A Fertile Heart - Year 5 (S) by fertileheart.org.uk

Key Stage 2 Year 5

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Love is creative. To have a fertile heart is to love, grow and make a positive difference.

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Children have a natural desire to love. They have a longing to make a difference. They love growing. A Fertile Heart helps them understand that these desires are all connected. God’s first words to us were, “Be fertile!” And the whole of the Bible teaches us that we are fertile through healthy, loving relationships – with God and each other. Learning to authentically and appropriately receive and give love leads to us having fertile hearts. Using the concept ‘fertile’ helps the children see the similarity between plants growing through fertile soil, sun and water, and us growing through a caring environment, love and truth.

Key Stage 2: Year 3

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love Panda Press Publishing would like to thank the following contributors to A Fertile Heart: Kathryn Lycett, John Cook, Mary Dickenson, Maryanne Dowle, Bernadette Eakin, Christopher Hancox, Louise Kirk, Gavin McAleer and Rebecca Surman Thanks also to Dr Charlie O’Donnell, Joe Smiles, Michael H. Barton, Mary Flynn, Rev Dr Stephen Morgan and Fr Wayne Coughlin for their kind support. ISBN: 978-0-9930555-6-0 A Fertile Heart KS2 Scripture quotations taken from various authorised translations. Every effort has been made to locate copyright holders and to obtain permission to reproduce sources. For those sources where it has been difficult to trace the originator of the work, we would welcome further information. If any copyright holder would like us to make an amendment, please inform us and we will update our information during the next reprint. All images and illustrations used under licence. Design © 2021 Panda Press Publishing Limited Illustrations and Images: Shutterstock All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher who can be contacted at hello@fertileheart.org.uk British Library Catalogue Publication Data. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Printed and bound in the UK and published under licence by Panda Press Publishing Ltd, 1 Newcastle Street, Stone, Staffordshire, ST15 8JU Company Number 11786188 Printed, bound and distributed in Australia by Createl Publishing, 98 Logistics Street, Keilor Park, Victoria 3042, t: 03 9336 0800, f: 03 9336 0900, www.createl.com.au Keep in touch Facebook @afertileheart Linkedin.com/company/a-fertile-heart Twitter @afertileheart visit A Fertile Heart at www.fertileheart.org.uk Version 7, September 2021

Imprimatur:

Nihil Obstat for KS2, 3 & 4: Reverend Jonathan Veasey. Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, 30th November 2020.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

04/07/2018

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Foreword His Grace George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “The Glory of God is humanity fully alive”. Thus wrote St. Irenaeus in the 3rd century. His words remain true to this day. They mean that God is the creator of the gift of life. In that gift, each human person receives a share in His own creative love. His revelation in life and love, as well as through creation, is pure gift. This is the ‘grace’ of which we speak, in order that “we may have life and have it to the full” (Gospel of St. John 10:10). This truth lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is what it means to be truly human. The gift of life is bestowed by God in order that we may flourish and thrive. We do this in the first place simply by living with gratitude. We do it by responding to His love in a life of joyful communion with Him. We express it by actively engaging in the good of others so that mutual ‘flourishing’ may take place. The more we give, the more we receive. The ‘Gospel of Life’ outlined above is, indeed, ‘Good News’. It is revealed in every aspect of human nature and creation itself. This is the life-giving teaching we seek to hand on to our children who are “the messages we send to tomorrow”. The Rite of Baptism reminds us that parents are the first and best teachers of their children. The Catholic school exists primarily to educate children to receive and respond to God’s love for each one of them and for all. Our schools are designed to help parents fulfil their God given task of caring for their children in the school of love. The Catholic school is not just a place for professional education – existing for improvement in learning - important though that is. It is a place of formation, a place in which ‘lessons for life’ are imparted, received and shared. The whole school community teaches and learns these lessons in a truly Catholic environment. Human relationships are obviously at the heart of life and flourishing. We are made to relate to each other, body, mind and spirit. The physical, emotional and spiritual reality of our being are part and parcel of the ‘holy trinity’ of each one of us. Thus affective sexuality education is a crucial part of human formation. A Fertile Heart is the culmination of several years work of dedicated individuals [teachers, theologians, education advisers and parents] from within the dioceses of Birmingham, Cardiff, Clifton, Arundel and Brighton and Shrewsbury. They have worked tirelessly to create a resource which puts the human person and the flourishing of our pupils at the heart of the Catholic school. It is offered as an important aid to pupils, parents, teachers, governors and clergy to remind us all that “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning God had meant us to live it” (Ephesians 2:10).

