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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.

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).

Most everything has a beginning an ending. In fact, the beginning of one thing often means the ending of another thing.

For religious education teachers, meeting a new group of children provides a fresh and exciting opportunity to lay a solid foundation for the year ahead. The way in which your students experience you for the first time can make a powerful and lasting impact that will lead them enthusiastically forward into the months ahead.

A sure key to success as a catechist is the relationship you forge with the parents of your students. Working as partners, you and parents help the children grow in faith.

Returning to school in September, right after Labor Day, is a good time to think about work and celebrate what work means in our lives. After a leisurely summer vacation, we rev up for another year of all the possibilities that await us in teaching and studying. I can feel the energy of September! Of course, the beginning of a new learning year means work—and work is a law of the human condition through which we learn and grow.

Master Catechists answer questions from readers

We are born selfish. Psychologists call it "egocentricity," and it's a good thing. It enables infants to get their needs met—for hunger to be satisfied, for thirst to be slaked.

How can our class fast together during Lent? How is having students pray at home as part of a lesson on prayer a good idea, a bad idea?

Generations of Catholics grew up learning by rote the Baltimore Catechism definition of a Sacrament: "an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace."