Day Nine: God the Spirit and Love, Part One

“When have you been surprised?”  I ask the students to consider this question for a few moments. It can be any kind of surprise. I am just asking them to activate prior knowledge of what it means to be surprised in some way. It is a simple practice; we start the class with a question, and, to be honest, I do not want them to respond with any theological response. I just want them to begin the class thinking about something that is burned into their brain. My job, as the teacher, is to make some sort of connection between their prior knowledge and the new information I will be giving them. This particular question, as it turns out, will connect nicely with the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit is what makes God a God of surprises.

My classroom before all the students start to show up. That is mostly their work on the walls. (Photo Credit: P. Smith)

I had a professor in graduate school tell us once that the meaning to life is learning how to say “thank you” better. A life well-lived, to use a classical expression, is a life lived in thanksgiving for everything. As we pray in class, I remind my students that a life lived in thanksgiving is a life much more fruitful and fulfilling. I challenge students to consider what it would be like if they thought more in terms of thanksgiving and less in terms of want and desire. In Catholic theology we teach that all we have in this world is gift. The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who transfers Grace to us in whatever way He knows we need it, and if we can begin to see everything around us as gift, we can more easily live a life of thanksgiving. In this way, we begin to develop a more fruitful and fulfilling relationship with God.

“What are the times when you were surprised in a good way?” I ask my students. I call on them and listen to their stories. At first, their responses are relatively tame. Usually they talk about a party or a random gift they got. But they begin to share more as their classmates open up. I have heard them talk about the first time they knew they were going to have a new baby brother or sister. They talk about times when they learned they got into their school of choice and it was a relative surprise. They share stories about the health or good fortune of a family member or friend. They start expanding this understanding of “surprise”.

The trick to teaching is using whatever students already have in their memory and building a bridge between what is already there and what you want them to know at the end of the lesson. It’s called scaffolding. On this lesson, students will begin thinking about the Holy Spirit as person of the Trinity who seeks to “surprise” us with gift after gift, all for the purpose of inviting us into relationship with God. I want students to complete the lesson having addressed the following two objectives:

“Students will be able to explain why the Holy Spirit is necessary for us to develop a relationship with God.”

“Students will be able to describe how the Holy Spirit has always been working to help humanity grow closer in relationship with God.”

Bl. Rupert Mayer Chapel, Regis Jesuit High School. The Dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, descends upon the Crucifixion. (Photo Credit: P. Smith)

It is near impossible to teach anything unless there is already some prior knowledge onto which the student can attach the new knowledge. The “surprise” question activates that prior knowledge so the objectives can more easily be achieved. During the lesson, I return to what students have shared, often using exact details shared by students in order to keep them engaged. I remind them that they know God is Trinity, and they know the Father is the Lover, the one who creates and has mercy. This lesson explains who the Spirit is and how the Spirit “surprises” us constantly with Grace. (I have an entire unit on who Jesus is, so I hold off on talking about Jesus).