Education
Formation of Christian Chastity Lessons - Grade 7
Lesson Plan 1
Theme: God made us to be happy
Objectives:
- Students will learn how to attain true and lasting happiness
- Students will understand of what true happiness consists, and that making proper use of our freedom leads to happiness.
Prayer to the Holy Family:
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you very much. Yours was the perfect family, overflowing with goodness, peace, truth, and love. Please give us, and our families, the grace we need to be good and pure in thought, word, and deed. Help us to become holy by loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and help us to love our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Finally, when our days on this earth have ended, please lead us safely to eternal happiness in heaven with God and all His holy angels and saints. Amen.
Quotations from Sacred Scripture:
Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5)
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Galatians 6: 13-14)
Quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve Him, and so to come to paradise. (CCC 1721)
The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin. (CCC 1733)
Key Concepts Reading:
How we achieve holiness and our ultimate happiness:
God made us because He loves us and wants us to be happy. Our ultimate and perfect happiness is living with Him forever in heaven. God gives us the 10 commandments, the Beatitudes, and the teachings of the Church, to show us the way to peace and joy in this life and unlimited happiness in the next. The Holy Eucharist and prayer give us the grace we need to live good lives.
God gives us freedom, which is His gift to choose what is right and good. We call this free will. Because of free will, we are responsible for the decisions we make. Disobedience to God's commandments and teachings will make us unhappy. The 10 commandments are like "guardrails" that keep us on the road to life and true happiness, and from "going over the cliff' of unhappiness and spiritual death.
Our parents are responsible for helping us to keep on the straight and narrow road to happiness by guiding us to choose what is good and reject what is evil. We are to follow the fourth commandment and honor our father and mother - God promises blessings to those who do. God is so good and loving that if we choose evil and commit sin, He gives us the Sacrament of Penance as a remedy. This sacrament is like "medicine" for our souls, because through it we receive the healing and life-giving grace of Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
- Why did God make us? Answer: God made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him so as to be happy with Him forever in heaven.
- What is true freedom? Answer: True freedom is the freedom to choose what is right and good.
- Why does God give us freedom? Answers may include: Because He made us in His own image and this dignity includes freedom; Because He wants us to freely choose to love Him. True love is not forced, it must be chosen.
- After reading the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:1-11, ask students what Jesus says our reaction should be if we are persecuted or "made fun of for doing the right thing for His sake? Answer: We should rejoice and be glad, for our reward will be great in heaven.
Suggested Activities:
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Each student will copy the 10 commandments onto a piece of paper, leaving several spaces under each commandment. They will then list one or two positive ways to follow each commandment, e.g. for the 3 rd commandment- "I will go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation." They will follow this by writing one or two actions they will avoid, which would break that commandment. The teacher will call on students to share their answers orally or to write them on the board.
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Students will look in the gospels and write down two instances of where Jesus speaks of consequences for doing good and two instances where He speaks of consequences for doing evil. They should write down the chapter and verse(s). May be done individually or in pairs. After students have finished, the teacher would choose students to read the scripture passages that they chose.
Homework:
Write out and memorize the 10 commandments for a quiz
Summary:
Today we have discussed that our true and lasting happiness is to be found in loving God and neighbor. If we love God, we will keep His commandments. We are responsible for our acts because of the freedom that God has given us. We need God's grace to live morally upright lives and we receive grace primarily through Mass, prayer, and the Sacrament of Penance.
Closing Prayer:
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, help and protect us.