Bible Stories Archives - Amazing Catechists

Serving God is all about Re-gifting

As Christmas approaches we begin to hear the familiar stories about gifts, traditions, and what is appropriate or not regarding gifts. I remember growing up hearing horror stories about people passing unwanted gifts to others or, as accurately described in popular culture, “re-gifting”. The argument against this practice centered around being cheap, ungrateful, inconsiderate, and deceptive. The general feeling in those days was that re-gifting was a slap in the face of the original giver, and a blatant sign of ingratitude or disrespect for the time and effort that person put into giving the gift. Certainly, even today, most would agree that giving away a personalized or meaningful gift is improper form, as would be passing over a used or dusty gift from the past.

However, a review of more recent thoughts regarding this practice shows a growing sentiment away from total negativity toward measured acceptance and even praise of this behavior. The general sentiment seems to be that passing off an unwanted gift to someone who might enjoy or use such a gift more is a noble way of avoiding waste and spreading enjoyment. It seems that, as long as good taste and practicality is observed, many people today do not automatically shun re-gifting if the recipient will benefit or enjoy a gift which would otherwise remain unused.

The Magi brought the infant Jesus gifts in the form of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and some joke that the latter two gifts were certainly re-gifted since gold would be the preferred gift. In all seriousness, gifts were part of the very first Christmas because the Infant Jesus is a gift from God in every sense of the word. Moving forward, Our Lord’s entire ministry on earth was a continuous gift as the perfect example of loving service and care for others that we are all called to follow. Saint Therese the Little Flower once stated that she wanted to come before God with empty hands which were free of all the gifts God had given her which had been offered to others. We know from the famous Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) that we are expected to turn God’s investment in our talents into a profit of service to others.

Simply put, we re-gift when we use the gifts God has given us to serve others. Our abilities and skills do not belong to us but, rather, are merely temporary possessions which we must use to bring God’s touch to others. The singer too lazy to sing for others or, worse, who merely uses her talent to gain personal fame and material possessions without helping others is ignoring the purpose of that God-given gift. The excellent public speaker or writer who uses his talent to spread harm or create hatred is certainly misusing his talent.

At the end of the day, then, following Christ is re-gifting for the glory of God, and you are certainly welcome to pass that thought to others.

Gabriel Garnica, 2016

Zacchaeus: The Long and Short of Our Faith

By Gabe Garnica

We have all read and heard the story of Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus when Our Lord passed through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem ( Luke 19: 2-4). As the story goes, Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed the tree knowing that this was the only way he would be able to see Our Lord. When Jesus passed by the tree, He called out to Zacchaeus by name and called him down, for He intended to visit his house. As would be expected, the crowd was shocked once again that Jesus, a Jew, would supposedly stain Himself by being the guest of a tax collector.

As is often the case, there is a powerful lesson to be learned in this story which transcends the simplicity of the narrative. To begin with, tax collectors were despised as corrupt traitors who stole from their own to serve themselves and the oppressive Romans. Our Lord, however, sees what is in the heart of the person, and He knew Zacchaeus was a good investment. As was always the case, Jesus did not measure by the standards of this world but by the insight of God. We are certainly not God, but we can emulate Our Lord by refusing to judge a book by its cover.

Secondly, Zacchaeus refused to let the obstacle of his short stature get in the way of his desire to see this Jesus with his own eyes. Others might have used their height as an excuse to give up, or let others describe Our Lord to them. They might have let their circumstances dictate their response to Our Lord’s call. How often do we let circumstances become obstacles and obstacles become excuses?

Third, Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd in order to find the most effective and favorable place to overcome his obstacle. Sometimes, our greatest obstacle is failing to anticipate the very obstacles and issues that will befall us. Many people suffer from obsession with the past, which they cannot change, and the regrets that bubble from such obsession. Others are chained to the present, only focused on the here and now and what they can gain in the immediate present. Zacchaeus reminds us that following Our Lord often means that we have to think long-term, anticipate, and plan ahead. Serving God and others is often a question of proactively looking for opportunities to love, not waiting passively for such chances to arise. Great saints like Mother Teresa did not sit back and wait; they reached out in love and stepped outside of their comfort zones.

