I received an email from a Youth Minister who is planning a Confirmation retreat for 8th graders and wants to do something on the theme of masks. Here’s our exchange…if you can offer any other ideas and/or suggestions, your comments are most welcome!

Dear Joe,

I was wondering if you’ve ever done a spiritual exercise on masks?  I want to do something about “the masks we wear,” etc as a part of an 8^th grade Confirmation Retreat.  I would like to have the kids make them and decorate them to show how we hide our gifts, etc and only show our “best” parts.  Have you ever done anything like that before?  Just thought I’d ask J

Hi -N-.

• When I was teaching high school religion, I had a video of a very cool classic episode of The Twilight Zone (The Masks) about people who are forced to wear ugly masks at a Mardi Gras party and then, at midnight, take off the masks to reveal that their faces have now taken on the features of the ugliness of their masks which actually represented the faults they sought to conceal. I’m not sure if that video is available anywhere but it was really cool.
• You can focus on the word hypocrite which comes from the Greek word for actor…back in the day, actors wore masks on stage and so the word hypocrite comes to us to describe one who hides behind a mask. Of course, Jesus used the word hypocrite to challenge the Pharisees.
• In his classic book, Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?, Fr. John Powell devotes an entire chapter to this notion of wearing masks and even provides a “catalog” of roles and games that people play – chapter 6.
• You can focus on the penitential rite of the Mass when we all take off our masks and reveal that we are all sinners. When we make ourselves humbly vulnerable, grace is possible. It’s why we minister to people in hospitals and prisons…no masks to hide behind…just vulnerability.
• Be sensitive to the fact that kids are very conscious of the masks that they are hiding behind…don’t be surprised if some kids get emotional. Masks cannot be ripped off…we must ask the Holy Spirit to gently pull them away so that we can face reality.