Monday of the First Week of Advent

Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Spirit, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation: the great season of Advent. This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon rejoiced at last to see. This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity. We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery. In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Each year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

From a pastoral letter by Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop
(Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, t. 2, Lugduni, 1683, 916-917)

St. Peter Claver - Slave to the Slaves

September 9 is the feast of St. Peter Claver. St. Peter served as a missionary on the slave ships that arrived in Colombia, South America during the 17th century. He greeted the Africans, who had already spent months in squalid conditions, with a smile and a drink of water. He met them where they were at and attended to their bodily needs with water, food, and medicine. Only then did he introduce them to Jesus Christ, who "took the form of a slave" (Phil. 2:7). His dedication and service to his brothers and sisters brought about the conversion of 300,000 Africans over the course of 33 years.
How can we meet the needs of others when leading them to Christ?
Read Philippians 2:6-11. If Jesus thus humbled Himself, how are we called to be humble in our approach with others?

My Teaching is Not Mine

Christocentricity in catechesis also means the intention to transmit not one's own teaching or that of some other master, but the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Truth that He communicates or, to put it more precisely, the Truth that He is. We must therefore say that in catechesis it is Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God, who is taught - everything else is taught with reference to Him - and it is Christ alone who teaches - anyone else teaches to the extent that he is Christ's spokesman, enabling Christ to teach with his lips. Whatever be the level of his responsibility in the Church, every catechist must constantly endeavor to transmit by his teaching and behavior the teaching and life of Jesus. He will not seek to keep directed towards himself and his personal opinions and attitudes the attention and the consent of the mind and heart of the person he is catechizing. Above all, he will not try to inculcate his personal opinions and options as if they expressed Christ's teaching and the lessons of His life. Every catechist should be able to apply to himself the mysterious words of Jesus: "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me." St. Paul did this when he was dealing with a question of prime importance: "I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you." What assiduous study of the word of God transmitted by the Church's magisterium, what profound familiarity with Christ and with the Father, what a spirit of prayer, what detachment from self must a catechist have in order that he can say: "My teaching is not mine!" 

Catechesi Tradendae, 6

Good Teachers

"There is one simple key to exciting and successful education on any level … good teachers. Good teachers, in turn, means two things, both of them love-things. The teacher by whom students are inspired, the teacher who changes their lives, is always a double lover. He is a lover of the subject and a lover of the student. Students detect that love almost infallibly, and it is simply irresistible… But this love of student and subject that is the key to great teaching is a love of God, at least implicitly, even if the teacher is an agnostic or an atheist. The spark is not just natural affection, friendship, or desire but some sort of disinterested, self-forgetful, wondering, and worshipful agape for the student and for the subject. For the student is an image of God, who is love, and the subject is a bit of truth, which God is also. Loving these two supreme values of personhood and truth is implicitly loving God because that is where they are. They are divine attributes. Therefore good teaching is loving God."

Peter Kreeft, The God Who Loves You
 

The Devil and the Law

When Thomas More's son-in-law asserts that he would cut down every law in England, the patron saint of lawyers explains why he would give the devil benefit of law.
Doctrine: law, conscience, society

Where's the Body?

The Roman soldiers assigned to guard the tomb of Jesus do not know where the body went. They also don't know what to tell Pilate about it.
Doctrine: Resurrection, Liturgical Year - Easter

The Crucifixion

This song by Danielle Rose speaks of the Crucifixion from the perspective of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is from her collection of songs for the Mysteries of the Rosary.
Doctrine: Jesus Christ, Redemption, Blessed Virgin Mary, Rosary
Use: Ask students to listen to the song and journal about the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery from the perspective of a specific person who would have been present.

Olaf Explains Love

Princess Anna doesn't know anything about true love, and her attempt to find true love leads to disaster. Too often, we measure love by looks and words rather than actions. Olaf explains to Anna that love is about "putting someone else's needs before yours."
Doctrine: Chastity, 6th/9th Commandments

St. Patrick

The story of St. Patrick, courtesy of Veggie Tales. The faith that St. Patrick helped to spread in Ireland helped foster the monastic life in that country. Irish monks in turn helped to preserve learning,  evangelize northern Europe, and revive the faith in Italy.
Doctrine: liturgical year, evangelization

Council of Elrond

Frodo has brought the Ring to seeming safety in Rivendell, but Elrond calls together a council of all in Middle Earth to discuss the destruction of the Ring. The races of men, dwarves, and elves dispute who is most fit to take the task, but the small hobbit volunteers to carry the fate of all to the fires of Mount Doom.
Doctrine: Beatitudes (Blessed are the Peacemakers); Just War
Use: Peace means doing what is right out of love. Peace is not avoiding evil or chaos, but keeping the truth of Christ and His will at the center of all decisions.

Remember the Titans - Gettysburg

The movie Remember the Titans explores themes of racial conflict through members of a football team in a recently desegregated area learning how to play with one another. Their coach takes them on an early morning run to the Gettysburg battlefield so that the dead might teach them what is truly worth fighting for and they may learn to play like men. The players must learn to deny their own  opinions and conform their wills to that of the team in order to reach a higher goal.
Doctrine: manhood, beatitudes ("Blessed are the Poor in Spirit")

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is well known for his defense of civil liberties. In both his words and actions, he made clear his commitment to defending the dignity of all. His "Letter from Birmingham Jail" speaks about the importance of acting according to one's conscience. Click on the image above to read the full text.

"How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful."

Doctrine: morality, conscience

Wonderfully Made

Danielle Rose set Psalm 139 to music in this song that speaks beautifully about life. The anniversary of Roe vs. Wade is January 22.
Doctrine: dignity of the human person, Scripture

Saving the Runt

This clip highlights the sanctity of life while also providing an opportunity to discuss the value of human life. Fern does not see the difference between the life of the newborn pig and the newborn child. She acts according to her conscience in undertaking to care for Wilbur. This clip could begin a discussion on the fifth commandment.
Doctrine: Life, Morality