Fourth, Zacchaeus was willing to climb a tree to see Jesus. He was willing to elevate himself away from the everyday perspective of others. He knew that staying grounded, while seemingly safer, was far more risky to his ultimate goal of seeing Christ himself. Do we prefer to stay too grounded, and too safe? Are we willing to climb out of our usual perspectives to get closer to Jesus?

Finally, when Jesus called out to Zacchaeus, and expressed His intent to visit with him, Zacchaeus quickly came down from the tree, eager to obey and follow Our Lord. Do we cultivate an ability to transcend and rise above the world yet likewise become grounded in Christ? Do we realize that getting closer to Christ often means being able to both rise above obstacles and ground ourselves in His example?

As we walk through our journey on this temporary stop toward salvation, let us harness our inner Zacchaeus and be willing to identify, overcome, and transcend our shortcomings in order to answer Christ’s call to love and service !!

2016, Gabriel Garnica

The Dirty Truth About Salvation

By Gabe Garnica

The other day a friend of mine compared me to Felix Unger, the fastidiously neat character in The Odd Couple, the popular film and 1970s television program based on Neil Simon’s play by the same name. My friend made this observation based on often seeing me organizing my desk, cabinets, closet, and files, as well as often washing my hands with alcohol and soap.

Now, before you agree with my friend that I am some sort of weird, neat freak, let me assure you that the reason I organize my stuff so often is precisely because I slip back to messy so easily. Also, I only wash my hands with alcohol and soap when arriving home, having touched money, or having worked in a dirty area. If that makes me weird, then so be it. It is just that I have often gotten colds and infections after not washing my hands, and I tend not to get those things when I do keep my hands sanitized.

You may be wondering what dirt and cleanliness have to do with anything in this site, and you would not be alone. After all, isn’t it much more important to save our souls, obey God’s Will and Law, and follow Christ’s example than keeping our hands clean? As Christ Himself reminded us, it is more important to keep our inside clean than our outside (Matthew 23:26).

Christ is Not Afraid of a Little Dirt

We came from dust, and to dust we will return (Gen 3:19). Our Lord was born in a dirty, dusty place (Luke 2:7) and worked as a carpenter (Mark 6:3) which is not exactly the most immaculately clean occupation. He made mud to heal a blind man (John 9:6) and even wrote on the ground while protecting the woman caught in adultery against her hypocritical accusers ( John 8:6). Christ’s feet got pretty dirty (John 12:3) and he had no problem washing His follower’s feet (John 13:6-9). One would not assume that the poor, sick, and diseased that Jesus helped were living in perfectly clean circumstances. It is a pretty safe bet that Our Lord encountered dirt on a daily basis and continued doing God’s Will regardless. I do not know about you, but when I think of Jesus I do not imagine a man running from a dirty leper screaming, “Yikes, he is dirty!”

We came from dirt, which is our humanity, and Our Lord loves us so much that He took on the outward dirt of our humanity so that He could remove the inner dirt of our sin on a dirty, dusty cross. Thus, we see that the only dirt that God rejects is the dirt of sin (Luke 10:11) but not the dirt of humanity, which He embraces.

Following Christ Means Getting Dirty

Mother Teresa knew a thing or two about dirt; she wrapped herself in it while reaching out to those in most need. Each of us has a mission, a purpose in life which God has designed for us given our particular talents and traits. We cannot serve God without exposing ourselves to both the outer dirt of humanity and the inner dirt of sin, any more than a life guard can hope to save drowning swimmers without getting wet. It is part of the deal, the game, of saving souls. This reality is inherent in what it means to follow Christ. We have to be willing to get our hands dirty if we hope to reach out to those in need. Being a Christian is not about wearing immaculately clean and white uniforms with nice white gloves. It is about selflessly serving others as Our Lord did. Just imagine the absurdity of a man in a spotlessly white uniform and gloves carrying a cross and you will see how inconsistent such an image would be.

