Creative Activity on “Full, Active, Conscious” Participation in the Liturgy

Hi Joe,

First, I want to thank you for all the support and materials you have shared with us.

I teach Confirmation (8th grade) and I want to share with you an activity I recently did with my class. My objective was to explain to my students the importance of having a full, active and conscious preparation to receive the Eucharist. I had a bag of regular M&M’s but I separated the green colored ones. When they got to class I offered them one M&M from the bag, then I told them that I had a treat for them and that I would give them a special kind of M&M. They shouldn’t just eat it, they should see it, put it on their tongues, be aware of the texture, feel the first layer melt, savor it slowly trying to perceive all of the flavor of this special M&M. They did and some of them even said that those were dark chocolate M&Ms! Then I asked how had it been a different experience from the first M&M they had taken, what was different? The first M&M they took almost without thinking. I told them then, that the M&M were the same, just different color BUT what was different was their attitude, their preparation to receive it, their conscious and active involvement that had changed the experience of receiving it. All communication has two sides, God is always there trying to communicate with us. We have to do our part and respond to this beautiful, life changing experience with Jesus.

Any way… I thought this might help some of our fellow catechists.

Best regards,

Rocio Munoz

P.S. I’ll be using your Lent Power Point on my next class. The one about Advent was excellent and the kids responded very well to it.