Grade 7 Celebrating
Celebrating ~ Hope Expectations for Intermediate Classes
By the end of grade 8, it is our hope that students will be individuals who:
Participate with joy and gratitude in the Sacramental life of the Church and celebrate the Eucharist as the central sacrament of the Catholic Church;
Recognize the presence of Christ in the Liturgy of the Word, under the sign of the bread and wine of the Eucharist, in the celebrant priest, and in the assembled Body of Christ;
Appreciate the importance of participating in the celebration of holy days, feast days and days dedicated to the saints;
Continue to deepen their understanding of the multi-fold meaning of symbols, scripture narratives, ritual actions and practices associated with the liturgical celebration of the saints and the salvation stories of our faith, i.e. the Paschal Mystery.
CL 1.1: Identify the features that constitute a Christian understanding of marital love (unity, indissolubility, fidelity, and openness to procreation); and the benefits (i.e. effects) of the sacrament (an increase of sanctifying grace – the special help of God for husband and wife to love each other faithfully, to bear with each other’s faults, and to bring up their children properly) and identify ways the Church and society can both strengthen and benefit from Catholic families and their members. [CCC nos. 1643-1666]
Being married in the Church is different than being married legally in the province. When a couple falls in love and wishes to be married, they are asking to be married before God in a sacrament. When a couple wishes to be married in front of a Justice of the Peace, it is a legal contract that they are entering into and God is not involved. We understand that Christian marital love has the following features: unity for the couple, and then their family; indissolubility (once you are married, you are married for life); fidelity (being faithful to each other); and an openness to having a family. When a couple is married legally, they sign a contract which exists until one or both of the partners is dissatisfied with the agreement and then they are separated and or divorced. The benefits of the sacrament, as with all sacraments, is that God offers special help to the husband and wife in the form of grace. God supports the love that each partner will have for the other. God helps the partners to bear with each other’s faults. God helps the couple to raise their children in love. The Church desires to be a community that supports and strengthens the couple as they live their married life. In a Church there are many loving couples who give witness to other couples and if needed, may be willing to offer counsel in times of stress. It is hoped that society will also provide support and strength for couples and their families. In our present culture there is much confusion about marriage and the sacrament. Young couples do not always understand the significant differences between sacrament and contract when it comes to marriage. It is so important to begin to teach these differences while students are still young so that they will mature with a great understanding than is present in our society today. Ask your class what is the difference between getting married in the Church and at City Hall. Who presides at each celebration? [remember a priest or a deacon can preside at a Church wedding] Where do these celebrations take place? Then I would explain the features, benefits and ways that the Church marriage is different from a civil union. Remember not all Church celebrations need to include Eucharist. A couple can be married without a mass.
CL1.2: Identify in the Rite of Marriage – requirements for reception (baptism, no prior bond or impediment, free consent), ministers of the sacrament in Roman Rite, the ritual words of consent, blessings, signs and ritual symbols, that signify and convey the grace and meaning of marriage for the couple (i.e. one man and one woman) and explain how this sacrament prepares and supports the couple for a life of service within the family and the world. [CCC 1621-1642]
You may want to teach this chart. Ask your students if they know the meaning of the requirements before you share them. Some students may be aware of these requirements.
The Rite of Marriage – taken from CCC 1621-1642
Requirements for Reception / Meaning of the requirementsBaptism / Both man and woman are baptized
Mixed marriages (one partner is not baptized or one partner is from another Christian church) may occur but this requires particular attention on the part of the couples and their pastor.
No prior bond or impediment / A person who wants to be married cannot be married if s/he is already married to someone else who is still living. If a person was married and her/his partner has died, s/he is able to be married again. But if the person is divorced and the marriage is not annulled, then the person is not free to marry again until the previous marriage is annulled. This previous marriage is an impediment to being married in the Church.
Free consent / The man and the woman must express their consent freely. The priest or deacon at the marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. If one of the partners is being forced to get married, the parents are forcing them, or a pregnancy is forcing them, this is not free consent. If one of the partners is chemically dependent, a case can be made that s/he is not able to give free consent. If consent is lacking or not freely given, there is no marriage.
Ministers of the sacrament in Roman Rite / A priest or deacon in the Church must minister the sacrament in a public liturgy of the Church. The presence of the Church’s minister (and also the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.
Ritual words of consent / “I do.” These are the ritual words of consent. The public character of the consent protects the “I do” once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.
Blessings / The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church.
Signs and ritual symbols / A ring is a symbol of love that is exchanged between the two spouses. It is a symbol that love never ends.
Another symbol is the embrace of the couple – to be a loving support to one another. The rituals involved are the exchange of promises and the eventual sexual expression of their union. (marriages must be consummated.)
This sacrament prepares and supports the couple for a life of service within a family and the world. Ask your students to identify how their parents serve each other and how their parents serve them every day. The parents ought to serve their families first and then they move out of the family to serve others, often in the work that they do to be remunerated for their family’s need.
CL1.3: Examine the Scripture of the Old Testament and New Testament that reveal the covenantal nature of marriage (Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7-12; Eph. 5:22-32; 1Thess. 4:4; Mal. 2:14-16; Matt. 5:32-33; Matt. 19:4-6, 9; Mark 10: 11-12; Lk. 16:18; Rom. 7:2-3; 1 Cor. 7:10-11) and compare this image to the covenantal relationship between Christ and the Church. [CCC 1601-1620]
An understanding of covenant is very important for this expectation. Covenant is a formal agreement made between God and God’s people. A covenant brings with it a commitment by both parties. God calls Abraham and Sarah into covenant. God will be Abraham and Sarah’s God and will give them all they need. Abraham and Sarah promises to love and honour God throughout their life. God promises Abraham and Sarah descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky. This relationship calls for a commitment by God and Abraham and Sarah. Invite your students (in pairs) to read one of the passages above and to say what the passage says about marriage and about marriage as a covenant (a committed relationship). Then compare this understanding of covenantal marriage to the image of Christ’s relationship to the Church. Christ promises to always be with the Church through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ is present to us through the very breath we breathe. This is the closeness that the Church has to Christ. This is the closeness that a husband ought to have with his wife and she to him.
