Nothing To Lose

I participated in a Catechist Training class last night.  It was the last of our intermediate classes on the Sacraments, particulary on Holy Orders.

We were talking about Holy Orders leaving an indelible mark on your soul that can never be removed.  So, even if a priest leaves the priesthood, he's still a priest.  This led us to the other indelible Sacraments: Baptism and Confirmation.

Father Finian had an interesting way of describing indelible to us that really worked as a visual.

Picture this: when you are born, you are born with the stain of original sin on your soul.  When you are Baptized, it wipes that stain from your soul.  That clear spot can NEVER be removed.  You cannot be unbaptized!  This is why a valid Christian Baptism from any recognized denomination is considered a valid Baptism in the Catholic church.  Until the Reformation, there was no Catholic and no Lutheran, it was all Christian - from which the rites were based upon.

As usual, when you have a group of questing adults trying to further educate themselves, we strayed from the direct topic.

We moved to family members that have left the Church, but were Baptized Catholic.  What did that make them?  Father told us that they might not be practicing Catholics, but they would always be Catholics.

But, she's Lutheran/Methodist/etc...

No, She's Catholic.  If she was Baptized a Catholic and Confirmed a Catholic, she's a Catholic.

Hmmm...

But, what happens if someone was Baptized Lutheran and becomes a Catholic?  Then, what are they?  They are Catholic.

But, you just said...

So, he used another interesting analogy.  Do we ever move from having more to less or do we always move from less to more?

We always try to move from having less to having more.  You'd switch banks if you could get 6% interest vs 2% interest, simple economics. 

But, how does this pertain to Catholic and Lutheran/Methodist, etc?

How many sacraments do Lutherans get?  None of us were really sure, but it's 2 - Baptism and Marriage.  So, if a Lutheran decides to become Catholic, they aren't losing anything they already have - they are GAINING 5 MORE SACRAMENTS!!!!!!

Wow! Never thought about it that way! 

So, why would anyone go from being Catholic to being Lutheran?

If they realized what they were losing, they would never decide to make that switch.  But, if they don't realize what they are losing, they could be convinced that they would be gaining by making that switch.  If they had been taught the value of what we have, no one would ever leave.

That's pretty heavy, especially to a room of catechism teachers.  Um, that makes us even more responsible for what we teach them, so they realize what to value about the church.  gulp.   

The first teachers are absolutely supposed to be the parents, but unfortunately that isn't often the case.

Dear Lord,

I am here and I am listening.  Please let the Holy Spirit guide me in what I teach and let my students retain those values that would never want to make them leave the Church.

Amen.

Amazing Day of Reflection

First, when I get the pictures downloaded, I'll share our family day.   And I believe that the family day was vitally important to recharging all our batteries.

Now, I think my recharged batteries by spending time an amazing day with my family, not stressing about the day, and allowing myself to enjoy a family outing. 

This simple recharging really helped my thought processes towards Catechism class tomorrow.  For the first time, I was able to read through our classroom text and the teacher's guide without criticizing the content for being "boring."  I think my judgement was being clouded every time I was looking at this before, because Satan was discouraging my attempts to be a good catechist.  Self doubt is one of the biggest limiting evils.  After all, if I don't think I can do it, I can't.  That would be score 1 Satan, score 0 Traci.

Today, was different.  I was able to look at the text objectively and glean important concepts from it.  I will NOT be having them read from the text.  Yes, the information is very important to building their faith and reinforcing mine.  However, I think the way the text is written is very dry and the language is very complex.  I think I am going to be able to do a better job taking the concepts and trying to draw them into conversation.

That is the idea, anyhow.  Sometimes, 7th graders don't offer any comments or any discussion.  I'm hoping that one of my ideas of having them write their ideas down and then we can discuss them will help draw them out more.

I need to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in what I say and what I try to teach.

Today was so successful that I actually spent 2 hours writing lesson plans. I always winged it before.  So, step back Satan, I've got a plan and I'm going to go with it.

I feel so good about this.  Seriously, it's a weight lifted.

Dear Lord,  Thank you for the revelation I needed to help guide me toward your truth. Thank you for filling me with the Holy Spirit and allow me to pass this importance along to my class.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.