Introduction If you don’t know how a car works, you’re not likely to be able to fix it. If you don’t know something about how crops grow, you’re not likely to be a great farmer. If you don’t understand a mobile phone, you’re not likely to get the most out of it. Understanding what it is to be a human person will help us know how to think and act, and so be happy and fulfilled. This booklet is the second stage of a curriculum that goes from Reception to Y11, comprising 11 modules for Years 3-6. A Fertile Heart seeks to give a coherent vision of what it is to be human, empowering the young person to understand themselves more deeply, and therefore make better, more informed choices. In KS1 we focused on Bible stories to help the children learn about life, growing and love. This continues in Y3, with a focus on Jesus in John’s Gospel, and in particular on: receiving and giving; Jesus being our light and living water; decreasing in selfishness so that we can increase in life and love; and bearing much fruit in union with Jesus. In Y4 we begin to turn to reason more, to help the children grasp the foundational understandings of personhood and relationship. Just as there is no point in branching out into other subjects if children have not learnt how to read, write and do arithmetic, so it is more important to thoroughly cover the essentials than it is to cover a breadth of less important things. Thus, personhood, relationship, dignity, freedom, happiness, tolerance and the importance of being rational and being open to faith are all dealt with thoroughly. Some concepts are introduced that maybe, by themselves, don’t seem central. Please be assured that they are, as will be more apparent in looking at the whole curriculum. Two very important dimensions to being human are the need for love and relationship, and the desire to grow and make a meaningful difference. We can only truly grow and make a meaningful difference if we have meaning and purpose. Thus, underpinning PSE/PSHE and RHE/RHSE is the need to help the pupil to understand themselves: both in their given-ness - including what it is to be human - and in their uniqueness - their personhood. Key to gaining correct self-understanding is the ability to think correctly. If they don’t get that process right they won’t understand themselves correctly and be able to withstand destructive pressures from within and without. As humans, therefore, we have to come to understand ourselves in the light of reason. Crucially, authentic faith strengthens reason and opens it up to deeper realities. This curriculum is completely set against the polarisation of faith and reason. Whether referring to faith or not, it always seeks to reflect and think things through logically, and help the young person to slowly learn to do the same. Central to the understanding of being human is that we are called to be fertile. We use ‘fertile’ and ‘fruitful’ interchangeably in KS2 - with the emphasis on growing, helping others to grow and making a difference. At the core of reality, all creativity comes from the communion of persons in reciprocal complementary unity. Reciprocal complementarity is when, as well as the equality of personhood, the God-given differences between persons shape the relationship between them in a bond of mutual love. This is true of God himself, and of the relationship of each of us with God, and with each other. Within this creativity is the fertility of procreation, but so are all dimensions of creativity and growth. KS2 will focus on this general truth, helping every pupil to gradually get in touch with their deeper fertility at the heart of their personhood, and their ability to cooperate with others for the good of all. This will allow us, in KS3 and 4, to situate procreational fertility within this deeper, richer understanding of the communion of persons, and uniquely, marriage. This prevents sexuality, sex and parenthood being dealt with in a reduced or even merely functional way. This curriculum is not dumbed down. Some of the concepts dealt with might challenge the pupils and stretch them, but all modules have been tried and tested and found to really engage and lead on the young person. Please persevere in rational trust! The last three modules, on faith and science, are more specialist and so the modules and powerpoints are enhanced by extended podcasts, embedded in the powerpoints and available separately on our website. The modules often refer to parents and family - and obviously your pupils will be in very diverse family situations: you will know best how to keep the example but communicate it sensitively. The curriculum deliberately does not deal with reproductive biology, as we think this is best done discretely. And finally life is joyful. The modules are open to a sense of fun - please use that opening!

