Getting to the Point - how what we talk about relates to our lives:
Tonight
our primary goals were to:
- Help the kids to become more comfortable with us as leaders and with each other so we can increase the participation by all.
- Help them see the Sacrament of Confirmation is an important milestone in their spiritual life. However, Confirmation should not be seen as an end to their spiritual growth but rather a launching pad for the rest of their life of growing closer to the Father, the Son, and in an even greater way to the Holy Spirit.
None
of us want to feel like we are spending our time participating in something
that does not benefit us in some way. We
understand your sons and daughters came to us tonight with varying levels of
willingness to attend and that is OK. We
would like to believe we moved them all a little further down a path that will
require less and less encouragement (OK maybe a little arm twisting also) from
you the parents.
Expecting
the kids to get to a point where they are dragging you to the car to get them
to class might be expecting too much.
However, if it is a struggle to get them to class each week, please do
not hesitate to contact one of us to discuss what we can do to help the
situation. We want this journey to
Confirmation to be enjoyable for everyone.
Parent Point – A little piece of information relating to adult
living:
Confidence
is a good thing as long you are as confident in what you don't know as you are in what you do know. Over confidence leads to bad
choices because we lean too much on our own limited understanding. Under confidence leads to inaction because we
believe we know less than we really do.
The secret is to place your confidence in Jesus, and he will help you.
Like
everything, a strong foundation is very important. A strong foundation for our
confidence can be built on the truth that God the Father created the universe
from "no thing", and that God
the Son, Jesus, came to earth not only to die so we may have eternal life but also to establish a Church on Peter
that will shepherd us back home for that eternal life in Heaven. This foundation is one on which we can use to
expand our confidence into all areas of our life.
Many
middle school children can use a boost of confidence so not only will we be
helping your children build that strong foundation on God and the Church, we
will also help increase their confidence in other areas like speaking in front
of their peers. While we will never
force a children to read or speak in front of the group we will strongly
encourage them. FYI: If you have not
heard from previous classes, Gary is a little hard of hearing. Not really, he just tells the kids that as a
reason to get then to speak up louder when they are reading to the group or
responding to questions. We bring this up so you can also encourage them to speak
up when in a group.
Resource Point – Support for what is said above and where to learn
more:
Knowing
history is one way to build confidence.
This is why we opened class tonight with the Bible reading below. In that reading we hear about the earliest
Christians (within a few decades of Christ's resurrection) describing exactly
what we label today as the Sacrament of Confirmation. We hope reading about
something we do today that was also being done 2000 years ago can be a very
powerful confidence builder in this journey they started tonight towards their
Confirmation.
Bible
Reading: Acts
8:14-17
Catechism
link: Paragraph #1299
Prayer Point – A small prayer we did in class or we think applies:
Prayer For Self
Confidence
Lord, true source of
light and wisdom
Let a ray of Your
brilliance
Penetrate my
understanding
Grant me a retentive
memory
And the ability to
grasp things
Correctly and
completely.
Let me be convincing
in my explanations
Steadfast and
unwavering in my presentations
Give me Your
confidence
To trust my
God-given capabilities.
Help me with each
task at hand
Guide me through its
completion.
Amen.
Challenge Point – What can we add to help us become better Catholic
Christians:
Let's
challenge ourselves this week to find an opportunity to share with our children
how our confidence in God and the Church has helped us be a better and more
confident person.
News Point – What’s up for CCD in the upcoming weeks:
- If you have not turned in your registration paperwork, please do so soon.
- Reminder to install the Decision Point App on your mobile device or visit the Decision Point Website to watch the first three videos in Session 1 before next week's class. This will allow you to ask them about something that caught your attention in the videos.
- To find the Mobile App search for: "Decision Point - Catholic App"
- Use the following link to go to the Decision Point Website for Session #1: https://dynamiccatholic.com/confirmation/program-view/session-1/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment