Day Eleven: Reviewing for a Test, Part One

When I was a student, I never liked it when we took a test literally the day after the last lesson of the unit. Well, I guess I never liked it when we took a test. They almost always seemed to be an arbitrary measurement of what I knew. (Check out my other blog on the Theology of Catholic Pedagogical Theory to learn more about what I really think!). I guess as a teacher I want everything we do in class to be useful. The test, itself, is a learning process. The educational term is: “Formative Assessment”. At the end of the semester, students can use the test to prepare for the final exam, assuming they don’t throw the test away immediately after it is returned. But before they take a test, I want to teach them some study skills.

“What is the most important thing we have studied so far this year?” I give them one minute to respond to this question. Automatic bonus points if anyone talks about image and likeness of God. Just kidding; I never give bonus points!

Holy Family Shrine in Gretna, Nebraska. (P. Smith)

We say a prayer with intentions, and then I ask students to share their Bellwork on the whiteboard. I challenge every students to get up and move. If more than one person writes the same thing that is fine. As long as they are moving around, they are activating some kinesthetic learning motors. Plus, I can use it against them if they tell me they are bored in class; I just tell them they should have walked around more.

I go through what is written on the board and ask students to define terms or concepts if that is what they have written. Maybe some students can’t remember what something means or they have some more questions, so we take time to review. Some students take notes on what we are talking about. Some students say they are taking notes on their iPads, but they are really playing video games; I remind them how much their education costs per minute.

Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado (P. Smith)

When I was in college I really started to learn how to study. I was lucky in high school; I could just read things and it would stick, at least that was my gift until I had my first seizure. Then I had to learn how to study in different ways. I have a lot of tricks that I can share with my students. Today in class, I want to show them some. It is all about organization. Already they have reviewed some of the terms, from memory, just by having a conversation. It is an easy skill. But my main objective comes in the next part of class where I tell them the objective:

“Students will be able to create a study guide for the test”. I will finish this in the next blog.

Day Ten: God is Spirit and Love, Part Three

     For the last part of this lesson, I explain to the students how Grace is given to us and how Grace can help us to develop a relationship with God.

Sin separates. Sin is a fixation on material Truth that prevents us from seeing past the superficial reality of ourselves, others, creation, and God. Sin isolates us so profoundly that we often do not even recognize the division in our lives. We are so separated from our Authentic Self, others, and God that it is impossible for us to begin to Love the way we are supposed to. We need God’s help. We are at the bottom of the Pit, staring at the mud and yuck. The Holy Spirit gives us Grace. Sanctifying Grace is an invitation to grab hold of Actual Grace.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Atlanta, GA. This is where I started to receive my Sacraments. (P. Smith

What is Sanctifying Grace? What is Actual Grace? Sanctifying Grace is the phone call from God inviting us to go to dinner with Him; Actual Grace is the limo He sends to us and the food we eat after we say yes to His invitation. This simple analogy reminds us that it is God who first calls us and asks us to Love Him and to be Loved. We do not ask for Grace; He simply gives it. Actual Grace, as I refer to it in class, is more like the personal and intimate ropes that God throws to us. These are Graces that we encounter at the exact right time in our life. They can be Sacramental or Liturgical in context, but they can also be those everyday “Godwinks”, as my Kairos girls refer to them. They are the personal notes that God sends to us to remind us that He Loves us, personally.

Father Richard Lopez

When I was in high school, Father Lopez gave us the Hamster at the Bar Analogy. A hamster went to a bar… already we are laughing. The hamster goes to order a drink, but he can’t speak. Even though he desires a drink from the bar, he lacks the capability to tell the bartender what he wants. All of a sudden, a giant hypodermic needle comes out of nowhere and injects the hamster with some mysterious tonic and the hamster can speak! The tonic is Grace, freely given to the hamster to help him do what he cannot do on his own. God’s Grace for us works similarly. We naturally desire the Love and Beatitude that God offers us; we naturally desire to be our Authentic Self. But in our fallen state, in our fixation on material Truth, we cannot achieve this on our own. We need the assistance of a Transcendent being. God gives us, in our very Creation, Graces such as Free Will and Reason which, if we use them properly, can lead us to other Graces. In fact, as I teach my students later, if we develop our Free Will and Reason  well enough, we can start to see everything in Creation as a Grace from God. Those who see the world this way, I argue, are the happiest as they see everything (good and bad) as opportunities to grow in relationship with God.