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Family Involvement The Church consistently speaks of the triangle of family, parish and school that, working together, truly help the young person grow. With increased emphasis on a school’s responsibility to help the child grow in RHE/RHSE, it is essential to seek parental involvement. These modules are written with this in mind. Each module has various suggested activities, with corresponding downloadable worksheets when needed. Perhaps one of these activities could be adapted or continued - or one of your own used - for the child to go home and discuss with their parent/carer, with a view to returning to school with something to add to the subject. The worksheet might sometimes help with this. Modules & Prayer The 44 topics included here are called modules, not lessons. Piloting the curriculum revealed that much more was gained from each topic being visited over the week focusing on a lesson, rather than being simply a stand-alone lesson. The home activity and follow-up discussion in the class complement this. Thus, a quote from the module might be on the whiteboard Monday morning - with a little five-minute discussion on it during the day, the main lesson be on Tuesday and a continuation take place later in the week, after the home activity. This more holistic approach also helps communicate to the children the importance of learning about themselves: situating self-understanding at the heart of education, not merely being an imposed add-on. At the heart of this self-understanding is the truth that we discover ourselves in relationship, especially with God. Therefore, from module 4e onwards, the lessons start with a meditative prayer (except for 6e when it is part of the lesson, and 6i-k when it is at the end). The concepts and truths learnt here are always secondary to the reality of that relationship. Planting Seeds The whole curriculum starts, in Reception, with both the creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2. These are filled with fertile images of gardens, seed and fruit, which show us that God’s call to man and woman to ‘Be fertile!’ (Gen. 1:28) isn’t separate from the fertility of all life. Thus, we also encouraged the children to plant and tend seeds as a living backdrop to their learning. This could be done again in Y3, especially in conjunction with their science module. This gives a good setting for exploring that, for instance, being loved and belonging is the fertile soil of us growing, that the light of truth helps us grow, that grace waters us into life, and that true freedom and tolerance mean we can all grow together. We are unique within creation as being able to think, choose and relate to each other and our Creator. This means we can consent to what we are, and cooperate in our growth. Such obedience is like being directed towards the sun (cf. key point in module 4h & drama in 4i), and allows us to grow in true beauty. At the heart self-understanding is the knowledge that I need to receive from God before I can respond, and give - and this is eloquently reflected in the seed receiving light, nutrients and water and then being able to blossom and seed itself. Starting at Y5 or Y6 A strength of this curriculum is its integrated, developing vision. However, a side-effect of this is that it is slightly harder to immediately enter into it at the start of Y5 or 6. This will, obviously, only be a problem in the first year of using A Fertile Heart. The glossary provided helps if words that have been thought through in Y5 say, suddenly appear in Y6. References back to previous modules should also be an aid. However, if the children can be won over to accept modules from earlier years, there would be benefits, as a one-off, in completing Y4 and Y5 modules in Y5, and a selection of Y4 and 5 modules, and then all of Y6 ones, in Y6.

Glossary Person A rational being for whom relationship is central to their fulfilment and happiness. This is a richer understanding than ‘individual’, which can mean a thinking being whose fulfilment is found primarily in themselves. Fertility The capacity to cooperate in growth. We are not Creators, but we are not sterile either: we can cooperate in our own growth, the growth of the other and the relationship between us. We tend to think in terms of babies when we hear the word fertile, but you can have fertile crops or a fertile imagination or intellect, etc. Understanding fertility in this broader sense helps us understand that it is as a person that you are fertile, not primarily as a gender: every person is called to be fertile in this sense and every person can be. It is through communion with God and each other, in love, that we are most fertile. Freedom The ability to readily act in complete accord with my true nature - in harmony with who I truly am. True human freedom always seeks truth and love. The false understanding of freedom is to be able to do what I like. Tolerance Respect for the other’s true freedom. (So, if we misunderstand freedom, we will misunderstand tolerance as well.) Nature The given-ness of something, of who I am. Justice Acting in accord with the nature of things. Joy The deepest experience of being alive, growing, and being in life-giving relationship; of being and living in accord with who I truly am. Initiator The one who takes a lead in a relationship of love: not a controller or someone who dominates, but one who initiates out of love for the other. In turn, the initiator receives from the receiver & responder. Receiver & Responder The one who first receives from the initiator in a communion of love, and loves in return by accepting the love offered and responding to it. In the Bible, this receiving of love is often called obedience or submission, but in a respectful way that is in no way demeaning, and is fulfilled in the response - often an initiating in itself - being then received by the initiator, and responded to, etc. - resulting in a life-giving relationship of mutual submission and respect. Reciprocal Complementarity This is the relationship of love between initiator and receiver & responder, where both persons benefit from the other and their genuine differences enrich each other. It helps us see how right order in relationship does not mean domination, but rather can be mutually beneficial. It can be seen that the three above definitions are interconnected. This relationship is primarily between persons, but can also be between things - such as reason and emotions. Appropriate Vulnerability Relationship and intimacy require a certain vulnerability on behalf of both persons. Especially as we are growing, we can tend towards too little vulnerability or too much. Appropriate vulnerability is the ability to allow one’s relationships to grow steadily and with appropriate boundaries, that benefit both persons.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Year 5 Modules a-k

Contents: Year 5 Y5 focuses on key elements of relationship: its importance; self-development leading to self-giving; the reason we long for relationship; marriage and family; freedom, tolerance and solidarity; the logical reasoning of God’s existence; and understanding discernment, appropriate trust, and our impulses and influences. Module 5a: Life is Relational - especially for Persons! Reflecting on nature and experience, we see that everything is relational. Persons can relate in a deeper way than things and animals. In the light of this, it is important to think through what is needed to be a person. Module 5b: Self-knowledge, Self-Possession, Self-Gift As persons, relationship is central to us. In order to relate I need self-knowledge and self-possession, to then selfgive. Today’s objective is to understand what these mean and why they are so vital to being a person. Module 5c: God is Relationship: We Long to be like Him If God is a communion of three persons in one God, then relationship is at the heart of God, so it is not surprising that it is at the heart of us, made in his image. My deepest desires are, therefore, to be with God, to know, and love him, to be known and loved by him, and so be joyful. Module 5d: Marriage and Growing in Love To understand that marriage gives a home for children to grow. To see that marriage also helps the wife and husband grow. Module 5e: Freedom To understand the importance of freedom, and how it is linked to happiness. To understand the two ideas of freedom - one that is right, one that we often feel is right. Module 5f: Freedom in Christ Through looking at what Jesus teaches us, we back up the last module’s understanding how freedom is our ability to act in harmony with our God-given nature. Module 5g: Tolerance To understand that all human persons share an equal, immeasurable dignity - because we are all made in the image of God. There are differences between people, however there is no place in us, or in society, for prejudice or discrimination against any human person. Persons with differences should always be respected. With communication and right tolerance, differences often become important parts of relationship. Module 5h: Tolerance and Solidarity However a person acts, they are still a person, and should be treated with dignity. However, that is different from saying everything everyone does is good if that’s what they want, because persons relate to each other in solidarity, and so, alongside personal dignity is personal responsibility. Module 5i: God and Dominoes! Self-development and growing in love are strengthened if we can be sure that there is a God who is moving things and calling us to grow. From reason alone we can know there is a God who guides us. Module 5j: Discernment and Trust part one To further understand the many impulses we have inside us, even in reaction to the smallest things. To understand the importance of discerning whether they are good impulses, and which are more important. To learn which types of impulses are normally good for me and which are not. Module 5k: Discernment and Trust part two Continuing what we learnt last time about discernment and trust, to understand that we are influenced by others. We need to understand how they try to influence us, and discern who should be trusted and how.

Life is Relational – Especially for Persons

Learning Objective To understand that life is relational. This whole course urges us to use reason to reflect on experience, and then allow faith to deepen and guide our reasoning. This allows for our conclusions to be rational and very relevant to what is at the heart of life, rather than polarising reason and faith against each other.

“No man is an island.” John Donne, Meditation XVII.

Success Criteria

Reflecting on how I experience, I realise that everything I know is founded on sense perception. This is a relational process. When I see something, there is me, the seer, there is the seeing and there is the thing seen. This is true of every sense. When I think, when I love, when I act - in everything there is the subject, the action and the object.

1. I can explore relationships in nature.

When we look at nature, particularly how plants and animals so often work in harmony, we see how relational nature is. (Yes, there are predators and prey, and these don’t obviously come under “relational”. We shouldn’t ignore this, but it does highlight the wisdom of Genesis, where without sin there are no such issues. Sin brings disorder into the world, and part of that is the lack of harmony we do see in some dimensions of nature, but these are far outweighed by the harmony and beauty that is still present.)

3. I can explain what it is that makes me a “person”.

We only have to look at ourselves and our lives to realise I wouldn’t last very long without other people - not just for companionship but for the basics of life too. All life is relational.

2. I can identify characteristics that set humans apart from other beings.

4. I can highlight how persons can relate in a deeper way than things and animals.

From this, we can then reflect that persons are different because they can choose to relate, they can communicate on a much different level than even animals communicating of themselves, receiving and responding to each other. This can lead us to think through what is fundamentally necessary to be a person - which in turn gives us a real sense of the dignity, beauty and uniqueness of every person. Step 1 Explain: Throughout nature we see lots and lots of relationships.

Clown fish and anemones.

Clown fish and anemones: These live in what we call a symbiotic relationship. The fish protect and feed the anemones; the anemones do likewise for the fish. We still don’t really understand how the clown fish isn’t stung by the anemone’s poisonous tentacles, like other fish are (it is probably by being coated in a membrane of mucus - yuk!). The plover bird: Picks food off the crocodile’s teeth! This seems to help keep the crocodile’s teeth clean, protecting them from infection!

The plover bird and the crocodile.

Bees: Collect nectar from flowers, and in so doing transfer pollen from one flower to another, allowing for more flowers! Watch https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2vpkOvlZJqs 5 of the Coolest Animal Partnerships (4:39). Step 2 Ask: Who has a pet? What is your relationship with your pet like? How is it different from your relationships with your family? Discuss and feedback. Feeling safe and lots of cuddles and never being judged is nice. But does it compare with a bedtime story, or a special shared moment? (Activity 1.) 58

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Bees and flowers.

Key Point

Suggested Activities

As persons, relationship is central to who we are.

1. Spot the difference – in pairs/ small groups , make a comparison between various living things and humans: similarities and differences.

Step 3 Explain: We are persons. Animals are not. Being a person means we don’t just act on instinct, we also choose to act. We can do this because we can think, and say yes or no to our instincts. No dog has ever wondered whether to wait and save the food put before him, for later. So to be a person, there has to be the following: 1. I have to exist – okay, this might seem too obvious, but it becomes helpful later on… 2. I have to be aware of myself – everything I consciously do, I am aware that I am doing, and can reflect on it later. 3. From this, I get to know and understand myself – you children will know yourselves better than you did in Y2, and in five years’ time, you will know yourselves even better. 4. I have to be able to choose – some things you can just tell about me, as soon as you see that I am a human - you know I need food for example. But to really know me, I have to choose to tell you about me. 5. There has to be something in common between us – if there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with you. If we weren’t human, how would I know how you communicate? If we haven’t got the same language, it is a lot harder to communicate. 6. There has to be something different about us – if we were exactly the same, I’d have nothing to tell you! 7. From this we can see that every person has to be unique – we instinctively know this, e.g. when I am thinking, I know it is me that is thinking and no-one else. I would be very alarmed if I thought something and you immediately told me what I was thinking! (Activities 2 and 3.)

2. Write 3 short paragraphs to explain what we receive from family, pets and nature. 3. Write prayers of thanks for nature, creation and, most of all, for the persons in our life.

Suggested Resources 1. Calming music for periods of reflection e.g. Stunning Aquarium (YouTube). 2. Images representing nature, human relationships and abstract qualities e.g. happiness, love etc.

Summary So, we can see how it is no simple matter being a person: it’s amazing! Your most important and interesting dimension is your spiritual life - what you are thinking and hoping etc., what it is to be you - but you communicate it through the physical. As humans we communicate through our senses - mainly hearing, but also seeing and touching (animals tend to use taste and smell more than we do - thankfully!) Therefore, so much of what it is to be human is geared to relating. It is central to us. We can’t live without it. And when we relate by receiving and giving, we call it love.

What unites us as humans? 59

Self-knowledge, Self-Possession, Self-Gift

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To understand the importance of being a relational person, not an individual.

1. I can explain what self-knowledge and self-possession mean.

I can only communicate what I know. I can do this about things. However, the most important conversations are when we share about ourselves. So, firstly, to communicate myself to others, I need to first know myself. However, communication, at its deepest level is also a giving of oneself to the other. I can only give what I have, so to truly communicate myself, I also have to possess myself in a way that animals don’t. Then, thirdly, I have to choose to give myself to the other person and they have to choose to receive and respond. So, there are three dimensions to truly communicating myself: self-knowledge, self-possession and self-gift.

