High School Lesson Plan

“Lord, increase my faith.” Luke 17:5

Overview: Overarching Theme: “Through Faith we come to know the will of God.” Guiding Scripture: “Lord, increase my faith.” Luke 17:5 Specific High School Theme: “Where are you?” Cf. Genesis 3:9 Daily Overview:

I. Day 1 – Where are you? II. Day 2 – Lord, increase my faith: What is faith and what are the obstacles to faith? III. Day 3 – Through Faith we come to know the will of God: Universal call to Holiness IV. Day 4 – Through Faith we come to know the will of God: Particular Vocation V. Day 5 – Vocations build Faith: the full circle

Rationale: The basis for this year’s Vocation Awareness Week Curriculum comes from the Holy Father’s call for a Year of Faith. The hope for this week is that our students will come to a greater appreciation of their faith and re-commit themselves to growth in that faith. Through this commitment to faith and the deepening of it, we also hope that our students will both see and respond to the plan God has for their lives. God’s plan for our lives, our calling, our Vocation and our life of faith are intimately connected through the grace of God and his Church. In particular, this curriculum will set out the connection between faith, the plan of God for each of our lives, how that plan calls us to holiness and the service of God and his Church, and that responding to this call in turn builds the faith of one another and those who follow us. Through this curriculum we will also be making many references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI encourages us to revisit and broaden our use of this tool entrusted to the Church. He makes this appeal in his Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei which will also be referred to frequently in reference to the Year of Faith. Finally, we dedicate this work to you teachers, catechists, and faithful witnesses as we each pursue what God can do with a heart that is open to His will. Let us join in prayer as we enter this Vocation Awareness Week: Almighty Father, You have created us for some definite purpose. Grant us the grace to know the path You have planned for us in this life and to respond with a generous “Yes.” Make our archdiocese, parishes, homes and hearts fruitful ground for Your gift of vocations. May our young people respond to Your call with courage and zeal. Stir among our men a desire and the strength to be good and holy priests.

Bless us with consecrated religious and those called to a chaste single life, permanent deacons, and faithful husbands and wives, who are a sign of Christ’s love for His Church. We commend our prayer for vocations to You, Father, through the intercession of Mary our Mother, in the Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord. Amen. – Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr

Day 1 – Where are you? Preparation:

Write on the board “Where are you?” and ask for responses. Then change it to say “Where are you in school?”; “Where are you in your life?”; “Where are you in relationship with your friends?”; “Where are you in relationship with your family?”; and finally “Where are you in relationship with God?” (Feel free to adapt these to your students, but build up to the last question about relationship with God).

Read or have someone read Genesis 3:1-11 Proclamation: “Where are you?” (This is what we want them to be asking themselves and really remember from today’s lesson) Explanation: When God asked “Where are you?” was that because He didn’t know where Adam and Eve were? God is omniscient, all-knowing; He knew physically where Adam and Eve were and He knew what had happened. He didn’t have to ask; He knew. Why then would He ask? Perhaps He asked for our own benefit. Perhaps the question was asked so that Adam and Eve would realize not that God couldn’t find them, but that they had lost him; that they had distanced themselves from him, not the other way round. Perhaps the question was to highlight the fact that they had lost faith in their God. “Man, tempted by the Devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart” (CCC 397). This loss of trust is certainly an injury to the faith Adam and Eve had in their good and loving God. Perhaps the question isn’t just for Adam and Eve, but is for us as well. So, we return to the question from before “Where are we?” or, better yet, “Where are we in relationship to God?” Are we in a relationship of faith? This week we’ll be exploring what faith is and what obstacles there are on our faith journey. Acknowledging that our lives of faith are a journey we can conclude a few things:

(1) If our faith is a journey then we can grow in our faith by going in the right direction or we decline in our faith by getting off the path God has planned for us.

(2) If our faith can grow or decline based on whether we’re on the right path then there must be some goal that God has for our lives. That is to say He has a plan for our lives or another way to put it is that God has “willed” something for you.

(3) If God has a plan for you, then we should seek out what it is He is calling us to do with our lives and we should seek an increase in our faith.

