This Issue

• Hope: A Virtue that Sustains Us
• For Principals and School Boards
• For Educators
• For Parents
• Forming Adult Faith
• Compendium Corner

Hope: A Virtue that Sustains Us

Throughout the current election cycle, we have heard the word "hope" used—in book titles, as an attribute for the future, as a trait worth nurturing in us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that hope is a theological virtue "by which we desire and expect from God both eternal life and the grace we need to attain it." November is an opportune time to focus on hope—to reflect on it, to express it, to nurture it, to challenge ourselves to be open to it.

• All Saints Day: We revere the saints because of the profoundly hopeful stances that they took in their lives. They demonstrated for us how to be totally open to grace, so much so that it directed the choices that they made in their lives and communities, often to the dismay of their families, friends, and even community leaders. Many of the saints show us how much courage it takes to make a decision to be hopeful—to give us money, fame, or power or to live and serve among the least of society.
• All Souls Day: As we remember the faithful departed, especially those in our families and close to us, we often retell the stories of their lives. In those stories, we see how set the example for us of how to desire eternal life and live lives truly worthy of that.
• Solemnity of Christ the King: This solemnity presents us with the paradox of the shepherd who is king. One of the challenges of the day is to replace what we desire and expect of God and the world with what God desires and expects for us.
• Thanksgiving Day: Giving thanks is meaning of the word "Eucharist," the sacrament that nurtures our hope for eternal life and strengthens us for the journey there.
• First Sunday of Advent: We begin the season of Advent by exclaiming in the Psalm, "Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved." The psalmist's cry expresses the desire that we have to be in the fulness of the presence of God, both here and after death.

This issue of To Teach offers ideas on how to reflect on, express, and nurture hope so that we might be more open to grace and the challenges that God puts before us..

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For Principals and School Boards

• Have the religion teachers teach or review the Act of Hope (found in most catechetical resources, Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers or Essentials for Christian Living) in preparation for praying it as a part of your school's opening or closing prayer during Advent.
• Host an All Saints party on Halloween. Instead of popular costumes, invite the children to dress up as their favorite saint. Post pictures or make books on saints available in classrooms, the library, or cafeteria from which they can choose.
• Give a copy of Saints, Pope Benedict XVI's reflections on various saints (part of his Spiritual Thoughts Series), to your teachers as an Advent/start of the liturgical year gift.
• Plan a school liturgy during November. Emphasize that the relationship between Eucharist and Thanksgiving. Identify specific ways that the school can demonstrate its gratitude toward the teachers, staff, and local community including taking up a collection for the hungry, poor, or needy in your area.

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For Educators

• On three different bulletin boards, posters, or sheets of newprint, write the names of the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. Ask your students to paste articles and pictures that illustrate each of the theological virtues on these sheets. At the end of the week (or a religious education session), invite them to describe what faith, hope, and charity are based on what they see and read.
• Do a Scripture search on the word "hope." Use dictionaries of the Bible or do a "find" in the online version of the New American Bible.
• Focus a lesson during the first week of Advent on the four last things (see Essentials for Christian Living or the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 193) and connect to the Gospel's attention on being prepared for end times.
• As part of the Year of St. Paul, assign small groups of students a presentation on the life and ministry of St. Paul. Provide them with basic information that can be found in the Bible as well as other age-appropriate resources.
• Using the Beatitudes, Ten Commandments, and Two Great Commandments, create a list of the top 10 behaviors or actions that God expects from us. Post the top 10 list in your classroom. Have a small prayer service or ritual where the entire group commits to acting according to the top 10 list for the upcoming liturgical year. Identify simple ways to acknowledge and reward successful attempts and acts that are consistent with the top 10 list.

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For Parents

• Teach your children the "Act of Hope" (in Essentials for Christian Living), starting the week of Thanksgiving. Prepare yourself to better understand what hope is by reading the reflections on the opposite page and writing down your thoughts and insights in the space provided.
• Pray the Act of Hope each day during Advent starting Sunday, November 30.
• Talk with your children about death, judgment, heaven, and hell (the Four Last Things) especially if family members or friends who would be with you at Thanksgiving have died in the past year.
• Tell your children bedtime stories that feature the lives of the saints, especially their patron saints. Read Pope Benedict's reflections on 85 saints to help you prepare.
• Read Pope Benedict's reflection on the Eucharist and hope in St. Paul (part of the Spiritual Thoughts Series). Talk to your children on the way home from Mass about how they see God at Mass and where and when they see Him in their daily lives.
• Visit the graves of any deceased family members on All Saints Day. Pray the litany of the saints or the special prayer in to be used for such visits.

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Forming Adult Faith

"Forming Adult Faith" is an ongoing feature of To Teach. It 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.

The following chapters touch on different aspects of the theme of poverty and justice.

• Chapter 3: Proclaim the Gospel to Every Creature
• Chapter 23: Life in Christ—Part One
• Chapter 25. The First Commandment: Believe in the True God

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 to 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 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).
  

385. What are the theological virtues?
387. What is hope?
442. What is implied in the affirmation of God: "I am the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:2)?

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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