2. I can highlight how self-knowledge and self-possession allow me to selfgive.

It is my spirit that is most deeply communicated in relationship. It is through my physical body that I communicate. Therefore, to understand communication deeply, I have to understand how my spirit and body work together. This also helps me to possess myself - not just to know what is going on inside me, but to take appropriate responsibility for me, through the choices I make. Every time I choose to act in accordance with my true nature, I grow, and become more uniquely me. In thus cooperating in my development, I also take appropriate possession of myself. Relationship and communication lead to intimacy, for which we were made. However, they require vulnerability, because, whenever I share, the other person may choose to reject me. In life, we all get hurt by this. We are called to grow from this into understanding appropriate vulnerability. Instead, we often choose to remain an individual - someone who seeks to know themselves, possess themselves and develop themselves, but for that not to lead to self-giving, but be an end in itself. However, we can only do this by denying who we truly are, because we are made for relationship. This normally means we deny we are created, also. It also leads to me not using my reason correctly, because I convince myself I need to see myself as an individual.

Key Point It is central that we see ourselves as relational persons not as individuals. Each of us is an ‘I’ who is directed to others and finds happiness in loving relationship. Step 1 Recall prior learning: We are all persons - unique, with the ability to relate, to love. This means that we also have a self-awareness, intelligence and a will to choose. To communicate I need to know about the thing I am talking about. This is obviously true when I am talking about me - I need to know myself. The Bible and the Church tell us that there are angels - persons who are simply spirits, with no body, but having self-awareness, intellect and will. And we know that there are animals - physical creatures with a life-force and instincts. And then there’s us - and we are both! You have everything an animal has, and everything an angel has - sometimes we say spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) meaning spirit like an angel and an animated body, like an animal. (Activity 1.) Step 2 Explain: Angels know themselves immediately, but as we learned in Y4, we all start knowing absolutely nothing about ourselves. We have to gradually learn. 60

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

3. I can give examples why it is better to follow truth, rather than emotions.

“Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of selfknowledge, of selfpossession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.” CCC n. 357

Our faith shapes our thinking and our thinking needs to shape our emotions. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlfK482mFU4 Your identity in Christ (1:39). My emotions tell me about my desires. I need food to eat. How do I know that? Well, one way is that my emotions prompt me, when I see food. These emotions aren’t fool-proof, because what is best for me to eat doesn’t always taste the nicest. So, I have to learn about nutrition, and realise that my impulses to eat need “shaping” by my reason. So, sometimes I eat fruit and vegetables instead of the chocolate cake that my emotions prefer. Strangely, as I do that more, I find I actually acquire a liking for fruit and veg too, and my impulse to eat too much cake decreases. Step 3 Explain: This is called virtue! - when we think about our impulses and reason whether to follow them or not, in each particular case. If I always follow my emotions, I don’t learn about myself. If I follow my reason, reflecting on my emotions, I soon learn if I was right in what I thought I knew. For instance, if I eat certain foods thinking that they are healthy for me, and I am ill when I eat them, then I soon learn that I was wrong, in some way. If I am right, then I become healthier, and I enjoy being healthy, and so am happier. I realise there is more joy in eating well and being healthy, than eating what my emotions tell me and being not so healthy. (Activity 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. Create a bookmark that represents “me” using symbols, pictures and words. 2. Reflect on the Jesuit Pupil Profile. Which virtues do I already possess? Which do I need to work on? 3. Use concept cartoons to demonstrate: truth > reason > choice (consider dilemmas from everyday life where we face difficult decisions).

Suggested Resources

Step 4 The trouble is, I can easily think that just following my emotions is fun, and I can easily think that doing what I like is fun too. The process that allows me to grow, and to grow in self-knowledge and possession is: truth > reason > choice Regarding myself, this means I learn about myself through our faith, through education etc., including through reflecting on my emotions. By doing this, I am trying to reason what is true, and from that I let my thinking direct my choices. Unfortunately, I often choose to follow the process of: emotions & intellect > free-choice By this, it is meant that I feel my emotions, I have a think and then I decide what I want to do: sometimes people will say, “Shall I follow my head or my heart?” But, it can never be right to be irrational. No-one ever says, “Shall I be rational or irrational today?” Reflect: Have any of you ever been in a situation like this? (Bedtime? Wanting Dad to buy me something? Wanting what my sibling has?) Discuss and take feedback. This would be a wrong process to follow, but even worse, we can’t do it anyway our emotions are always too strong. Some may get stronger during adolescence, too. What we end up doing is what we call rationalising: knowing what answer I want, then thinking of an argument to justify it. If we had a discussion now about the importance of sleep, most of you are sensible enough to know that you need a good night’s sleep so as to be at your best and enjoy tomorrow. But when it comes to bedtime, all of a sudden it is very easy to think of good reasons why it’s okay to stop up later. (Activity 3.)