Conclusion

As I was writing this piece, I received a call from my plumber and a visit from my sprinkler guy. The sprinkler guy has a thriving business with 800 customers, and he was kneeling in the mud changing a sprinkler head. My plumber often looks like he fell in a sewer when he comes to my house. Imagine if you needed a plumber and had to choose between one wearing a perfectly clean, white uniform and gloves as white as snow and one who was full of dirt. I do not know about you, but I would be suspicious of the plumber who looked like an ice cream man. After all, how good a plumber would he be if he never got dirty?

The dirty truth about salvation is that salvation is dirty business. We are weak, imperfect, and sinful people far removed from the pristine state of our baptism. We also tend to focus too much on the outward, obvious dirt that we wash off with soap and water and not enough on the inner, less obvious dirt of sin on our souls. Most of us would never dream of going a month without a shower, yet many have no problem going a month without going to confession. In fact, most people worry more about washing their car than their soul.

Being a good Christian means we will need freqeunt washing, both on the outside as well as the inside, because saving souls means we often have to take our gloves off.

2016 Gabriel Garnica

The Lessons of Gideon: When Less is More

By Gabe Garnica

You may have perhaps heard the story of Gideon, ( Jdg 6:36 -7:23) chosen by God to defeat the Midianites, a nomadic people who were tormentors and enemies of Israel and would invade their land and disperse them into the mountains. The Midianites were idolaters and often led Israel astray to worship their gods. They often rendered the Hebrews tributary, mistreating and oppressing them ( Num 22:1-41, 31:1-54). They stole and destroyed the Hebrews’ crops and harvest, trampling their land as if by right.

The Hebrews definitely needed to rid themselves of these tormentors, but they had neither the courage nor the faith to do so. As was often the case, God chose a person who seemed least qualified to free his people of this problem. We know that this pattern only reinforces the fact that we do not see, measure, or value people and things as God does.

According to Scripture, Gideon began with an army of 32,300 to fight against the Midianites, but God told Gideon to send home any who were afraid to fight, for such men would only hinder the mission at hand. We are told that 22,000 men thus left, leaving only 10,000 to fight the large Midianite army. After this, God said that there were still too many and had Gideon remove those men who left themselves vulnerable to enemy attack while drinking water, by dropping all weapons and drinking with both hands. God told Gideon to keep only those who held on to their weapons, ever watchful of possible attack, and drank with one hand only. After this second filtering only 300 men remained who, following God’s strict instructions, dispersed and defeated the much larger enemy by creating confusion and panic among the Midianites.

As would be expected, the story of Gideon teaches a number of critical lessons which we can apply in our journey toward God. Each of these lessons carries the fact that God downsized Gideon’s army so as to de-emphasize the role of men in what was to happen, as well as to test the faith of all involved. Also note that the army defeated here was the one without the one true God, who relied on earthly power and perception only, and who experienced confusion and panic as a result.

Faith………….Obviously, we must always begin with faith in God’s Will and love for us. The first group which God removed from Gideon’s army consisted of those who were afraid and preferred to flee than fight for their cause. We know from experience that half-hearted actions steeped in doubt only hamper results, and it is often better to remove elements of doubt from our effort before we even begin. Gideon had difficulty fully believing God at first, but his ultimate faith helped him to complete God’s request. Also, reducing his army when facing a powerful foe would make Gideon look like a fool by earthly standards. Are we not called to be fools for Christ if we are to follow him? ( 1 Cor 4:10). Speaking of measuring, we move on to the second lesson of…

Evaluation of Evidence…..All too often, we love to evaluate by our standards, as if our measures mean anything to God Almighty. By earthly standards, Gideon reducing his army to only 300 men seemed a foolish and suicidal choice, yet, because this is what God wanted him to do–with God’s help–Gideon was able to set in motion the ultimate dispersal and defeat of his enemies.

