The first is the My Picture Missal App from Loyola Press. This App, available in the iTunes store at this link: My Picture Missal App, was developed for children with special needs and  for young children. The intent of this interactive app is to help children learn, understand, and fully experience the Mass.

Children with special needs have spiritual lives and, with communication assistance, can learn the faith and deepen their relationship with God. My Picture Missal is a simple, interactive app that leads the child through the Order of Mass, including the words to the following prayers: Sign of the Cross, Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer.

With a choice of English or Spanish, each part of the Mass is displayed as a colorful icon and a word or short phrase. Additional icons can be activated at any time for stand, sit, kneel, quiet, pray, and take a break to remind children of what they should be doing, or children can show what they know, or communicate with parents without speaking. Children can use this app as a way to “walk through the Mass” in church and use it at home for reinforcement, as well as a way to learn and pray the prayers with their family. 

The 2nd is an iPad app called The Mass Explained from Daniel Gonzalez, designed to foster a deeper understanding of the Mass and targeted at young adults and college students. This was recommended to me by Joyce Donahue, talented Catechetical Associate with the Office of Religious Education of the Diocese of Joliet, who blogs at Liturgy and Catechesis Shall Kiss.

Great New Liturgy Apps! is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Unfortunately, old habits die hard. And contrary to the popular notion that habits can be changed in twenty-one days, experts tell us that it can take up to a year to change old habits and develop new ones. Lent is 40 days for a reason: holiness is a habit and habits take time to take hold.

In his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg explains that when we perform an action for the first time, the brain works very hard to collect all the pertinent information involved, from start to finish, and to store the information in the part of the brain called the basal ganglia. If we continue to do the same action every day, the basal ganglia fills in the details so the rest of the brain can turn its attention to other things. Eventually, the action can be performed “without thinking.” In short, our brains are looking for ways to save effort, and forming habits is the key to achieving this.

Lent is a time to interrupt this habit loop and, in order to do so, we need to get our brains “thinking” and not just acting on automatic pilot. To do so, we focus on 3 actions that can be thought of as “keystone habits” – habits which, according to Duhigg, are so key that, when changed, cause a ripple or domino effect in other areas and other habits of our lives. These 3 keystone habits are, of course, prayer, fasting, almsgiving. When these 3 keystone habits are practiced, a ripple effect of selflessness occurs: we no longer view ourselves as the center of the universe.

My gift to you this Lent are some tips on how to “jumpstart” the three keystone habits of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These are drawn from my book, Under the Influence of Jesus: The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ.

1. Holiness Habit #1: Prayer
2. Holiness Habit #2: Fasting
3. Holiness Habit #3: Almsgiving

P.S. Don’t forget to take advantage of these great Lenten resources as well:

• My FREE Lenten PowerPoint (As promised, here is that same Lenten PowerPoint in PDF format)
• 40 Ideas for 40 Days of Lent
• Lent Resources for small faith groups
• Living Lent Daily
• The Seven Last Words
• Lent Activities and Resources
• Lent Articles
• Lent Videos
• The Stations of the Cross
• Ash Wednesday
• Online Prayers and Retreats
• Arts & Faith: Lent

Ash Wednesday and Lent: Holiness is a Habit is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Big Idea: Prophets “get in the face” of the People of Israel.

Preliminaries (30 mins)

• Welcome and attendance
• Opening prayer ritual/procession to set up prayer center
• Sacraments quiz
• Complete Lent discussion from previous week.

Engage (10 mins)

• Put on baseball cap, whistle, and hold clip board and ask who I am imitating. (a coach)
• Ask how many of them have had a coach.
• Invite volunteers to imitate one of their coaches.
• Talk about why coaches “get in the faces” of their players
• invite kids to talk about coaches and instructors who get in their face
• explain that it is the coaches job to make sure that you are playing to the best of your ability and according to the plan.
• explain that, in the Old Testament, God sent certain people to “get in the faces” of the people of Israel and their leaders since they were not living up to their potential or following God’s plan

Explore (30 mins)

• Read aloud Finding God pg. 94 (The Prophets; Amos and Jeremiah), pg. 95 (God calls Isaiah), and pg. 97 (What it Means to Reform) – use ball toss to facilitate reading
• Distribute Bibles and have students locate passages in the Old Testament of Prophets getting in the faces of the people and leaders of Israel.

• Distribute the Prophets of Israel Challenge the People BLM
• Check off ahead of time one passage for each student to locate in the Bible and to write out on the BLM
• Tell students to look over their passage and to prepare to announce it to the group and to work in at least 2 pauses for people to respond!
• Do a “Getting Up on Your Soapbox” activity. Bring in a sturdy wooden box or crate for students to step up on to proclaim their passage. Explain that people used to stand up on a box or crate or tree stump (“stump speech”) to get people’s attention and make a speech.
• Encourage students to read their passage with passion and fire and have the rest of the students roar approval (half) or boo (half) at the pauses and the end of each speech.

Reflect (15 mins)

• Explain that it, if we are to be prophets, we must pray for guidance and inspiration to be sure we are proclaiming God’s word and not our own opinions.
• Lead guided reflection using Finding God pg. 96 (Send Me, Lord)

Respond (5 mins)

• Complete bottom of Finding God pg. 97 which asks young people to identify an example of injustice they would like to call people’s attention to.
• Distribute Homework Notification Sheet asking the students to write a prophetic message using the handout, A Prophetic Message.
• Closing Prayer.

Session Plan for March 4, 2014: The Prophets is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Creative Activity on “Full, Active, Conscious” Participation in the Liturgy is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Tomorrow’s lesson is going to be an overview of the upcoming season of Lent which is just over a week away (Ash Wednesday is March 5)!

For this lesson, I will be using my FREE Lent PowerPoint.

As with the previous PowerPoints I’ve made available, this presentation includes a script (in Note Pages view) to assist you in effectively leading your students to a deeper understanding of this season. To download the Lent PowerPoint from authorSTREAM, click on the link above or the image to the left. I look forward to your feedback!

When you download it from authorSTREAM, you can sign in with your Facebook account or, if you don’t have a FB account, you can sign up for authorSTREAM (which would be a good idea since I’ll be sending you more free PPTs as the year progresses!).

We’ll have 45 minutes to do this overview before we take the kids over to church for monthly Mass.

An Introduction to Lent is a post from: Catechist's Journey

I was so moved by the joy of the enthusiastic crowd (check out the video) and I can’t thank them enough for inspiring me and for touching my heart. Special thanks to Veronica Rayas (pictured below, far left), the Director of Catechesis for the Diocese of El Paso for her hospitality and leadership…job well done! Thanks for having me! (It was sure nice to get a break from the Chicago winter for a few days in Texas!)

Here I am with Loyola Press’s newest author!

Here is a peek at the beauty of El Paso

Under the Influence in El Paso is a post from: Catechist's Journey

(Check out the story in the Chicago Tribune)

Seriously, this is such exciting news! Loyola Press has beat out the nation’s top publishing houses for the rights to produce the North American English translation of the first collection of Pope Francis’ words since he became pope. Congrats to Joe Durepos, our Acquisitions Editor, for discovering this “new talent” and to Terry Locke, President of Loyola Press, for this “big catch!”

Maybe I’ll contact him and see if he wants to do some workshops together!

In the meantime, whet your appetite with this great book:

Loyola Press to publish English translation of Pope Francis book is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Anyway, I had the privilege of doing the keynote presentation on my new book, Under the Influence of Jesus: The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ, as well as a workshop on my earlier book, 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness. 

Below are pics of the crowd and then me with Gloria (Gigi) Zapiain (the Director of the Catechetical Center) and Cherryl Sagan, (Media Resource Consultant).

Under the Influence in San Antonio, TX! is a post from: Catechist's Journey

Session 21: The 3 R’s

Big Idea: We are called to Recognize, Respect, and Reveal God’s presence

Preliminaries: (10 mins)

1.     Opening procession and prayer ritual:

a.       3 fold sign of the cross

b.      Have mercy on us O Lord…

c.       thanks/intentions

Engage #1: Recognizing God’s Presence (5 mins)

1.     Invite young people to play “Where’s Waldo?”

2.     Say, “It would be a lot easier to find Waldo if we had some hints or signs pointing to where he is.”

3.     Place an arrow pointing to where Waldo is. Say, “Signs are very important for helping us to recognize something important. Today, we’re going to learn about how signs help us to recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives.

Explore: (20 mins)

1.       Write the following words on the board:

a.       invisible

b.      intangible

2.     Ask volunteers to explain what these words mean. Invisible means unable to be seen. Intangible means unable to be felt or touched.

3.     Explain that God’s presence is invisible and intangible: we cannot see God or touch him in physical form without some help. “The Church gives us 7 signs to recognize and encounter God’s presence…to make God’s presence visible and tangible. What do we call those 7 signs?” (Sacraments)

4.     Write the word Sacraments on the board. As a class, strive to name all 7. (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, Holy Orders)

5.     Read Finding God pgs 200-201

6.     Distribute scissors and invite the students to cut out the images of the signs of the 7 sacraments on pgs 200-201

7.     Have them glue the signs to index cards and then to tape with clear packing tape and then cut the cards so that they have “laminated” Sacraments cards. Have them mark each card on the back indicating if it is a Sacrament of Initiation, Healing, or Service of Communion.

8.     Tell the students to use these cards to study and memorize the names and categories of the 7 Sacraments for a quiz next week. Put the Sacraments away and collect materials.

Engage #2: Respecting God’s Presence (5 mins)

1.     Invite volunteers to come forward and to draw quick sketches on the board of the following: baseball diamond, football field, tennis court.

2.     Point out that all 3 have something in common: boundaries! Baseball has foul lines, football has sidelines, and tennis has baselines and sidelines.

3.    Explain that we show respect for God’s presence by observing boundaries.

Explore: (20 mins)

1.     Distribute pictures of the Jerusalem Temple which was considered the focal point of God’s presence.

2.     Place large image on the board and invite volunteers to come forward and indicate the boundaries separating the Gentiles, Jewish women, Jewish men, the priests, and the Ark of the Covenant (God’s presence)

3.     Remind the students that St. Paul taught that WE are Temples of the Holy Spirit! This means that we must respect one another and we do so by observing boundaries. Point out that we need to be on guard against people who do not respect such boundaries and try to take advantage of us and we ourselves need to learn and respect these boundaries.

a.      Physical – examples of physical touch that disrespects boundaries: excessive/prolonged hugging, massaging shoulders, excessive closeness, unwanted touching, sit on lap, kiss, tickling, wrestling, piggyback rides, being alone (OK = pat on back or shoulder, handshake, side hug, high five, fist bump)

b.     Emotional – examples of inappropriate emotional behavior: excessive compliments about physical appearance, intense emotional sharing, inappropriate pet names, personal self-disclosure, single out same child for special duties or responsibilities

c.      Behavioral – invitation to smoke, drink, take drugs, watch inappropriate videos or video games, use vulgar language, exchanging texts, emails or FB, Twitter, or other social media, go places unsupervised, offer a ride, invite to home, offer private tutoring or coaching, sexual humor, pose for pictures.

4.     Emphasize that most adults are respectful but that it is important to be aware of the possibility that someone is not. Emphasize the importance of telling a trusted adult if you have been the victim of such behavior.

Reflect: Revealing God’s Presence (15 mins)

1.     Explain that we can help others to truly recognize God’s presence in this world by showing them mercy which is another word for kindness, fairness, compassion…treating someone like they are one of the family.

2.     Invite young people to their sacred space and lead the following Guided Reflection on Corporal Works of Mercy.

Respond (5 mins)

1.     Distribute Homework Notification Sheet inviting the young people to study their Sacraments Cards and to memorize the 7 Sacraments as well as informing parents of our Mercy Experience on Monday, April 21 at 6:30 pm.

2.     Closing prayer

Tonight’s Session: 3 R’s – Recognizing, Respecting, and Revealing God’s Presence is a post from: Catechist's Journey

If you missed the live event, want to share it with a friend, or want to experience it again(!), just click here or below. Also, here is a form you can use to record your participating in an archived Webinar: CATECHIST’S SUMMARY OF PARTICIPATION IN A RECORDED-ARCHIVED WEBINAR

Webinar Recording Now Available: Under the Influence of Jesus is a post from: Catechist's Journey