CL 2.1: Identify the link between the Hebrew Scriptures account of the Passover (Exodus), the Christian Scriptures accounts of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion of Christ, and the prayers of the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Read the passage from Exodus about the First Passover (Exodus 12:1-32). Discuss the account of the Passover. The context is that the Egyptian ruler Pharaoh would not let the Hebrews be free but made their lives burdensome and hard. Moses warned Pharaoh but Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go. This was the consequence of Pharaoh’s decision.
Jesus’ Last Supper takes place during the Passover of the Jews. Read one of the Last Supper accounts (Matthew 26:17-30 / Mark 14:12-26 / Luke 22:7-23). Make the connections between the first Passover and the Last Supper. Every year the Jewish people celebrate the Passover (this year on Tuesday April 11) they re-enact the first Passover. They don’t wipe blood of lambs on their door frames but they recall the story and eat special foods. This is what Jesus’ disciples were doing on the night of the Last Supper. They were celebrating Passover. Once they had their meal, Jesus instituted the Eucharist (bread and wine > becomes his body and blood) and He becomes the Lamb of the Sacrifice. Ask your students “Do Jesus’ words sound familiar to you?” These are the words used at the Consecration of the Eucharist – when the priest changes the bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood.
Read the passage of the Crucifixion of Christ from one of the gospel accounts: Matthew 27:32-54 / Mark 15:21-40 / Luke 23: 26-47.
Jesus dies on the Cross. During the Eucharistic prayer we pray as a community the Memorial Acclamation. There are three forms:
The priest says: The mystery of faith. We say: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again. OR When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again. OR Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set up free. We proclaim one of these acclamations each time we participate in the Mass so a bit of Holy Thursday/Good Friday is recalled. We also pray during the Communion Rite >The Lamb of God. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us. X3. Then the priest holds up the host for the whole congregation and says: Behold (See) the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
CL 2.2: Compare what is signified in the “bread and wine” of the Old Testament to its New Covenant meaning in the New Testament and to the meaning of the Eucharist. (See: Exodus 12; Leviticus 17:11; Isaiah 54:4-6; Hebrews 10:10-14; Matt. 26:26-30; Mark 6:30-44; John 2:1-12; Jn. 6:23, 32-33, 35, 54-57.) [CCC nos. 1333-1336]
In the first Exodus the blood of the sacrifice was put on the doorposts and the lintel in order to keep the first born safe from the plague of death of the firstborn. The bread was unleaven because of the rush of leaving Egypt once the plague had acted on the Egyptians. So both the “bread and wine” of the Old Testament helped the Israelites to escape the slavery they experienced under the oppression of the Egyptians. In the Leviticus reading, God says that blood is for atonement. No one ought to eat blood because the “life of the flesh is in the blood.” Lev. 17:11 God is doing the work through the bread and blood in the Old Testament. God is saving the chosen people.
In Isaiah we hear the promise that “the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.” Isaiah 54:5b This promise is prophesying that Jesus is to become our Redeemer. In the Hebrew’s passage, “It is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Heb. 10:10 In Matthew’s account of the Institution of the Lord’s Supper, it says: “While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Matt. 26: 26-30 In Mark’s gospel Jesus performs a miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish and everyone had enough and there were twelve baskets filled with the pieces remaining. Mark 6:30-44 In the second chapter of John’s gospel we read the Wedding at Cana. The wine has run out and Jesus turns water into very good wine. No one is embarrassed because Jesus’ miracle saves the family from that. Jn. 2:1-12 Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals himself as “the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jn. 6:35 Jesus is the new bread and wine. This bread and wine can be eaten unlike the message in Leviticus. This is the body and blood of Jesus the Holy One of God, our Redeemer and Saviour. Have groups of students read the passages indicated above in the expectation. Ask them what the blood and bread signify in the context of the readings. I have provided above a summary of each reading for you. See if the students can connect the Old Testament and the New Testament covenants and the meaning of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives in Christ.
CL 2.3: Identify in the liturgical prayers of the Mass, reference to the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist and explain why those who receive it become the living Body of Christ – the Church. [CCC nos. 1331; 1367-1374]
Before the consecration – in the third Eucharistic prayer(as one example, each Eucharistic prayer states it too) it states: “Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.”
And it continues: “For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and, giving thanks, he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body which will be given up for you. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and, giving thanks, he said the blessing, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant,which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”
Then a bit later it states: “grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with the Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.” Invite your students to think about the Last Supper. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he probably had one loaf of bread that you broke into two parts and asked the disciples to break off a piece to eat. The whole loaf would have been consumed. Everyone had a piece from the one loaf, just as Jesus only has one body. The same would have happened with the cup. So everyone who receives from the one chalice takes part in Jesus’ one body of blood. So all who eat of the bread and chalice are one communion, a living Body of Christ, which we call the Church. It might be helpful to have a large wine glass with grape juice in it, and one pita on a plate as a visual for the lesson as you are speaking about this concept. Explain to the class that the consecration is the climax of the Eucharist. It is when the bread and wine become Jesus’ body and blood. In CCC 1374 it states: “The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.” In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.” “This presence is called ‘real’ – by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”