Action and Application…….Having faith and not judging by our standards mean nothing if we do not follow God’s promptings as best we can. Gideon and his men followed God’s guidance to the letter, and thus obtained the results which come from obedience to God.

Review Results and Repeat…..Upon applying God’s guidance in our lives, we are called to learn from what has happened, including how to understand the results that we obtain, and repeat this process as necessary. We know from history that the Hebrews often did not fully appreciate God’s direct help and expected God to give them the results they wanted rather than letting God decide what was best. How many times, for example, do we consider our prayers answered only if we obtain the result we seek? Have we considered that God’s answer may simply not coincide with our wishes?

Our True Enemy

Please note that the first letters of the lessons cited above spell out the word FEAR, which is our true enemy. Peter denied Jesus three times out of fear. The apostles abandoned Jesus upon His arrest out of fear. The apostles did not initially spread the teachings of Christ out of fear. Saul, who later became Paul, and his ilk tried to destroy the Christians, out of fear that they were a threat to the status quo.

Whenever we violate one of the Ten Commandments in general and commit sin, it is usually out of some sort of fear. We do not put God before everything in our lives because we are afraid to let go of this world’s assurances and comforts. We lie to and about others out of fear that they will harm us in some way, if we are honest. We disrespect our parents and all authority out of fear that said authority is not working in our best interest. The best way to determine if authority is working for us and consistent with God’s will is to filter that authority, not through only our eyes or the standards of this world, but much more importantly, through God’s Word and Christ’s example.

Ultimately, sin is created out of fear, and fear is born out of a lack of faith–faith in God’s goodness, mercy, divine justice, and wisdom. God forgives our sins if we drop our fear that He will not and ask for mercy. We will keep rising up to serve God if we drop our fear that it will be a worthless effort. We will find and apply our talents for God if we drop our fear that they will be insufficient, mocked, ignored, or directly rejected.

Note that FEAR is also an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. God is truth; He is the only evidence we need. If we rely, as we should, only on God, we will not need the appearances of this world to guide us. Lastly, if we rely on what this world calls reality, we may experience confusion and panic, as the Midianites did. By contrast, if we rely solely on God and trust in Him, there will be no false evidence which appears real in our lives and, thus, no fear.

May Our Lord grant each of us the faith, courage, determination, and perception to defeat the fear, and sin, in our lives.

2016 Gabriel Garnica

Gabriel Garnica

By Gabe Garnica

Gabriel Garnica is crazy enough to believe that we can all be saints, and he refuses to buy the lie that we cannot. He is a college professor with degrees in law and mental health counseling. He was born in Colombia and came to the U.S. as a young child. While Gabe continues to enjoy teaching law, his greatest fulfillment as an educator has come from his ten years as a catechist at two local parishes. Gabe is passionate about sharing his faith through writing and speaking; and he has enjoyed giving numerous talks to children on such topics as Divine Mercy, David and Goliath, The Ten Commandments, and prioritizing one’s faith. While he enjoys talking to children, it is in writing and speaking to adults that Gabe truly feels he has found his calling. His goal is to continue developing his Catholic speaking and write several books on his topics of interest, which include meditations on the Ten Commandments, Divine Mercy, the saints, parable stories, general Scripture, Pro-Life, and The Virgin Mary. He enjoys writing for his blog Deus solus https://wordpress.com/posts/deussolus9.wordpress.com and as a columnist at Catholic Stand ww.catholicstand.com/author/gabriel-garnica/

Gabe’s favorite saints are Tarcisius, Therese “The Little Flower”, and Alphonsus de Liguori, whom he describes as giving us a powerful glimpse of the loving challenge which God has given each of us. As mentioned above, Gabe believes that we are all called to be saints, but we spend more time convincing ourselves why we cannot become one than trying to fulfill our true purpose in becoming precisely that. Gabe also speaks about Catholic marriage as being the true “Love Triangle”, with each partner and God.

Letting Go of Our Nets: A Journey with Peter

By Maureen Smith

The Call

Yesterday morning I took the walk of shame down the side aisle of the Chapel, 5 minutes late and we were already at the Gospel. Frustrated and feeling confirmation that I was definitely a failure at absolutely everything if I couldn’t even make it to Mass on time, I then listened to the Gospel and underneath my gritted teeth felt a sense of relief and the first sign of a smile since yesterday. Having experienced a personal failure a week ago (joining the ranks of the unemployed), I felt comforted by the life and example of Peter.

In the Call of Peter in Mark’s Gospel, which we read yesterday, Jesus clarifies Peter’s vocation and asks him to leave behind what he thought defined him for a life of intimacy and trust in the Lord rather than in the success of the work of his hands.

Similarly, in Luke’s account of the Call of Peter, Jesus uses a moment of failure (on the part of Peter to provide fish after working all night) to reveal His identity as the Son of God while also challenging Peter to discover his own identity, not as a fisherman but as Jesus calls him in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, a “fisher of men.” John’s Gospel recounts a somewhat different, but not inconsistent, first encounter. Here Jesus also reveals to Peter (then Simon) his identity by renaming him Cephas (Peter).

Let It Go!

As we see in our scriptural pilgrimage, it takes Peter a while to really let go of what he thinks constitutes his identity, as well as his ideas of the Messiah and how His glory should be manifested. We see this when he fails to walk on water, when he rebukes Jesus for predicting his crucifixion, and when he denies Jesus three times.

He may have left behind his fisherman’s nets but there are still many figurative nets holding him back from receiving the truth of his identity as well as what it means to be an Apostle, probably because he is unable to believe the totality of Jesus’s identity which He holds unfolds (albeit sometimes cryptically) to Peter and the others.

Nets

So often we, too, link our accomplishments and the outcomes of our efforts to our identity so that, if and when they fail to measure up to our standards or those of others, we judge ourselves to be inadequate and are quickly overtaken by tidal waves of unworthiness. We assess ourselves by how productive work was, the number on the scale, the number of miles we ran, positive feedback, approval of others, or any other combination of worldly measures of success. It is not wrong that we have aspirations, but it is not true that these standards have any bearing on our identity and worthiness of God’s love and mercy. What are the “nets” we cling to for a sense of acceptance and worthiness that, although they may be part of our calling, are not essential to our identity? Do we need to put them down as Jesus instructs Peter in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew? Or do we need to trust in Jesus’s intercession and instruction as we see in Luke?

Do we struggle to put down these nets because we have a hard time believing in Jesus as truly God, as truly more powerful than our little mistakes or failures to “make something of ourselves?” Yes we can know the truth intellectually, but do we really believe in Jesus, in His power and authority over sin and death, and in the truth that our identity comes from Him rather than our accomplishments or lackthereof?

When Our Nothingness Encounters God’s Mercy

When we experience failure before the Lord we can become afraid and the shame we feel can be a barrier to further intimacy with him. But these encounters with our weaknesses are often the point of entry for the Lord, just as they were teaching moments and opportunities for Peter.

I think often of how ashamed Peter must have felt in Luke’s account of the Call of Peter. He would have felt a similar sense of failure throughout his journey with Jesus, however, Jesus uses these opportunities to fill the emptiness in Peter’s heart with His light and truth, which Peter will more fully embrace at Pentecost.

Saint Therese’s thoughts on this passage, recorded in Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalene, give us a refreshing outlook on what Jesus can do with our failures. She writes, “Had the Apostle caught some small fish, perhaps our divine Master would not have, worked a miracle; but he had caught nothing, and so through the power and goodness of God his nets were soon filled with great fishes. Such is Our Lord’s way. He gives as God, with divine generosity, but He insists on humility of heart.”

In her italics, Therese shows us the keys (no pun intended) to how Peter learned to follow the Lord. We will often find ourselves in the “nothing” stage. This is where the Lord’s grace is most efficacious. However, she warns that He “insists on humility of heart.” This means that we must, like Peter, let go of our fear of failure and put our whole trust in the Jesus and let him be Who He says He is, God!

