Allow me to catch up on the last few days of class.
Day 5.3 Friday, January 17
Briefly started teaching about Salvation History- God's love story. Main stories that we focused on the story of Creation found in Genesis 1 and 2 and The Fall/Adam Eve found in Genesis 3. Here was a video by Mark Hart to introduce Salvation History to my students-pretty creative if I do say so myself!
Main teaching points:
- God loves us- as an entire human race and on and individual basis.
- Concupiscence
- God has a plan for us.
- God wants to spend eternity with us, but we should spend our entire lives getting to know Him, not waiting until later...
Success Story: My third hour class is awfully quiet and it takes a lot of prompting to get any kind of response, and I'm talking even a nod! Well, I constantly give them opportunities to talk and many times and call on them to get their opinions/thoughts/answers. Well, I had a student in that class come in asking me a question. He was confused the day before by something the deacon said at the funeral mass...it was on Matthew 10:39. However, he didn't know the verse and I didn't either. With a quick google search, I found the passage, had all of them go to their Bibles, and showed them the footnote that explains that verse. I pointed out that clearly many people have been perplexed by what Jesus meant when he said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Here's what the footnote states: * [10:39] One who denies Jesus in order to save one’s earthly life will be condemned to everlasting destruction; loss of earthly life for Jesus’ sake will be rewarded by everlasting life in the kingdom. It was nice to be able to show my students ways to get their questions answered even when they are not in class.
That same student asked me whether or not missing mass on Sundays means that he'll go to hell. Hopefully I clarified his answer will continue to emphasize the importance of going to mass on Sundays- one word: grace. Ok a few more words- worship, sacraments, fellowship, Eucharist, etc! And no, not going to mass on Sundays is not a direct ticket to hell. Sheesh! However, I did and continue to encourage all of my students to attend mass regularly. It's a promise we make in our Baptism and really it's what's good for us. I'm sure God doesn't need my help with anything other than spreading His word and being an instrument. Ok, that's a big deal. And we're all called to that! Basically what I was trying to say is God's goodness does not depend or reply on my worship or prayers to Him. However, I rely on Him and His grace to reflect His goodness.
From that point on, the class has been more engaged and willing to participate. It left me feeling great after a good first week of meeting my students and getting them excited about being a follower of Jesus.
Day 6.3 Monday, January 20
As you can see, we finished studying just a handful of the stories- Creation, The Fall, Noah, Moses, David, and the Prophesy of Isaiah!
Day 7.3 Tuesday, January 21
(2 hour delay due to cold weather)
- March for Life 2014
- Pro-life Movement
- Answering the questions who, what, where, when, and why
Please pray for my grade school back home, Our Lady of Victory, and pledge if you can! Check out this report.
St. Paul, pray for us!
Holy Spirit, inspire us!
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