1. Jesuit Pupil Profile handout. 2. Prepare prompts on IWB for everyday dilemmas where choices are needed.

Summary We still need to think about the importance of self-gift, but we have learnt that self-knowledge and self-possession are central to communication and relationship. Because we are spirit and body, we can only gradually understand and possess ourselves appropriately. But we can only do that if we use our intellect, will and emotions in the right way. Truth has to be the foundation of every person and every relationship. Once it is, then emotions add something important as well – but it has to be in that order or we get hurt and hurt others, and we stay individuals.

Key Point Unless we choose to follow truth, we are never strong enough to truly think, and our emotions rule us. This means we don’t learn about ourselves, and we certainly don’t possess ourselves – so we can’t really communicate, and we miss out on the best bit of life! 61

God is Relationship – We Long to be like Him

Learning Objective To understand how our deepest desires are to know, be with, love and serve God. It is important to always show the harmony between reason and the Christian faith. All our experience shows that relationship is important to us - but it is only the revelation of the Trinity that explains why it is - because it is at the heart of God. We saw from module 5a that shared being, shared knowing, and shared love and action, are all central to relationship. Therefore, it is important to help the children understand that their deepest longings are for these, with God: to share being with each other, to know each other, to love each other and act together. It is for them to verify, over time, if that is truly right for them - but it is a huge help for them to have this path pointed out to them. Step 1 Recall prior learning: Remember we are persons, not individuals, so we wouldn’t physically survive without others. We can’t be happy without others. We can’t even imagine ourselves in complete isolation. Explain: Our faith helps us understand why this is the case. Jesus tells us that God is Trinity (Mt. 28:19): Father, Son and Holy Spirit - united as one God in love. The Holy Spirit is the relationship between the Father and the Son, and he is a person, completely equal to them. That’s hard to understand! But it does teach us that true relationship between persons is as important as the persons themselves. We need relationship, because God is relationship, and we are made by him.

“At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed, ‘May they all be one; just as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.’” Jn 17:21.

Success Criteria 1. I can explain how relationship is at the heart of God (the Trinity). 2. I can highlight how God’s love is my beginning and end.

Key Point Loving relationships are what make me happy, because loving relationships are what make God happy.

3. I can identify the six desires in each of us that most lead to joy spiritual happiness.

Step 2 God is your beginning and your end. Ask: What does this mean? Discuss and feedback. Now consider: Did God make you, look at you and decide he loved you? Or did he think of you, decide he loved you, and therefore created you? Explain: The answer is… neither. God loving you, God knowing you, God delighting in you and God creating you is the same act. He is God. His love is creative. Uniquely. So, when he loves you, you come into being. So, do you know the easiest way to know if God is loving you at this moment? Check if you still exist! Because, if you do, you’re loved. You cannot exist except through God’s love of you. (This is a bit difficult to get - though often children are better at it than adults! - but it is worth persevering with, because even religious people can make the mistake of thinking that God’s love for them is important, but secondary to life. It isn’t. It is the source of life.) Step 3 What do you want from your life? (prompt discussion around, family, friends, job, hobbies etc.) We have learnt how we don’t know anything about ourselves to start with. One of the hardest things to learn about yourselves is what you really want. We are very quick to know what we think we want, but so often we get that, and it isn’t what we thought; it isn’t as important to us as we thought it 62

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“Who made me? God made me. Why did God make me? To know, love and serve him in this world and to be happy with him for ever in the next.” Old ‘Penny’ Catechism, first two questions.

