Lessons and Activities

February celebrates St. Valentine's Day with hearts, flowers, and tokens of love. This month offers us another, more serious look at love as we enter into the Season of Lent. We are invited to reflect on how much God loves us.

In today's high-tech world, our students stay connected with their classmates and peers using umpteen gizmos and gadgets: cell phones, smart phones, social networking options, and online applications. Any effort to introduce religious education with this medium has the potential of exciting students and keeping them engaged. In the fifth-grade religious education class of Queen of Peace in Queens, New York, we have successfully used the technology and would like to share this so that any instructor could use this time-tested and successful model.

Peter was born in 1007 and lived with his family in Italy. His parents died when he was a child, so he went to stay with an older brother who treated him badly. Another brother, a priest, found out and helped Peter get an education. Peter was a good student and eventually became a university teacher.

How can one gain a deeper love of God's Word? Drawing on Verbum domini and other sources of the Church's collective wisdom, let me suggest a few ways.

During Advent we prepare students to celebrate the birth of our Savior on Christmas. Use the following ideas to keep the spotlight on celebrating the coming of the Lord.

Master catechists answer questions from readers.

Today we honor St. Nicholas on December 6. We imitate St. Nicholas when we share the gift of love and friendship with everyone we know, and when we help people in need.

A downloadable Image Key of the liturgical calendar that appears in November/December 2013 CATECHIST.

Catechists aren’t liturgists! Yet, the National Directory for Catechesis tells us that catechists are called to promote “an active, conscious genuine participation in the liturgy of the Church, not merely by explaining the meaning of the ceremonies, but also by forming the minds of the faithful for prayer…” (n. 20, #2).

Genoveva was a person of great faith and courage. She wanted to join the Carmelite Order but was not accepted due to her health. She was very disappointed, but she did not give up. She knew that God has a purpose for each of our lives.