Written by Fr. Hugh Logan

Heavenly Father, Your divine Son taught us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His vineyard. We earnestly beg You to bless our Diocese with many holy priests, seminarians, religious, consecrated, deacons, marriages, men and women serving in ministry and all vocations, that they will love You fervently, gladly and courageously spend their lives in service to Your Son’s Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

We pray that their lives may be always centered on our Eucharistic Lord; that they be always faithful to the Holy Father; and that they may be devoted sons and daughters of Mary, our Mother, in making You known and loved; and that all may attain Heaven. Bless our families and our children and choose from our homes those whom You desire for this holy work. We ask this in Jesus’ name. 

Amen.

Monday, 09 January 2012 06:11 Last Updated on Monday, 09 January 2012 07:46

GRADES 1 TO 3

Theme: “Accept it! Embrace it! Live it!

Purpose

1. The students will demonstrate understanding of characteristics of heroes.

2. The students will be introduced to some of God's "superheroes."

 

Supplies

1. Play clothes for creating hero costumes.

2. Pictures of heroes and Catholic saints

a. Comic book heroes

b. Everyday heroes (parents, teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc.)

c. Sports heroes

 

Activity

1. Discuss briefly the purpose with the children: "Today we are going to learn about heroes and how they help us live good lives."

2. Invite the children to think about some of their favorite heroes

a. Use pictures of heroes here

3. Have the children use the play clothes to dress as their favorite hero or a hero that they invent. (You may want to think of a costume that the children can make during class and still allow the children to use their own imaginations. For example: use trash bags cut in half as capes they can decorate with Christian symbols and create a template for a crown that the children can cut out and wear.)

 

Discussion

1. Ask each child, while they are still dressed up, what does this person do that makes him/her a hero? Or, how did this person become a hero?

2. What do you like about this person?

3. How can this hero help you?

4. How can you be like this person?

 

Conclude

Heroes are people who help teach us how to be better people. In our lives today, we have several people who are our heroes. Our parents, grandparents, teachers, older brothers and sisters and our priests show us how to live good lives.

 

2. We also have great examples of heroic living in our Catholic Saints. These are people who may have lived a long time ago, but the stories of their lives have been passed down to us because they are great examples of people who lived good lives.

 

3. Many of these saints have been able to do the same things as the heroes you described today:

 

      § St. Joseph of Cupertino and several others could fly,

      § St. Anthony of Padua and several others could be in two places at once,

      § Several saints could heal people with a touch or with just their words (some even healed people by coming to them in their dreams),

      § St. Padre Pio could read people's thoughts and help them during confession,

      § St. Joan of Arc led an army at the age of 15,

      § St. George was said to have killed a dragon to save an entire town,

      § St. Peter and St. Maurus could walk on water,

      § St. Patrick could control the weather,

      § St. Gregory Thaumaturgas could move huge rocks with just his words,

      § St. Erasmus could shoot lightning from his body.

 

4. All of these saints were able to do these things, not because they wanted to, but because God gave them the gifts to do it. God saw how good these people were and how much they loved Him, so he wanted to make sure these people were noticed. God wanted to show his extraordinary powers to all of us. He knew that humans did not ordinarily have the ability to do these things on their own and so by giving these super powers to some people, others would see and believe in God.

 

Further Suggestions

1. Give special attention to the patron saint of each child in your class (use their first or middle name as their patron saint).

 

a. Tell the life story of each patron saint giving special attention to the miracles attributed to the saint (use puppets and think of crafts that add to the comprehension of each saint's story).

b. Celebrate the saint's feast day and give special privileges to the child.

c. Focus on a different saint each week and make that child the special child of the week (e.g., line leader or special helper).

d. If the child is not named after a saint, choose a few saints whose names are close to that of your student and let the student choose which one he or she wants as his patron.

 

2. On All Saints Day, celebrate by having the students dress up as their patron saint.

 

3. Pray special prayers to the saints each day (perhaps choose the patron saints of the academic topic you are studying).

 

4. Refer to good behavior as "Saintly Behavior" and reward it with "Praise Points" because you praise God when you are on your best behavior.

LESSON PLAN

                     GRADES 4 TO 6  

Purpose

1. Students will understand the definition of a hero and the qualities that it takes to be a hero.

2. Students will be able to draw connections between 'superheroes' and the 'heroes' of the Catholic Church, the saints.

3. Students will start to understand the importance of knowing about Catholic saints.

 

Supplies

1. Crayons

2. Drawing paper

3. The Story of St. Tarcisius (Page 8)

 

Activity 1: Who is your hero?

1. Have each student draw a picture of their favorite hero or their personal hero (these can be real people, comic book superheroes or superheroes that they make up).

2. On the back of their paper have them write three things that make that person a hero along with that person's super power (if it is a superhero).

 

3. Once the children have finished their drawings and their writing, ask the children to share the name of their hero as well as one of the qualities they wrote down. As they share their qualities, write them down on the board.

 

Discussion

Explain to the children that a hero is someone we look up to who can save us in times of need and who can show us what we should do when we get into difficult situations.

 

2. So, what makes a person a hero?

 

Often times, heroes have the same qualities about them. They are

strong, happy, smart, brave; they stand up for what they believe in, they put other people first, etc.

b. When a person does what is right no matter what happens to them, they are often considered heroes.

c. We should all want to strive for greatness as these heroes have done.

 

Activity 2: Catholic Heroes

1. Tell the students that in the Catholic Church we have lots of people who we can admire and who can help us when we need it. They can help show us the way out of difficult situations and help us to make difficult decisions. These are the heroes of the Catholic Church called Saints. They lived very good lives and gave us great examples of how to live our lives.

 

2. Read the Story of St. Tarcisius (Page 6) – (St. Tarcisius is the Patron Saint of First Communicants.)

 

a. Invite the students to identify the things that St. Tarcisius did which makes him a hero.

b. How can this story help us in our lives?

 

 

Discussion

1. St. Tarcisius is just one of thousands of heroes that the Catholic Church wants us to look up to. Each and every one of these thousands of people did great things in their lives and the Catholic Church wants us to see that.

 

 

2. We look at their examples when we are faced with decisions or tough tasks in our lives. When we know how they would act, it helps us to make the right decision.

 

3. When we know more about these people who lived good lives and the eternal rewards they received, then we will also want to be like them and receive the rewards ourselves.

 

How many of you want to win a gold medal at the Olympics when you get older?

 

b. How many of you can't wait to win the Football World Cup?

 

c. How many of you wish you were just like Kirani James or Rondell Bartholomew on the track; or Samantha La Qua in the swimming pool:

 

- All of these people have the ability to do great things and still their treasure cannot go with them after they die. When we try to be like the great heroes of the Catholic Church like St. Padre Pio, St. Peter, St. Paul, etc. then we can take our prize all the way to heaven.

- That is what God wants us to do.

 

 

Further Suggestions

1. Have each child give a short report on their patron saint or a saint that they really like. Have them include pictures of that saint with their report.

 

2. Hold a monthly prayer writing contest which asks each student to write a prayer that invokes the intercession of the patron saint of the school or a popular saint. The winning prayer will be prayed at the beginning of each school day for a month.

 

3. Find the patron saints of classroom subjects (e.g. science, math, social studies/history, etc.) and pray for their intercession right before tests in those subjects.

 

4. Celebrate All Saints Day with treats and saints’ costumes. Give out awards for most authentic costume or person with most knowledge about the saint they are trying to portray.

 

ST. TARCISIUS

Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte (altar server) during one of the fierce Roman persecutions of the third century, probably during that of Valerian. Each day, from a secret meeting place in the catacombs where Christians gathered for Mass, a deacon would be sent to the prisons to carry the Eucharist to those Christians condemned to die. At one point, there was no deacon to send and so St. Tarcisius, an acolyte, was sent carrying the "Holy Mysteries" (the Eucharist) to those in prison.

On the way, he was stopped by boys his own age who were not Christians but knew him as a playmate and lover of games. He was asked to join their games, but this time he refused and the crowd of boys noticed that he was carrying something. Somehow, he was also recognized as a Christian, and the small gang of boys, anxious to view the Christian "Mysteries," became a mob and turned upon Tarcisius with fury. He went down under the blows, and it is believed that a fellow Christian drove off the mob and rescued the young acolyte.

The mangled body of Tarcisius was carried back to the catacombs, but the boy died on the way from his injuries. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and his relics are claimed by the church of San Silvestro in Capite.

In the fourth century, Pope St. Damasus wrote a poem about this "boy-martyr of the Eucharist" and says that, like another St. Stephen, he suffered a violent death at the hands of a mob rather than give up the Sacred Body to "raging dogs." His story became well known when Cardinal Wiseman made it a part of his novel Fabiola, in which the story of the young acolyte is dramatized and a very moving account given of his martyrdom and death.

Tarcisius, one of the patron saints of altar boys, has always been an example of youthful courage and devotion, and his story was one that was told again and again to urge others to a like heroism in suffering for their faith. In the Passion of Pope Stephen, written in the sixth century, Tarcisius is said to be an acolyte of the pope himself and, if so, this explains the great veneration in which he was held and the reason why he was chosen for so difficult a mission.

Thought for the Day:

Mere children can become saints, and youth is no barrier to holiness. The call to holiness begins at baptism, and we do not have to wait for old age and gray hair to serve God. Youthful saints tell us something about sanctity, and their example is especially luminous as they dedicate their young lives to God.

From 'The Catholic One Year Bible': In a race, everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 

Monday, 09 January 2012 06:15 Last Updated on Monday, 09 January 2012 07:48 Written by Fr. Hugh Logan

Opening Song

 Opening Prayer:  

      Lord Jesus, you called men and women of old and you call each     and every one of us in Baptism to have complete union with    you.  Hear our prayers for vocations in the Church.  May the     Holy Spirit fill our hearts with great love and guide us to

       respond to your call.  Amen.

 Reading:    Mark 1:7-11

 Reflection:  (Questions)

      What word, what phrase speaks to you as your hear the

      reading today?

 

      In what ways do you listen to God’s voice?

      What do you hear the Lord saying to you right now?

 

      How do I know what God wants of me?

 

 

Silent Reflection

 

 

General Intercessions

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

 

Sharing of Peace

 

 

Closing Prayer and Blessing  (Vocations Prayer)

 

 

Concluding Song

REFLECTION SUGGESTION

(Secondary Schools)

 

Called to be Saints

When I was a little boy, 5 or 6 years old, my family lived across the street from a little girl who was about my age. And while I liked to climb the big mango tree in the front yard or play games that involved throwing something or running somewhere, Robin, the little girl across the street, wanted to play a game called “house.” As she would tell me, “Let’s play house. You be the daddy and I’ll be the mommy.” Which basically involved her pretending to prepare some kind of meal in an Easy-Bake Oven and me pretending to eat and drink from a little tea set of some kind and disciplining some misbehaving teddy bears or something.

 

I did not care for that game, but it always came with the promise that we’d play football or hide and seek afterwards. I only fell for it a few times.

 

But what we were doing with that little tea set and the Playschool Kitchenette was not just pretending, but preparing. We were using our imaginations to reach beyond our limited experience to try out what it would be like to be a grown up. We had no direct experience of what being a grown up was, but we had some ideas about it, and we were trying them out. We had no idea what we were going to be when we grew up, but we were preparing. That’s what imagination is for. It let us try out things before we actually have to do them.

 

Today, I have a better idea of what I want to be when I grow up. But you know what? God's not finished with me yet. No, He's not. And God's not finished with you, yet, either. Because compared to what God has planned for us, no one in this school, no one in this city, no one in this world has become a grown up yet. Not really.

Have you ever gone to the garden store? You can get these little seed packets. They have seed packets for everything. They have cucumbers, and carrots. They have peppers and tomatoes and watermelons. But of course they're not peppers or tomatoes or watermelons. They're not cucumbers or carrots.

Not yet. - They're seeds.

You can't actually eat the peppers or carrots or cucumbers or watermelons unless something else happens first. You have to prepare the soil, and make sure there's plenty of space for the root system to go in deep. And plant the seeds in the ground. And you have to put them where they'll get the right amount of sunlight, not too much, and not too little. And you have to water them, not too much and not too little. And you have to pull up the weeds. And you have to make sure the insects don't eat them before you get a chance to.