Now imagine how Jesus looked at Peter in his moments of failure, for example, after a full night of reeling in net after net of nothing. Or when Jesus, after His Resurrection asks Peter if he loves Him. His gaze must have been quite the opposite of Peter’s inward gaze of self-judgment, which actually distorts his perception of how Jesus sees him.

As was the case with Peter, Jesus looks upon our failures with mercy, not with shame, impatience, disgust, etc. He may not immediately reveal His glory in our failures, that usually takes time. We may not reel in a miraculous abundance of tangible goods. Most of our failures will probably require at least a bit of waiting and trusting that eventually Jesus will use this emptiness or failure for His glory and His plan for our welfare…not woe.

Spoiler Alert! (We Will Live Happily Ever After)

Peter, whose blunders are so frequent in the Gospels, shows us that we too can achieve greatness. His ministry most likely did not feel or look successful. It looked much like that of Christ whose life and ministry was looked upon as a failure up until the Resurrection. So also our lives may appear to be lacking in value, but if we remain under the gaze of Jesus and strive to live in the truth of our identity as Children of God, we will achieve the greatest success, sainthood.

Someday, in Heaven, we will hopefully be able chat with Peter, praise God, and laugh about our failures which were transformed into our greatest moments of sanctity. We might feel like we are currently getting a poor return for our efforts, but trust in the example of Peter, it’s worth the struggle!

Jesus offers us discipleship, not job security

By Maureen Smith

This morning I just want to offer a few words on today’s Gospel, where James and John ask to sit at Jesus’ right and left in his kingdom. In other words, they are asking for some sort of verbal confirmation of job security. How many of us have been anxious about whether our employer will give us tenure or whether we will survive lay offs?

Discipleship, however, is very different. The homilist at my parish noted that those who sat at Jesus’ left and right as he was preparing to enter his kingdom were those crucified with him.

We are offered security, but Jesus tells us that our securities are not recognition or a 401K. They are the promise of his Baptism and his Crucifixion, his preparation for mission and his passion. What this discipleship is about is not our position or our apparent success but rather the docility to the Word of God at work in us.

God bless you this Sunday!

FREE Comedy-Drama #Catholic Bible Video Series for Everyone

By Lisa Mladinich

I’m not kidding. Anyone with ears and a sense of humor will be amused and enriched by Christian LeBlanc’s tour-de-force video series of 12 hour-long classes about the Catholicism of the Bible. It would be a great resource for anything from pre-Confirmation to Youth Ministry to RCIA/Adult Ed programs.

Using speed-drawing (stick figures), linguistics, solid scholarship, and a rapid-fire delivery that makes this catechetical series (which LeBlanc admits is by no means comprehensive) as enjoyable as it is educational, the southern-born LeBlanc knocks his catechesis out of the park and earns the label, “Amazing Catechist.” And he offers his first video production to the world free of charge.

LeBlanc’s parish-made videos are technically primitive, but they still manage to set the bar higher than the usual slickly-produced and scripted academic ones or their sibling rivals: those that rely heavily on hipster spin and the projection of a carefully-crafted, false intimacy meant to disarm teens. LeBlanc simply cannot take himself so seriously, because his wit and wisdom are completely at the service of the best book on earth about the truest religion on earth. It’s all just so much fun!

It’s also tons of fun watching such a charming speaker experience his own learning curve as he progresses from the very first video to the last with increasing ease and aplomb. In the first episode, he is so nervous about the camera running in his classroom that he looks like he just parachuted onto the parish grounds: he is flushed, his hair a little wild, his delivery breathless. But soon this master catechist hits his stride and shows us what all the fuss is really about: the Bible is a startlingly compelling roadmap to the Catholic faith.

Let the man himself show-and-tell you all about it.

Summapalooza!

