sacraments Archives - Page 2 of 4

Discovering the Nearness of God: A Series on the Catholic Sacramental Vision by Joe Paprocki

Discovering the Nearness of God: An Eight-Week Series on the Catholic Sacramental Vision

Welcome to the first installment of an eight-week series I’m doing this summer here on Catechist’s Journey on the Catholic sacramental vision. “Discovering the Nearness of God” will draw from my book, Living the Sacraments: Finding God at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth. I’d like to begin by stating emphatically that the most urgent message for us to spread today is the good news of the nearness of God! We live during a time […]

7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness: What Do You Have That Cannot Be Taken Away?

Joyce Donahue

Editor’s note: This post is one in a series inspired by Joe Paprocki’s book 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness. In the book, Joe introduces each key with a fun or thought-provoking question. Each Friday we’ll share an excerpt from 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness that poses a question, followed by a response by a catechist or catechetical leader. What do you have that cannot be taken away? If you can identify and cultivate the answer […]

Sacraments and Stories: Reasons to Celebrate

Barb Gilman

I really enjoy teaching my students about the sacraments. After all, the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Jesus Christ through the sacraments. How could I not enjoy teaching them? In fact, I like to teach my kids that they don’t “do” the sacraments, they celebrate them! This can be a challenge when teaching the Sacraments of Healing. How can I teach my third graders to approach Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick with […]

Tonight’s Session: 3 R’s – Recognizing, Respecting, and Revealing God’s Presence

Joe Paprocki

My lesson for this evening picks up where we left off last week as we learned about God’s presence in Solomon’s Temple, in the Eucharist, and in ourselves. Tonight, we focus on how we recognize God’s presence in the Sacraments, respect God’s presence in others (this is part of our safe environment program) and reveal God’s presence to others through works of mercy. Session 21: The 3 R’s Big Idea: We are called to Recognize, […]

The Six Tasks of Catechesis #2: Promoting Knowledge of Liturgy & Sacraments

Joe Paprocki

Recently, we began a series here on my blog about the six tasks of catechesis, focusing on the notion that God is calling each of us to fulfill a role that he has planned for us. Just as actors rely on certain strategies to immerse themselves in character, we too rely on certain strategies to “immerse” ourselves in the role that God is calling us to fill: the “best version of ourselves” (to borrow a phrase from […]

Sacramental Readiness and Initiation – Developing New Habits

Joe Paprocki

We’ve had a good conversation here about sacramental readiness over the last few days thanks to a plea for help from “Monica.” Thank you to all who have so generously shared their wisdom. Our discussion got me thinking about the notion of readiness and the fact that all of our catechesis takes its cue from the process of Initiation which is an apprenticeship into a way of life. Assessment of knowledge of the faith is […]

Sacramental Readiness: WWYD?

Joe Paprocki

Here is an opportunity to help one of our colleagues (we’ll call her Monica) who is faced with a situation of determining sacramental readiness. Please offer your advice by leaving a reply below. Hi Joe — One of our RCIC students, 13 year old, missed lots of classes, has not done any home make up work (his Mom says they have been too busy with ‘work’); and the boy is rather glum, sullen, disinterested. Polite […]

Closure

Joe Paprocki

Tonight is the last session that I will be teaching for my 6th graders this year (next week is our closing Mass). I’ll reflect soon on what this experience has been like for me (in brief, it’s been wonderful!) but for now I’d just like to offer a glimpse of what I’ll be doing tonight. Preliminaries (15 mins) Gather, attendance, misc. – young people write prayer intentions Opening prayer ritual/procession Engage (10 mins) I plan […]

Year of Faith Retreat – Week 2, Day 2: Learning the Language Spoken in the Kingdom of God (Mystery and Sacramentality)

Joe Paprocki

WEEK TWO: Sacraments (Celebrating the Christian Mystery) DAY 2: Learning the Language Spoken in the Kingdom of God (Mystery and Sacramentality) Recently, I did some research into my ancestry, uncovering stories of forefathers and foremothers who came to the shores of the United States from Poland in the late 19th century. In particular, I was impressed with the story of my great, great grandmother (on my mother’s side), Julia, who, as it turns out, spoke 7 languages […]

Catechists in Action – Steve Lascola the Storyteller

Joe Paprocki

In this segment of Catechists in Action, 3rd grade catechist Steve Lascola tells the children the story of Zaccaheus as part of their preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Watch for the following as Steve: asks for extra special attention reads the story slowly, pausing to comment as he goes along explains why Zacchaeus was not liked by others invites the children to think about a time when they had a fight with a friend […]