This Issue

• Celebrating Mass
• For Principals and School Boards
• For Educators
• For Parents
• Forming Adult Faith
• Compendium Corner

Celebrating Mass

One element of Church life unites all Catholics, regardless of age, education, gender, socio-economic status, and even season—everyone can attend and participate in Mass.

In its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Second Vatican Council emphasized the importance of the Mass by calling it the "summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed" and the "fount from which all her power flows" (SC 1, 10). The Mass is a common point of reference for all Catholics, a time for gathering, praying, listening, eating and drinking together, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A new English translation of the Mass is coming soon, and this will bring change to the Church. The coming change is an opportunity to go deeper into something Catholics already know, and learn the many ways celebrating the Mass together shapes our lives.

This issue of To Teach provides ideas and strategies for learning more about our celebration of the Mass.

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For Principals and School Boards

• Schedule an all-school Mass for the end of the school year, and encourage faculty to prepare students to fully participate.
• Promote singing as a way for everyone to learn their role in the sung portions of Mass by purchasing and distributing copies of Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship.
• Encourage faculty to practice hearing the Word by urging them to download the daily NAB readings podcast and listen to them at some point during their work day.
• Create a link on your school websites to the online version of the New American Bible. Encourage students and teachers to use the NAB to do homework or prepare lessons.
• Use the daily video reflection once a week for morning or afternoon prayer. Each day, a priest, deacon, or lay person from around the country shares a reflection on the today's daily readings.
• Help ease teachers’ end-of-year stress and make them feel supported by providing each teacher and student with a copy of the Prayer for Teachers. Invite parents to pray with their children at morning or night.
• In honor of Mother’s Day and the month dedicated to Mary, schedule a morning or evening of prayer for the moms of the school. Encourage faculty, staff and students to draw closer to Mary by giving them a free copy of Pope Benedict XVI's book on Mary (Spiritual Thoughts Series).
• The week before Mother’s Day, invite faculty and students to offer the prayers of the faithful in honor of women.

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For Educators

• Proclaim Acts 2:1-11 (Pentecost) with your students, and review that Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church. Invite some students to prepare a short history of the birth of your parish, and share that, too. Create birthday cards or plan and host a birthday celebration for the children in your class.
• Assign time to study the Mass readings for Pentecost Sunday on May 31. Use the references to the gift of the Holy Spirit as a starting point for discussing how the Holy Spirit works in the celebration of the Mass. Use Chapter 17 from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults as a source for talking about the activity of Holy Spirit in the Eucharist.
• Teach students how to prepare to receive Holy Communion by teaching them the Prayers Before the Holy Eucharist in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.
• Show the short video on the Sacrament of the Eucharist by Msgr. John Zenz to your students. After watching the video, lead a discussion on the relationship between Eucharist, Confirmation, and Baptism.
• Invite a priest to participate in a class session devoted to hearing prayers. Ask him to recite, as if he were celebrating Mass, one of the Eucharistic prayers. Ask students to contribute what they remember most from the prayer. With the priest, lead a session introducing the structure and meaning of Eucharistic prayers.
• Distribute the following reflection on the bread of Christ by Pope Benedict XVI in his book on St. Paul and discuss how it relates to community and feeding people:
  • "Bread made of many grains contains also an event of union: the ground grain becoming bread is a process of unification. We ourselves, many as we are, must become one bread, one body, as St. Paul says (cf. 1 Cor 10:17). In this way the sign of bread becomes both hope and fulfillment."
• Use the booklet The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a resource for teaching students on the many ways they encounter Jesus as they participate in the Mass.

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For Parents

• Download or listen to the daily readings and reflection podcasts on your computer. Use the readings and reflections as topics for discussion during family dinners.
• Set aside one night a week for a family meal that includes a Scripture reading, prayer, and passing food and drink to one another "family style." Talk about the shared experience and compare it to what happens when you attend Mass together.
• Provide family members and friends who are not Catholic but will attend a First Communion, wedding, or Confirmation with a copy of Introduction to the Order of Mass. This book offers a detailed guide to the celebration of Mass, from introductory to concluding rites. Schedule some time to review the part of the liturgy with them before the Mass begins.
• Prepare to receive Holy Communion as a family by saying the Prayers Before the Eucharist in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.
• Plan family time for serving others in need by finding a local opportunity to help those in need through your local CCHD contact. Afterwards, discuss your experience in relation to receiving Holy Communion at Mass.
• Teach your children prayers and devotions to Mary during the month of May using the Book of Mary.
• Set aside time to nurture your marriage with resources from the USCCB's For Your Marriage Web site. If your wedding anniversary is near, use these free prayers from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers to mark the occasion.
• Print out a copy of The Beatitudes for Women. Invite the children of the family to transfer the reflection onto a card or poster board and decorate it as a gift for Mother’s Day. Then pray the prayer together.
• In celebration of Mother’s Day, invite your children to affirm Mom as someone who imitates Mary very well. Read one of Pope Benedict XVI's spiritual thoughts on Mary every evening, and talk about Mary's qualities as examples for everyone. Finish each reading session with one of the prayers to Mary at the end of the book.

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Forming Adult Faith

"Forming Adult Faith" includes suggestions from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA) on how to promote ongoing faith formation among the adults in your school community.

There are three chapters from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults that address the mysteries of the Church.

• Chapter 9: Receive the Holy Spirit
• Chapter 12: Mary: the Church's First and Most Perfect Member
• Chapter 17. The Eucharist—Source and Summit of the Christian Life

Ideas and suggestions on how to use these chapters for your individual and group reflection can be found online and in the Reader's Journal for the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

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Compendium Corner

"Compendium Corner" provides a list of questions and answers in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that are related to this month’s topic. (The number before the question is the question number in the Compendium.)

• Review the questions and answers in preparation for your class.
• Consider how to use appropriate questions and answers as part of your lesson plan.
• Develop learning activities that help youths and young adults learn this information by heart (memorization).
  

142.    What is the work of the Spirit in Mary?
144.    What happened at Pentecost?
271.    What is the Eucharist?
276.    Where does the Eucharist fit in the divine plan of salvation?
277.    How is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist carried out?
289.    When does the Church oblige her members to participate at Holy Mass?

To obtain a copy of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, visit www.usccbpublishing.org or call 800-235-8722.

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