Day Ten: God is Spirit and Love, Part Two

                What is Grace?  Sometimes it helps to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God…” (Catechism of the Catholic Church §1996). I always Love the language of the Catechism. It was never pedantic or childish. It recognized the intelligence of the reader. Of course, I am not as nice ore respectful as the Catechism, so I use analogies to discuss Grace, specifically how it relates to the Holy Spirit.

Often the greatest gifts or Graces we have are the people around us; my after Jesus and my wife, my students are my greatest Graces (P. Smith)

Grace is a rope from God that God gives us even if we do not ask for it; Grace is invitation to enter into relationship with God. If we are at the bottom of the Pit, and if we cannot Love perfectly the way God does, then we need Grace in order to begin to develop habits of Love. Our imagination to Love is limited. I go back to the Bellwork. When we are falling in Love or when we want to express our Love, the natural desire is to do so in as creative or imaginative manner as possible. This is where we get these ridiculous “promposal” shenanigans. But we are called to Love even more profoundly and imaginatively. We are called to Love on a transcendent level. But we cannot create or conceive of that kind of Love. So, we need someone with an infinite intellect and an infinite imagination to Love to help us. The Holy Spirit is the person who throws Grace to us so we can begin to Love in more powerful ways than we could on our own.

My own imagination to Love led me to wait until my wife and I were back where we met and fell in Love before I proposed. (P. Smith)

Sanctifying Graces are the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us so we can begin to want to Love like God. They help us to simply see the ropes around us so we can choose the grab ahold or not. It is like we are at the bottom of the pit and God hits us in the head with a rope to get our attention. Once He has our attention, we look up and start to see the other Actual Graces He throws to us. Actual Graces are the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us to help us continue the process of growing in relationship Him. They are the ropes that help us grow closer to God. I don’t teach the terms “Operative Grace” and “Cooperative Grace” to my freshmen, but that is basically what is going on here. God creates us with certain disposition to “look up” (sometimes that disposition is encouraged with the help of the Sacraments), and when we look up, we find the ropes He has thrown to us and, in cooperation, we grab on.

I think my students are starting to get this. There are things we simply cannot do on our own, so God helps us… because He Loves us.

Day Ten: God is Spirit and Love, Part One

                While the Father and the Son get one lesson each in this first unit, I give two lessons about the Holy Spirit. A priest I once knew often said that the Holy Spirit never gets enough mention in catechesis or in theology. I have to admit, the Spirit is probably the most mysterious Person of the Trinity. While the Son and the Father are, by their very names, more easily accessible to our imagination, the Holy Spirit just doesn’t have the same analogous language we can grab a hold of.

                I ask my students to respond to this question: “How do you want to be asked out on a date?” I give them a minute to jot down their first thought, and when they are done, we pray together. Sometimes prayer needs to be spontaneous. I usually lead the class in prayer, but today I ask a student to lead us. I call on someone randomly, but really Hope they come up with a prayer on the spot. It happens. Later in class, I remind them that the prayer they said at the beginning of class was actually led by the Holy Spirit. This is one of the ways the Spirit works.

May Crowning with some of the girls...and the random guy from the Boys Division (P. Smith)

Full disclosure: this lesson is actually written for an all-girls class, so the question at hand is easy to relate to the students. Of course, if it was a co-ed class, I would simply remind the boys that, in general, they may want to shut up and listen to what the girls have to say.

I ask them, “Do you want to be asked out on a date by text?” Almost never do the girls say that a text message is an appropriate or effective way to ask a girl out on a date. We talk some more and the students seem to always conclude that they probably want to be asked out in a personal and heartfelt manner…a manner that shows authentic care and affection. Of course, we do live in the 21^st Century, and it is perfectly acceptable for a girl to ask a guy out on a date. I share that I would definitely feel like the girl actually liked me if she asked me out in person.