 

Then, maybe, if you do all the right things at the exact right time, and you're blessed with a little bit of God's providence, you'll have some peppers or carrots or cucumbers.

 

Of course, the seed doesn't know that. The seed has no idea what it will become. Yet deep within the cucumber seed, or deep within the carrot seed, is everything the seed needs in order to become a cucumber or a carrot. It's all there.

 

With people, it's a little different. I will never grow up to be a cucumber or a carrot. And though I might be shaped like a watermelon, I will never actually become one.

 

That's because God did not make me to be a watermelon or a cucumber or a carrot. Nor did he make you to be one. No, he made us to be something completely different. He made us to be SAINTS!

 

From where we are today, we have very little idea what that means. Sometimes we use our imaginations, though. We stretch beyond the limitations of our experience and we try out what it's like to be a saint. We try to love with tenderness, we try to act justly, and we try to walk humbly with God. We try these things out, and we even try to get good at them. And we're not just playing. We're not just pretending. We are preparing.

 

For just as a seed has no idea what it will be like to be a an entire vine filled with tomatoes, we have no idea what things will be like when we become all that God has planned for us to become. One day, when we pass out of this life, into the next, we will know more what God has in mind for us, a future full of hope.

 

We do not know what ultimate purpose God has for us, but we trust in his goodness. For as the rain and the snow fall down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, giving it life and growth, and making it yield, so does the Word of God go forth, and it does not return without accomplishing the purpose for which God sent it.

 

Brothers and sisters, as Christians, as members of Christ's body in the world, we are, in a way, an incarnation of God's word, sent forth into the world, to accomplish the purpose for which God sent us. And though we do not know what we will become, we will only become it through faithfulness. For as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta told us, God does not require that we be successful. He only requires that we be faithful.

 

We are made to be saints . . . Saints in heaven. That is what we must become. And God provides for us everything we need in order to accomplish His purpose. He sent forth His word into the world, to water the earth, just as He sends the rain and the snow that come down from heaven.

 

So, if your roots are not planted deep enough, or if there are birds that want to come down and snatch away what God has planted in your heart; or if there are weeds in your life that are choking the very love of Jesus out of you, bring them to God. Let go of all that stuff that's keeping you from becoming who it is that God made you to be. Examine your life. Examine your heart.

 

Are you open to God's plan for you? Are you kids open to being obedient to your parents so you can learn from them the way to love and be loved and so become a saint one day?

 

Anything in your life that's keeping you from becoming who it is God made you to be, let go of it, and lay it down at the feet of Jesus, so that Jesus can take it up with him onto the cross. Let the sower who sowed the seeds help you tend to the garden of your life so that the harvest of your heart will yield 30, 60 or 100 fold.

 

And whenever we go forward for communion, to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, happy to be called to his heavenly supper, know that what we're doing is not just pretending. We're preparing to be the Saints God made us to be.

GENERAL INTERCESSIONS

 

Presider:

We are God’s beloved. Trusting in the love of God we place our needs in his hands.

 

Response: Loving God, bless your people.

 

      You call us to be servants of justice.

      Guide all leaders to work together to establish a just world.

      We pray:

 

      You anointed Jesus to be a light to the nations.

      Empower us to spread the light of Jesus in our times.

      We pray:

 

      You made a covenant with your people.

      Strengthen all who are in need of your love-especially,

      the sick, the imprisoned, and the marginalized.

      We pray:

 

      You called Jesus your Beloved Son at his baptism.

      Bless all who are baptized in the Spirit of Jesus that they

      may be faithful to their vocations. We pray:

 

      You are with your servants as they proclaim the good news.

      Inspire men and women to respond generously to your

      call to proclaim the gospel through a church vocation.

      We pray:

 

      You have grasped your loved ones by the hand.

      Hold all who have died in your loving hands, (especially…)

      We pray:

 

Presider:

Loving God,

Receive these prayers and continue to show your favor to us.

We offer our prayers through Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

Amen.