Show video from YouTube: 'Plans' (Jeremiah 29:11) - 2009 Lakewood Church Opening Video Link: http://youtu.be/8Lb7X_H86AA Read: Jeremiah 29:11-14 “Where are you?” Remember the question was asked for our benefit not God’s. In this passage Jeremiah is speaking to the Israelites who have been exiled to Babylon. It would be easy for the exiles to ask God “Where are you?” and they did. And what we read is God’s answer. He’s almost reversing the question on them and saying “Where are you…in relationship to me?” I know what I have planned for you, are you going to trust me, seek me, pray to me, find me. “Where are you?” and where are you going to be when I reveal my plan to you. Will you have faith? If you do, “You will find me with you, says the Lord” Jeremiah 29:14. Adam and Eve had

lost their full relationship with God. The exiles had lost their full relationship with God. God’s answer was, “Have faith in me and I will show you my plan and you will find me.” Application: Introduce Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei and explain that he wrote it to introduce the year of faith that began in October. Have the students read in class or for homework paragraphs 1-9 of Porta Fidei and then answer the following comprehension questions. Comprehension and discussion questions:

1. What does “porta fidei” mean in English? 2. When did the year of faith begin and when will it end? What is the significance of these

dates? 3. When was the last year of faith? Who promulgated it? What did he end that year with? 4. Pope Benedict is hoping that three things will be aroused in the life of every believer as a

result of this Year of Faith. What are they? 5. What are some ways that you can live out these three dimensions of the faith in your own

life? Celebration: Pray the Archdiocesan Prayer for Vocations as a class.

Day 2 – Lord, increase my faith: What is faith and what are the obstacles to faith? Preparation: Read or have students read the following Gospel passages

Luke 17:5-6

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15

Matthew 13:18-23

Luke 17:5-6 Proclamation: “Lord, increase my faith.” Luke 17:5 Explanation: In these Gospel passages what did we hear? We heard the disciples ask for faith. They’re asking for something to be given to them. Then we hear the parable of the Sower, which is the only parable to be explained by Jesus. We read the explanation of the parable from both Luke and Matthew. So what is the seed? It is the Word of God and the gift of faith. What are the different soils? They are our responses to the Word of God and the gift of faith. How are we responding to the Word of God? How are we responding to God’s gift of faith? Where are we? We asked that question yesterday and it’s very pertinent again today. Where are we? Where are you in this scene? What kind of soil are you? How do you respond to God working in your life? We also read two explanations of the parable. One explanation was from Luke and one was from Matthew. There is a subtle difference between the two in what the Gospel writers emphasize about the different responses. What are they connecting the response to? In Luke the different responses are measures of a person’s belief. Reread Luke 8:13. What about in Matthew? The different responses here are measures of understanding. Reread Matthew 13:19. What two aspects of our response to the gift of faith do the evangelists highlight for us? That faith (1)begins with belief and (2)seeks understanding. First, we’ll discuss belief. Have someone read each of the following:

CCC 142-143

Porta Fidei pp. 7b that starts “Only through believing, …”

CCC 150

Mark 9:22-24 (explain the context of this passage) Faith is that “free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed.” CCC 150 Can we surrender our lives over to our loving God as Pope Benedict put it? This isn’t to say that faith is blind though either, because faith seeks understanding. Read CCC 158. What does this tell us about what we do in this class? We seek understanding of our faith. Why? So that we might grow deeper in our faith and belief which will in turn lead us to seek greater understanding and deeper faith and so on until we reach our heavenly home where we will see, know, and understand all that our God is. On that day faith will fade away into the beauty of perfect Love. Application: Begin a discussion regarding faith and the obstacles to faith in our daily lives. Suggested Questions:

1. What are some of the ways you live out your faith in your daily life? 2. What are some of the things that make it hard to live out your faith in the world? In your

family? With your friends? In school? 3. What are some ways to build up your faith to overcome these obstacles? 4. What role do the Sacraments play in your faith life?

