1. Path through Catholicism
The Light
Of Faith
Path through Catholicism
Chapter 1
Mark Link, SJ
RCL, 2000

2. God Reaches Out to Us
God Reaches Out to Us

3. Objectives:
Get to know a little about each other and begin to form a community.
Define Faith
To explore the stages of faith on the journey to God
To explore and discuss the three levels and three realities of faith

4. Word of the Week

5. Two little known facts Introduce yourself…
Welcome, introductions, why you are teaching, students to introduce themselves with 2 little known facts.
Two little known facts

6.
Interests…sports..hobbies Do you have a cell phone? How many text messages do you send/receive in a day? How many in your family? Where do you fit in; oldest, youngest, middle…

7. who stood at the gate of the year:
I said to the man
who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light
and safer than a known way.
Have teens write on strips of paper
… one important event up to this point in my faith journey… one difficulty I have experienced up to this point in my faith journey…
Collect, read anonymously
Minnie Louise Haskins

8. Mary & Paul

9. Tommy’s Faith Journey
Discussion Questions

10. What is your definition?
Faith
Ask each student to think for a few minutes about the Word faith and what is their personal definition – write anonymously, collect and read
What is your definition?

11. stages of faith
Childlike – cultural, born into it Transitional – most critical and most painful, childhood faith must die before our adult faith can be born Constructive questioning… results in faith growth Destructive questioning…. Means we want to disprove a point so we can do what we want What are questions you have about your faith? Adult – move beyond unexamined cultural faith to an examined, personal faith
Most faith journeys follow a path that leads the believer through 3 stages…Discuss how people come to faith.. Faith is caught, not taught… it is a verb, if not nourished, won’t grow

12. Stages of faith
Watch video clips: Star Wars.. Discuss stages of faith illustrated

13. Three faith levels
Mind – openness to truth Holy Spirit helps us to better grasp the truths of our faith. By opening our minds to truth, we get a better grasp of who God is and what God is really like.
Three Faith Levels – (Have students take a special item or tell about an item and explain why they carry it with them.) The Holy Spirit graces and guides us every step of the faith journey. It unfolds gradually and throughout our lives at three levels:

14. Three faith levels
Heart – openness to love The Holy Spirit leads us beyond our childhood world – with its focus on love of self – to an adult world, which looks to love of other people. By opening our hearts to a love of other people, we open our hearts to God.
Three Faith Levels – (Have students take a special item or tell about an item and explain why they carry it with them.) The Holy Spirit graces and guides us every step of the faith journey. It unfolds gradually and throughout our lives at three levels:

15. Three faith levels
Soul – Openness to grace If our soul is open, the Holy Spirit will grace us abundantly. This level involves a mystery of gift and freedom. The gift is God’s contribution and the freedom is our contribution. God graces us and guides us in a way that respects our free will. God leaves us free to accept or reject the gift.
Three Faith Levels – (Have students take a special item or tell about an item and explain why they carry it with them.) The Holy Spirit graces and guides us every step of the faith journey. It unfolds gradually and throughout our lives at three levels:

16. Three faith realities
Loving Trust involves risk Marriage/ Love Relationships are loving trust and risk – faith is like this; not that God will ever be unfaithful (He won’t!), but that we are unsure where our faith commitment to God will lead us. What risk might God be asking of you?
The Three Faith Realities – we must be prepared to embrace on our faith journey

17. This is not a slide to project, but an activity to do with the class!
The Mystery Box and the Risk of Faith The purpose of this activity is to awaken the candidates to the fact that any real act of faith, including faith in Jesus and his message involves some element of risk and, consequently, a degree of personal courage.   Gather the students around you in a semi-circle. Ask them to take out all the money they have with them – from wallets, purses, coat or jacket pockets and so on – and count it.   Show the group the box and explain that it contains something that you personally guarantee will give them happiness, all the happiness they are seeking. (Ask if anyone has previously done this exercise and if so, ask them to go along with and not reveal what is in the box.) Tell the group that at the end of the session you will reveal the contents of the box only to the persons who are willing to give you all the money they are holding in their hands. Explain that you can guarantee that you will not keep the money for your own use, but that you cannot guarantee that you will give it back to them.   Note – some candidates will likely have no money on them but will want to buy the box and its contents. Be prepared to loan them one dollar for this, but they must understand that they will be expected to pay it back. (This will probably aggravate those who will need to pay much more for the box, but just ignore their complaints and hold firm on your offer.)   Give the students a minute or two to think about the offer and to ask questions. However, at no time give any hint of what is in the box (a copy of the Scriptures representing the message of Christ that gives fullness of life).   Give the students no more than 2 or 3 minutes to make their decision. Some will give all their money, and others will hold back. Collect the money from willing candidates. Then, without revealing the contents of the box, divide the group into smaller groups of five or six. Post the following questions on newsprint where all can see them, and give the small groups about 5 minutes to come up with responses to these questions:(Questions are already preprinted on newsprint.) What do you think is in the box? Why did you or didn’t you give your money? Do you think that a person’s willingness to buy the contents of the box always related to how much money she or he had? Explain. Imagine that the money is symbolic of your whole life, your very self… with that image in mind, what connection might you see between this activity and faith?   When time is up, ask for a representative from each group to report the results of its discussion. Comment as appropriate.

18. This is not a slide to project, but an activity to do with the class!
  Close this activity by offering the following thoughts in your own words: What the candidates experienced in this activity can provide an insight into the nature of faith and some of the demands it makes of Christians. In this exercise they were asked to trust you, the leader, when you said that the box contained something that would give them total happiness. All love relationships, all friendships involve this dimension of trusting in the promise of another – promises of fidelity, respect, truthfulness, and so on. The same thing hold true in our relationship with God. In Christian faith, people are asked to trust in God’s promises – promises revealed through nature, history, and even other religions but, Christians believe, revealed in a full and complete way only in the life, ministry, death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus either directly or indirectly promised his followers many things, He promised that it is better to give than receive, that we can only gain life by being willing to give it up, that love is stronger than hatred, that even death is overcome in and through God’s work in him. These are not easy things to understand and, therefore, not easy things to believe. That is where part of the risk of Christian faith comes in. What if Jesus was wrong or deluded? What if following his direction only leads to people’s taking advantage of us? What if our willingness to love others only make us vulnerable to pain in life? What if our willingness to give up our life for others leads only to death – forever and ever? Whether we are willing to take that risk, that “leap of faith” is influenced by what we have to lose. That is why Jesus talked about the dangers of being rich. Accepting Jesus’ teaching about giving rather than taking is easier if we do not have a lot to give in the first place. When it might mean losing something we have worked hard for, it is a lot tougher. Accepting a call to identify with and help poor and oppressed people is difficult when we are comfortable in security and freedom. But that is what Jesus call us to – with the promise, the guarantee, that it is worth it, that we will find fullness of life and true happiness if we do. Just as there are degrees of love, so there are degrees of faith in God. Both grow gradually and at times painfully. All personal relationships face obstacles: we may have been disappointed or let down by someone we trusted; we may not believe ourselves worthy of real love; we may simply be too selfish or self-centered to take the risk of loving and being loved by another. The same is true of faith in God. If we do not believe in the promises as revealed to us by Jesus, if instead we think of God as “the great cop in the sky” who is out to get us, the chances of having a faith relationship with God are greatly diminished.     Reveal the contents of the box to those who bought it! This should be done at the conclusion of the session when everyone else has left the room. Also, return to them all the money that they paid for it. (You never said that you would not do this; you only said that you would not keep the money for yourself but could not guarantee that they would get it back.) As you show them the copy of the Scriptures, which they may or may not be disappointed to discover as the contents of the box, share your own conviction that the message of God revealed in Jesus and in the Scriptures is guaranteed, as you promised, to bring happiness and fullness of life. Ask those who “bought” the box never to reveal what is in it.   

19. This is not a slide to project, but an activity to do with the class!
Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the masks I wear. For I wear a thousand masks, and none of them is me. I give the impression that I am secure. Confidence is my name and coolness my game. But don’t believe me. Beneath lies the real me – in confusion and fear and aloneness. But I don’t tell you this because I’m afraid to. I am afraid that you will think less of me, that you’ll laugh at me. I’m afraid deep down I’m nothing and I’m no good. Yet only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you are kind and encouraging, Each time you try to understand because you care. Who am I, you may wonder. I am someone you know very well. I am every man, woman, and child you meet Anonymous     Lord, help me take the risk for faith. Help me to trust that you created me in your image and that everything you create is good and blessed; even me! Help me to be a true reflection of your love to everyone I meet, so that through me they may come to know you.

20. Three faith realities
Ongoing effort requires recommitment Faith involves ongoing effort because we are always evolving and changing.
Faith is like a toothbrush…
Everyone should have one and use it regularly,
But he should not try to use someone else’s.
J.G. Stipe
Ongoing effort requires recommitment (example of 5 day retreat, p 14) Faith involves ongoing effort because we are always evolving and changing. Faith is like a toothbrush…

21. Three faith realities
Suffering darkness are opportunities for growth – our faith is like the sun… sometimes shining brightly and other times it seems to go behind a cloud and disappear in the darkness.
The darkness is usually traceable to one of three sources:
Human nature
Ourselves
God
Suffering darkness are opportunities for growth – our faith is like the sun… sometimes shining brightly and other times it seems to go behind a cloud and disappear in the darkness. The darkness is usually traceable to one of three sources:
Human Nature – some days everything goes right and life is great; other times, everything goes wrong and life can be unbearable. Ups and downs of life!
Ourselves – we can cause it by neglecting our faith. We grow weak from sin or lack of nourishment.
God – Just as God can use our physical suffering – regardless of what caused it – to help us grow and mature in our faith, so can God use our spiritual suffering – like darkness – to help our faith grow.

22. Joe’s video: Which of the three sources of darkness is the most common cause of darkness – why?

23. A reporter asked astronaut Ed White what personal items he took along with him on his Gemini 4 flight. He said one was a St. Christopher medal, which Pope John XXIII gave each astronaut. White said, “I took it on the Gemini 4 flight to express my faith in myself, Jim McDivitt, my partner and especially in God. “Faith,” he said “was the most important thing I had going for me on the flight.”
Ed White story, p 12, discussion questions on slides.. find a partner
Have students find a partner, discuss 1st question, find new partner to discuss 2nd question, etc. As a large group, share anything that surprised them about what they heard about Faith!
What do you carry or wear that expresses your faith? † What faith do you find most challenging: faith in God, others, yourself? Explain.

24. Let's Play Who Wants To Be a “Light of Faith” A Millionaire?
by Mary Barkley
Design By Cindy Robertson

25. about where I am going -- All I know Is where I’ve been.
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord,
I believe in you
but I am so confused
about where I am going --
All I know
Is where I’ve been.
I am so scared and
I have no one to talk to
but myself
and I hide my feelings
in my music.
Homeless youth. Quoted in
God, Please Save Me.
By Sr. Mary Rose McGready

26. Objectives:
Get to know a little about each other and begin to form a community.
DefineFaith
To explore the stages of faith on the journey to God
To explore and discuss the three levels and three realities of faith
what did we discuss and learn? Anything surprise you about faith?