeat it when you are having trouble breaking free from a particular sin) helps to keep us on track.  Furthermore, we believe we are, “whispering in the ear of Christ,” the priest only takes the place of Jesus during the sacrament.

 

The Catholic Faith is rich with wonderful prayers, customs and Traditions.  Traditions by themselves are not bad, I’m sure many families have holiday Traditions and family Traditions. Additionally, we are instructed to ( 2 Thes 2:15), “hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”  Furthermore, 2 Thes. 3:6 states, “according to the tradition which you received from us.” The Bible was not yet put together, so the teachings passed on by word of mouth are in fact Christian Traditions.

Hopefully this clears up some of the questions that you may have about the customs of the Catholic Church.  May God bless you in your quest for truth.

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The Borrowers

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6th-graders never mention this, but back when I was doing RCIA, this bit of Jeremiah always came up: “Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.” You know…wayward Chosen People chasing after their neighbors’ false gods; so Mary being Queen of Heaven is likewise an idolatrous mess of pagan pottage, right? Well, no: she’s the King’s Queen Mother. But I’m thinking it’s time for a new topic already: Cherubim.

The Bible is full of cherubim. In Sunday School we use the Hebrew word, kerubim, the near ones, God’s bodyguards. There are no surviving images of the kerubim mentioned in Scripture, such as:

“And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be…Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet stuff; with cherubim skilfully worked shall you make them.” (From the LORD’s instruction on the temple and its furnishings.)

From King David’s Psalm 18:

“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. 7 Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. 8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. 9 He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 10 He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.”

And from Psalm 80:

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us!”

On the other hand there are plenty of surviving pagan images of kerubs. Let’s match a few up with the corresponding Bible descriptions:

“The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another…”

Isis and Nephthys protect Osiris.

Isis and Nephthys in King Tut’s tomb, protecting…nothing? Nope, protecting Tut’s spirit.

“He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.”

Maybe David saw God riding this Babylonian Kerub.

Or maybe this Phoenician one.

“Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim”

Maybe God’s throne is like King Ahiram’s.

Closer up…which reminds me of…

…this old Papal chair.

And this one.

And this one.

All this talk of Cherubim reminds me of the Ark of the Covenant: “They shall make an ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall you overlay it, and you shall make upon it a molding of gold round about. And you shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark by them.”

Cubit-wise, it was a bit wider than this ark, found in King Tut’s tomb:

No gold rings, though.

Of course the fact that assorted ancient pagan cultures had to work things out about God before the LORD revealed himself to Abraham doesn’t make them automatically wrong in every jot and tittle; and doesn’t make the Chosen People wrong for borrowing imagery from them, either. Nor were they wrong to borrow pagan architecture or furnishings. And by extension, it wasn’t wrong for the Church to borrow key philosophical concepts from the pagan Greeks and apply them to Christianity (I’m especially thinking of the Logos).

Nor is it wrong for the Church to understand Mary is the Queen of Heaven, assorted un-borrowed pagan ‘Queens of Heaven’ nonwithstanding.

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Forget to Remember*

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Not appropriate for the Confessional**

When we cover Confession in Wednesday Night Sunday School, a child will always ask if a priest can tell the cops if someone confessed to a murder. I say of course not; and that leads to the idea that the priest forgets your sins. And then someone will ask: but what if he doesn’t forget?
To answer this I first refer to these gracious verses:

Is 43:25 “I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Jer 31:34 “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Heb 8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

(They’re highlighted in my class Bible, but I’ll just paraphrase them if time is short.)

This does beg the question: how does an omniscient God not remember something? Well, isn’t it in the nature of a loving parent to not remember? Those verses remind me of my father’s memory of my several-thousand-or-so, umm, childhood misbehaviors:

“Hey remember that time that I….”
“Mmm…no…I don’t think I remember that.”
“Yeah, but it was like thus and so, and…”
“Uh-huh…I just don’t much remember you being bad.”
“That’s probably just as well.”