Homework: Read the second half of “Porta Fidei.” Write a one to two page reflection with three parts: 1) Reactions to “Porta Fidei,” 2) describe a time where your faith was affirmed in light of the threefold reaction of profess, celebrate, and witness (Cf. PF 9), and 3) describe some of the obstacles to your growth in faith and how you might overcome them. Celebration:

Pray the Archdiocesan Prayer for Vocations and

Ask them to specifically pray for and/or name someone who is an example of someone who is faithfully living out their Vocation.

Day 3 – Through Faith we come to know the will of God: Universal Call to Holiness Preparation:

Review the past two days recalling that on the first day we talked about God asking “Where are you?” and that on the second day we are asking Jesus to “increase my faith.” Reread Jeremiah 29:11-14. He has a plan for you. He’s asking “Where are you?” so that you might come to Him and his plan for you. How do you respond? Do you respond in faith? Do you believe Him when He says I have plans for your welfare and not for woe?

Watch: http://youtu.be/JFh_OAd95KY

Read: CCC 2013 Proclamation: Through Faith we come to know the will of God Explanation: If we believe that God has a plan for our life and that it’s to our benefit and that ultimately it leads to Him – He who we call “Holy, Holy, Holy” in the Mass – then wouldn’t you think his plan to lead us to him is marked by holiness? In other words, can God will something for us that doesn’t lead us to holiness? No. St. Paul tells the Thessalonians, “This is the will of God, your holiness” (1 Thess. 4:3). The Church has recognized this call from the beginning in these words and the words of Jesus Christ: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). And it is for this reason that the Church declared in its Second Vatican Council document Lumen Gentium that “in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness” (LG 39). So, we have faith in God, and faith in what he has planned for us. Through Faith we come to know the will of God – that we are all called to holiness. Check out this blog: www.bigccatholics.com/2011/02/universal-call-to-holiness.html (Either pull it up in class or be able to go through the four steps) “Holiness can be summed up in one word – love.”

1. “The spiritual journey is entirely dependent on God.” Just like God gives us the initial deposit of faith and capacity for belief so too all of our movement toward him depends on him.

2. “Our effort is necessary.” God gave us free will and just as we respond to his gift of faith with our assent and belief so too we must cooperate on the path to holiness.

3. It isn’t always easy. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light,” but he didn’t say it was nonexistent (Mt. 11:30).

4. It’s worth it. Christ endured everything in this life including death on a cross so that we might have a path to eternal life. Holiness is that path.

The Catechism tells us that one of the four main reasons Jesus became flesh for us was “to be our model of holiness” (Read CCC 459). He showed us the way to the Father because he is the way to the Father (Cf. Jn. 14:6). Faith leads us to know the will of God and the first step is to answer the universal call to holiness. Application: Ask the students about some of the devotions and prayers that have been special to them and their families growing up. Why are these special? How have they helped you become holy? Provide some other ideas and resources on prayer: the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Memorare, spiritual reading, Lectio Divina, and any other resources that might help your students engage in the spiritual life and seek holiness. The goal is to provide concrete resources in the life of prayer.

Homework: Describe a time of prayer that was particularly meaningful to you? Why? Was there anyone else there? How did it move you in faith and holiness? Celebration:

1. Save one of these resources that speaks to you as a teacher. 2. Explain to your students a time when this particular prayer or way of praying brought you

closer to God and encouraged you in your call to holiness. 3. Ask them to join you in that prayer.

Day 4 – Through Faith we come to know the will of God – Particular Vocation Preparation Recap the previous lesson on the universal call to holiness as the response to both faith and God asking us “Where are you?” Maybe even recap or tell a different story of a powerful time of prayer in your own life and then invite a few students to share their experiences that they wrote about for their homework. This gives the students a chance to practice witnessing to their faith as we are called to do in this Year of Faith. Proclamation “Through faith we come to know the will of God.” Explanation Let’s go back to what we said at the beginning of the week. We said we would be exploring what faith is and what obstacles there are on our faith journey. We also said that if we acknowledge that our lives of faith are a journey we can conclude a few things:

(1) If our faith is a journey then we can grow in our faith by going in the right direction or we decline in our faith by getting off the path God has planned for us.

(2) If our faith can grow or decline based on whether we’re on the right path then there must be some goal that God has for our lives. That is to say He has a plan for our lives or another way to put it is that God has “willed” something for you.

(3) If God has a plan for you, then we should seek out what it is He is calling us to do with our lives and we should seek an increase in our faith.

We also talked about how God asked “Where are you?” and we said this was for our benefit so that we would realize that we may have lost him. But, there’s a deeper and more specific meaning to this as well. “Where are you” on your walk with God. Where are you on your path? We’ve already talked about how faith leads us to know the will of God in terms of our universal call to holiness. Yet there comes a point on our walk that God calls us to something specific, a particular path that leads us to him. Through faith we come to know that we are all destined for the same goal. God wills heaven for us and that path to heaven calls us to live holiness now. Yet, we each know that we are different. That God has given each of us different gifts, different personalities, and different situations in life. Just as each of us is a unique and unrepeatable person, so too, our paths are unique. We call this specific path given us by God our particular vocation. This week we are living out the call of the Church to foster vocation. The Catechism tells us that “true development concerns the whole man. It is concerned with increasing each person’s ability of respond to his vocation and hence to God’s call” (CCC 2461). We have to ask ourselves here; is everything we’re doing, our development, helping me to respond to my vocation? We can here in this question the echo of God’s question “Where are you?” or “Where are you going?” Traditionally we speak of our particular vocation in terms of four classic areas: priesthood, consecrated religious life, chaste single life, and marriage. It is important to stop here and recognize a few things. The first is there is no default vocation. We don’t simply fall into a vocation because we’re not feeling called to anything else. We don’t simply come to our vocational decision by some process of elimination. Each vocation is spoken to us directly, given to us by God, called to us by Him through the Holy Spirit. It’s also important to recognize that two of these vocations are set aside by Sacraments: Marriage and Holy Orders. We call these sacraments at the service of communion: “Holy Orders

and Matrimony are directed towards the salvation of others” and are, therefore, serving the communion of believers by bringing us closer to Christ. Closely related to these sacraments are those who specifically join themselves, through consecration and the profession of vows, to Christ and his Church work for the salvation of the Body of Christ through prayer and work as consecrated religious. Though their profession is not a Sacrament insofar as it was not established by Christ himself (cf. Definition of a Sacrament CCC 1131), these consecrated ones do take on a special role of sanctifying the body of Christ by exercising with all diligence their baptismal priesthood in which we all share (cf. CCC 784, may need to break here for a further discussion of the difference between the baptismal priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood). Finally, the vocation of the chaste single life is unique. While every one of us lives as single men and women in the Church, and as such are expected to live our universal call to holiness while seeking our particular vocation, some are called to commit themselves to serving the Church and the world as a single person for the rest of their lives, in these cases, many consecrate themselves and take vows to remain celibate for the Kingdom while continuing to work as a lay person in the world. These chaste single people and we who have not found our particular vocation and are living the single life are offered the opportunity to draw closer to Christ and to bring others to him as well. The Church speaks of “all the faithful, lay Christians” as those who “have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth” (CCC 900). Single people, both consecrated and not, are able to engage in this “front line of Church life” without any hesitation or other ties that might hold them back and as such have always been of significant importance to the life of the Church. Application: If at all possible, bring in a priest, religious sister (unless you are one), or consecrated single person to share their vocation story. Have them share how they faced the challenges of life as a young person, what made it easier to hear God’s will, and how “human” the whole process is. Perhaps have the students reflect on the following statement: “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies those He calls.” Homework: Divide the room among the four classic categories in vocations and then have them find a Saint that emulates that vocation for that student. Have them be ready to share (or write a response on) why that particular saint emulates the chaste single life, religious life, married life, or priesthood to them. Celebration:

Pray together the Archdiocesan Prayer for Vocations and

Have the students really listen to the words to hear how intentional we are in praying for each of the categories that our particular vocation falls under.

Day 5 – Vocations Build Faith: the Full Circle Preparation:

Do a quick review of where we’ve been this week. God is asking “Where are you?” We respond “Lord, increase my faith” and that faith leads us to our vocation, both universal vocation to holiness and our particular vocation.

To give a fresh look at what “vocation” means and to introduce the theme for the day show the following clip from YouTube: http://youtu.be/ihnzFH2L818

Proclamation: “Vocations build faith” Explanation: I know what you’re thinking, “I thought faith leads us to our vocation, not the other way round?” The answer is both. It is true that by coming to a deeper faith we come to know the will and the plan of God for our lives. We learn that he desires holiness for us and that he sent his son Jesus here to be that model of holiness for us (cf. CCC 459). Also, through faith we are able to listen more attentively to God as he speaks to us and shows us the particular path he wants us to follow. Yet, there is one more step that brings this whole process full circle. You see faith brings us to our vocation. Our vocation turns around and helps bring faith to those around us. Vocations build faith. They bring it full circle. When Jesus called his disciples he said “Follow me.” This was another way of asking “Where are you and where are you going?” but this time with an invitation “Follow me.” The disciples responded; they followed, listened, learned and their faith increased. (Read or cf. John 1:35 – 2:11). But what was the last thing Jesus told his disciples before He ascended into heaven? “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). They had been given their vocation as apostles; they were the first priests and bishops. Now, they were to go to the ends of the world preaching the Good News of Jesus. Why? So that “you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Faith. So that we might have faith. Jesus called them, gave them a vocation, built their faith, so that they might build ours. Vocations build faith. Think about it. What have you learned about your faith that did not somehow originate in a holy vocation? First and foremost are your parents. They build a family which the Church holds as the first Church, the domestic Church. In fact, the Church says our parents are the primary educators in the faith and vocation: “It is in the bosom of the family that parents are ‘by word and example . . . the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation’” (CCC 1656, cf. LG 11). Our faith is built up by other vocations as well. Other families and singles that live their lives as a witness to the faith. The life of prayer of our clergy and particularly our religious brothers and sisters. And inseparable from our life of faith is of course the Divine Liturgy, the Mass, and the Eucharist brought to us through that special vocation of the priest. It was he or a deacon that brought you into the family of faith through Baptism. The priest who restores our life of grace with God through Reconciliation and nourishes us by bringing us the Bread of Life, Jesus himself, at each Mass. It is our “source and summit” for the life of faith (cf. CCC 1324).

Even us as teachers receive a calling to this ministry. All your religion teachers, youth ministers, and mentors in the faith have in some way responded to a call, a vocation. The question now is will you be the next piece of the circle? Will you respond to God’s call in your life? Will you listen attentively to the words He is trying to speak to you? Will you live your life as a witness to the faith? Not as someone who knows it all already, but rather someone who is still seeking, but cannot hide what they have already received. Will you live for faith? Will you die for faith? Will you ask for the Lord to increase your faith? Will you respond when he calls, “Where are you?” Application:

Show LifeTeen’s Year of Faith video on YouTube

http://youtu.be/pQLs7QMXbcg

Give each student a slip of paper or index card and have them write a petition on where they feel the most help in coming to a deeper faith. Maybe that has to do with vocational discernment; maybe it’s trust that God has a plan for themselves or someone else; maybe it’s perseverance because there’s some tough stuff going on at home or with friends; or maybe you’re struggling with doubts about God or his teachings.

Write a petition asking God to touch that part of your life.

Then collect them anonymously into a box or bowl that will remain in the classroom.

Tell the students that you will take one out each week and pray for that intention and encourage them to do the same for their classmates.

Celebration:

End with a time of prayer asking for greater faith and greater sense of our vocation and the path God is calling us down.

In light of the year of faith pray together the Creed, the prayer of what we believe and

Close with the Archdiocesan prayer for vocations. This lesson plan was written by Matthew Reinkemeyer, Youth Minister for St. Margaret of York in Loveland, OH. Mr. Reinkemeyer has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Please feel free to adapt all content to fit your classroom or homeschooling needs but if distributing please give credit both to the Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and to Matthew Reinkemeyer.