About Christian LeBlanc

Christian LeBlanc is a revert whose pre-Vatican II childhood was spent in South Louisiana, where he marinated in a Catholic universe and acquired a Catholic imagination. During his middle school years in South Carolina, Christian was catechized under the benevolent dictatorship of Sister Mary Alphonsus, who frequently admonished him using the nickname “Little Pagan.” After four years of teaching Adult Ed and RCIA, he returned to Sr. Alphonsus’ old classroom to teach Catechism himself. This is his tenth year of teaching sixth grade. Married to Janet, the LeBlancs have five children and two grandsons. Christian and Janet belong to St. Mary’s Parish in Greenville, South Carolina.

Check out Christian’s book on Bible-based catechesis at:

https://www.createspace.com/3835986

And my REVIEW of his terrific book.

(This post was originally published at Lisa Mladinich’s Water Into Wine, at Patheos.com)

Qodesh Qodesh

By Christian LeBlanc

From the Nov. 5 Catechism class

Drawing and reading about the Holy of Holies* in Solomon’s temple:

“The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; and he overlaid it with pure gold. In the most holy place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold. The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles.”

Not included in the text is the High Priest at lower right, and the LORD’s presence hovering over the Mercy Seat. Cherubim’s swords are my addition based on Genesis.

I first drew the 30 x 30 x 30 shape of the space, and the kids recognized it as a cube. Then the other details were added on the fly as they came up while reading. The cube will matter this spring when we draw and read about a much larger one described in Revelations:

“The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal.”

The other bits will matter when God transitions from his Old Covenant dwelling to his New Covenant dwelling.

When teaching adults, a picture is worth a thousand words. A live drawing is worth five thousand words. And with kids, a live drawing is worth ten thousand words. When I get to Revelations in April, will they remember the shape and stuff of the Holy of Holies? You bet they will.

*Qodesh Qodesh, קדש קדש, Holy (of) Holies.

Arkeology

By Christian LeBlanc

Every year in our journey through the Bible and the Mass, the kids learn about All the Arks. Like everything else in our Salvation History curriculum, I cover them as they come up in the Bible. But the theme of Arks teaches a useful Catholic lesson that can be covered in a single class period like this:

Prelude: the Garden of Eden.

Per Genesis 2 and 3, Eden isn’t the whole of the Earth, but a distinct, separate place:

“And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.”

[I draw a quick picture of God, Adam, Eve, the Tree, and the Snake; and show them contained within the Garden.]

God dwelled in Eden in some physical way with Adam and Eve:

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

So even though Eden is not an ark, it prefigures arks:

a. God is present in Eden in a way that he is not present outside of Eden. In more general terms, what’s inside of Eden is better than what’s outside of Eden.
b. Eden is relatively small, and holds precious things inside: God’s Stuff. That is, the Tree of Life; and Adam and Eve before they sinned.
c. It’s protective.

1. Noah’s Ark

“God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

[I draw the Ark with people and animals sticking their heads out.]

Right off I ask the kids what an ark is. Someone will say a boat, which is the starting point for looking at what an ark is, because it’s not always a boat. In the case of Noah’s ark and Moses’ ark, the Hebrew word is tebah. Tebahis only used in these two cases, but no-one is sure of its meaning. To keep it simple in class, I say tebah means container. And if the container floats, then it must be a boat. Then we discuss the Ark’s ‘arkiness’. It contains God’s Stuff, precious things, i.e., Noah’s family and the animals; things are better inside the Ark than outside; it protects; and it separates the relatively good inside from the sinful outside.

2. Moses’ Ark

Exodus 2 says “1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3 And when she could hide him no longer she took for him an ark (Hebrew- tebah) made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river’s brink. 4 And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. 6 When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying.”

The kids will jump all over this Ark because they already know about Noah’s Ark: baby Moses is precious; he’s God’s Stuff; he’s better than what’s outside of the Ark; he’s protected. The Ark floats so it must be…a boat, yes, but in general an ark is just a container.

3. The Ark of the Covenant

Before getting to this Ark, the kids have to know about Moses and the Israelites’ exiting Egypt, and becoming nomads for 40 years. Being nomads, they live in tents. So if God is going to dwell among his people again, he needs a tent, too; what in Latin is called a tabernaculum, a little house:

“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”

[I draw the outline of a big tent, just walls and roof. Then as I continue to read, inside the tent I draw the ark; the rings and poles; the seat; and the cherubim and their wings.]

“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. 11 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. 12 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. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. 17 Then you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 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. 20 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. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”

Now we learn the contents of the Ark: a pot of Manna, Aaron’s staff, and the Commandments. The kids once again can explain the arkiness: only God’s Stuff goes inside; the Stuff is protected; it’s better than what’s outside the Ark; it’s separated from the sinful stuff outside. If your kids don’t know about the contents already, you’ll have to give them some background before you start on the scripture bits above. We learn a new Hebrew word arown, which means chest, and the word always used to denote the Ark of the Covenant. I point out it’s another word for container, kind of like tebah. (You can skip the Hebrew if you want to.)

Time permitting, I’ll draw how Solomon’s Temple placed the Ark in a cube-shaped Holy of Holies, a box-in-a-box concept of sorts.

4. The Ark of the New Covenant

[I draw Mary and Gabriel]

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, * the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. …And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” 35 And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

[I add a dot to Mary’s tummy.]

Through guided discussion/ Q&A the kids sort out:

The dot is Jesus. Jesus is contained in Mary’s tummy. He will dwell in Mary for 9 months. [I show Jesus growing bigger inside Mary.] Jesus is way precious, more valuable than just God’s Stuff- Jesus is God Himself. If Mary is containing Jesus then we might refer to her as an Ark, the Ark of the New Covenant. Because Jesus has no sin, and lives in Mary, connects to her through his belly-button, Mary has no sin either. She and Jesus are separate from the rest of the world in that way.

5. The Tabernacle

[I draw the east end of a church interior, basically an altar, some candles, and a big crucifix.]

I get the kids to quickly tell me Jesus’ story in stages: Jesus was born, became an adult, founded his church, died for our sins, resurrected, and went to heaven. But Mary’s not the last Ark, nowadays we have one in every church. If the kids can’t guess what it is, I re-read this bit of Exodus: “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” They then can connect the tabernacle, the little house in that Exodus passage, to the tabernacle in the Church. [I add the tabernacle to the picture, and always show it as a little house with a gable-roof.] We see how they are related, and also how like Mary, the tabernacle isn’t just a container for God’s stuff, but a little house for Jesus to dwell in. It’s close to how God and Adam and Eve dwelled in Eden together, but Jesus doesn’t talk or walk around in the afternoon like God did in Eden. If a child asks why we don’t call the Tabernacle an Ark, I remind them a house is a container that people live in. So Jesus’ container is called a tabernaculum, Latin for little house, or tent, like the one God dwelled in among the nomadic Israelites.

6. The New Jerusalem

But remember as we say at Mass, the Church is a pilgrim church, which means it’s on a journey. At the Second Coming, we will have reached our destination, and we won’t have the Church anymore. In the Book of Revelation, St. John says: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; 3 and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.”

So what sort of place will this be, where a few billion of us (one hopes) will dwell with God? Let’s see: “And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal…The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits by a man’s measure, that is, an angels. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.”

Kids don’t know what a stadion is. Now I draw and talk, “Let’s see how big this New Jerusalem is…a stadion is is about 1/10 of a mile long, so it’s about one thousand two hundred miles long…and this dot is a person…and “its length and breadth and height are equal” like so…and the kids figure out as I draw that the New Jerusalem is a huge cube. Why, it’s just a big container, a huge…Ark! So at the end of our long journey from Eden, we’ll live with God in a big Ark, where all of us can fit. We won’t be separated from God ever again.

Then we do a quick review of all the Arks. If the board is big enough I don’t have to erase, so I can point to all of them. And I remind the children to always think of all the Arks whenever they think of one of them.

8-minute audio here.