Sometimes the Spirit comes to us in the skies over the Reservation (P. Smith)

The conclusion we make about asking someone out is True with God, as well. God invites us into relationship in a way that shows care and affection. He knows what we Truly Love and what Truly makes us feel special. This lesson will discuss how the Holy Spirit is the one who delivers the invitation. In a way, I will be explaining how the Holy Spirit is God reaching into time and space to give us the exact Graces we need at any point in time and space so we are reminded that we are Loved…that God desires to be in a relationship with Him.

Day Nine: God the Spirit and Love, Part Three

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

The Holy Spirit has always been at work in the development of a relationship between God and humanity, helping us, in particular, to learn how to Love and to be Loved. In Genesis, when God creates Adam, Adam is not alive until God “breathes” into him. Scripture uses the word ruah to describe that “breath” or “spirit”. It can be thought that even at the first breath of humanity the Spirit is moving in us. Ruah is used often to refer to the presence of God when various people in the Old Testament encounter God. They are encountering the Holy Spirit. I could spend an entire semester giving examples of the Spirit moving in humanity, especially in Scripture, but I focus on the passage from Genesis to indicate that even at the very birth of humanity, the Holy Spirit seems to already be guiding us. Later, in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit takes on a more discernible dimension.

My classroom on any given morning. (P. smith)

In the New Testament Jesus promises to send an “advocate” after He is gone. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gives courage and the gift of speaking in many languages to the Apostles so they could preach the message of God’s Love and our authentic Self. As the Church begins to grow, the Holy Spirit continues to guide humanity in developing a relationship with God, in particular through the development of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Even today, on a more personal level, when “God things” happen (Providence) that is likely the Holy Spirit reminding us that we are Loved and cared for, personally. When our heart tells us to help another person (for no particular reason) this is likely the Holy Spirit inspiring us to Love.

St. Ignatius Cemetery in West Baden Springs, Indiana. A place where I have felt the Holy Spirit. (P. Smith)

I like to ask my students if they have any examples of times when they have experienced the Holy Spirit in this way. It can take a little effort, sometimes, as many of my students may not have considered that the Holy Spirit has ever been at work in their lives. Of course, if the Holy Spirit is present, then perhaps they will share examples of Him working in their lives.  

Day Nine: God the Spirit and Love, Part Two

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

Going back to St. Augustine of Hippo, I remind my students that in his theology, the Holy Spirit is best understood as the Love between the Father and the Son. Their Love is so perfect that it is its own Person. Paraclete, a term that refers to the Holy Spirit, means “advocate”, “defender”, or “counselor”. Of course, God is Love and Love is seen often in how He advocates for, defends, or counsels us. The Holy Spirit “surprises” us with gifts that help us to develop a relationship with God.

My Corner of the Classroom, Regis Jesuit High School (P. Smith)

I use the Pit Analogy and the story of Adam and Eve to demonstrate how greatly we need the Holy Spirit to help us grow in relationship with God. As a result of the Fall, we are essentially in a Pit. The Truth of our Authentic Self is obscured by our own fixation on material Truth. Our Authentic Self, the Truth of how to Love and how to be Loved, is outside the Pit, and as we are at the bottom of the Pit, we cannot see what is on the surface. All we can see is the Material Truth of what is at the bottom of the Pit, but those material Truths are not the fullness of Truth. The Holy Spirit “throws us ropes” from outside the Pit, and those “ropes” are surprise gifts that can lead us to God if we choose to grab hold of them. Out of pure Love for us, God desires us to encounter the Truth of who He is and of who we are. The Holy Spirit and those “ropes” He throws to us are evidence of that Love. My students can usually figure out that when we talk about “ropes”, we are really talking about Grace.

St. John Francis Regis Overlooking the Rockies, Regis Jesuit High School (P. Smith)

Of course, there are specific Graces or Gifts that the Holy Spirit provides us. Or, rather, Scripture tells us of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. But as I will constantly be reminding my students, nearly everything in existence can, in fact, be a “rope” for us. In the next part of the class, I will explain to my students that for all of time, the Holy Spirit has been at work and will continue to be at work in “throwing ropes” to us.