And it’s the same with my kids…were they bad? I suppose…yeah, if I put my mind to it they were bad some. Well, not really bad; they were just kids, learning to be good…I don’t remember that much about it. Not remembering your child’s sins isn’t a matter of deleting the data from your brain, making them irrecoverable; it just means the forgiving parent no longer pays any attention to them, and is not going to ever pay any attention to them.

And if God will remember our sins no more, then the priest, acting in persona Christi, would also not remember them, at least in a sacramental sense. That is, even if the priest through his human frailty does remember our sins, he may act only as though he does not remember them, in the same way that God does not remember them.

Thus the Seal of the Confessional.

 

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Teaching Techniques with Christian LeBlanc: The Bible Tells Me So

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Lisa Mladinich recently reviewed Christian LeBlanc’s new book, The Bible Tells Me So: A Year of Catechizing Directly from Scripture, and as I mentioned in her combox, I agree 100% with her.  Excellent book.  I wanted to mention today some of the reasons I think this is a particularly good tool for catechists, regardless of what grade you teach.

1.  Learn how to use the Socratic method.  The “Socratic Method” is code for, “teaching via discussion, by asking questions to the student that lead them towards what they need to know.”  And it’s easy to mess this up.  Have you ever tried asking a question that begins, “Who can tell me . . . ?” and the question totally bombs out?  Either the kids have no idea what you’re asking, or they are on a completely different track, or the question makes no sense . . . yeah, I’ve done that.

The text of Christian’s book is literally a walk through a year of 6th grade Bible History.  You don’t just see what he teaches, you see how he teaches.  In the introduction and in the conclusion, he offers some specific suggestions on how to use the Socratic method effectively.

2. See how to weave in side-topics.  The Bible Tells Me So is a Bible History course.  So why are his students learning about apologetics, the Theology of the Body, the sanctity of marriage — any number of “off-topic” topics?  Because everything is connected.  Just because your curriculum this year calls for students to learn just the Sacraments, or just moral theology . . . doesn’t mean you ignore everything else.  Christian shows you how to stay on-topic, but still tie in all the other aspects of the faith that students need to review.

3. Learn how to connect Scripture and Tradition.  In defending ourselves against the wider Christian culture, it’s easy to get boxed into a corner.  We unintentionally defend Tradition by downplaying Scripture, or fall for the premise that Tradition is only validated by Biblical text-proofs.  Neither of those are true.  A truly Catholic Bible study shows how Scripture and Tradition fit together.  Where do we find the seven sacraments in the Old Testament – and why seven? How does the miracle of the loaves and fishes connect to the priesthood?

I found that having the whole view of Biblical history in one place really helped me understand how Scripture fits together as  whole.  Though I’ve followed Christian’s blog posts for some time, the book was much more accessible, because I felt like I was getting the bigger picture at a more comfortable pace.

4. Use it as a refresher before teaching.  Who’s going to use this book? someone asked me the other day. Our curriculum doesn’t do the Bible in a year.  Well, no, most of us aren’t going to pick up a book like The Bible Tells Me So and decide that we’ll adopt it wholesale as our class for the year.  (Though you could.)  But I do cycle through all the topics that the book covers.  If I’m preparing a class on the Eucharist, or marriage, or the Ten Commandments, this is a great place to turn for ideas.  I wish I had read through the book the first time with a highlighter in hand a pile of sticky notes to mark it up for teaching.

I’ll be doing that this year and next as my 7th-grader and I work through his Bible History course for school.  And that’s my final reason for recommending this book to catechists:

5.  You need to know your Bible.  If you’re intimidated, this book is an excellent place to start.  Highly recommended.

Read all posts by Filed Under: Book Reviews, Catechetics, Catechist Training, Elementary School, Evangelization, General, Middle School, Sacraments, Scripture Leave a Comment
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