was. Sometimes someone being ill, or something going wrong, reminds us what really is important. A lot of unhappiness is caused in life by us going after things that don’t actually make us happy, that aren’t what we really want for ourselves. Wouldn’t it be great if we had someone who could help us understand our deepest longings? Step 4 Explain: We do! One way Jesus saves us is by helping us know and understand our deepest desires. You have seven of them! But they are all really part of one desire: to be like God in love. We have seen that relationship makes us happy. We have seen that relationship includes communication - and therefore gradually knowing each other more and more. But this relationship always means loving each other, and cooperating in doing things together. But when I give love to the other, I am also giving of myself - my being. Cooperating - acting together is good. But Communion - sharing being together - is even better. So, I have six deep desires: to know and be known, to love and be loved, to receive life and to give it. However, since God is my beginning and end, his relationship with me is the most important, and all other relationships grow in that one. So my six deepest desires are: To be known by God and to know him To be loved by God and to love God To receive life/being from God and to give life/being to God (by cooperating with him in my own growth and giving life to others) We know that we are receivers & responders – this is central to who we are, so in all these, we receive love and being from God first through him knowing us, and then we respond. These all make us joyful - feeling spiritually alive - which is the seventh desire: to be spiritually happy. It’s amazing that at the heart of all our different desires and emotions are these six simple, deep desires. And what makes this true is that God is my beginning and end. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, omega the last, so God being my beginning and end is often expressed as Jesus being my alpha and omega - like saying my A and Z. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBaGIfkgxNg Jesus, alpha and omega (2:21). Feel free to join in! Explain: Every desire you are aware of, every longing, at its heart, is a longing for these seven things. That doesn’t make your other, surface, longings unreal, but it does mean they will only truly make you happy if they are in harmony with your real longings. If I love someone else in the way God asks, I am loving them and loving God, and both are good and both make me happy. If I try and love someone more than God, or in a way God says isn’t loving, then I end up not loving either, or being happy. We can save a lot of life not going round in circles if we trust that this is true! (Activities 1 and 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. In groups, create a poster depicting how to be spiritually happy. 2. Create a mind map showing how you can be truly happy in your lives with others around you.

Suggested Resources 1. Sugar paper, felt tips etc. 2. Downloadable printout of the seven deepest desires as a prompt for the poster and mind map.

Summary Relationship (love) makes me happy. This is because I am made in God’s image and relationship is at the heart of God and makes him happy. His love of me creates me, so my relationship with him is the most important one in my life. This means that, even though I have to slowly get in touch with my deepest longings “from inside” - I already know what they are: to know God and receive love and life from him, to be known by God and give him my love and life, and to be happy doing this. Every other desire comes from these or is a distortion of these.

Relationship is at the heart of God. 63

Marriage and Growing in Love

Learning Objective To understand that marriage gives a home for children to grow. To see that marriage also helps the wife and husband grow. Step 1 Recap: All life is relational. Ask: What does relational mean? Explain: We learnt that being human is especially relational; it is about being a loving person rather than just being an individual (5a). We then learnt that we have to grow in many ways, including in understanding ourselves and gaining self-control, so as to love. (5b). Then we learnt about the deepest desires within each of us: to know and love each other, and share life - especially with God (5c). This is a lot of growing, but thankfully we are not meant to do it all by ourselves! (Activity 1.) Explain: When we say ‘mum and dad’, we mean the people who take care of you at home.

Jesus said: “From the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” Matthew 19: 4-5

Step 2 Ask: How do mum and dad help us? Make three columns on clipboard. 1) Helping with basic needs. 2) Helping you learn. 3) Helping you love. Explain: Last year we looked at life cycles and life spirals. 1) Plants just grow in the first way: needing water, sunlight and soil etc. 2) Animals also need to grow in the second way, learning life skills; 3) We also have to learn to love in a way that is unique to persons, so our need for loving parents is much greater - and we need them for longer.

Success Criteria 1. I can see how children need lots of love, support and wisdom to help them grow. 2. I can see how love and commitment help adults to continue to grow too.

God is our real Father. He creates us. He loves us into being. And he guides us in our growth - calling us to the fullness of life. He gives us Mary and the Church to be our mother also. The God who creates us is the God who makes us grow - through his love. So it is not surprising that the people he asks to help create us are the people he asks to help us grow: mum and dad - again, in love. Through family life we grow in faith, wisdom and virtue. As such, families help build society. It takes a lot of love, patience, wisdom, time, and actually a lot of courage to bring up a child. God’s vision is that it is best if it is not done just by one person, but by what we call ‘a communion of love’ - a married couple. (Activity 2.) Ask: Why do you think it helps bringing up children if mum and dad are committed to stay together for life? (Obviously, this might be a difficult question for children whose parents are not married, or especially if they are separated.) Explain: Jesus taught us that what most helps us to grow in love is to ‘remain’: ‘remain in my love’ (Jn 15:9). Commitment helps us ‘remain’ when our emotions are telling us not to.

“The marital love of husband and wife bears fruit especially, but not only, in the new life which children bring to them.” Learning to Love, Catholic Bishops of England and Wales

Step 3 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ub9XfxgLQA Catholic Kids Homilies 27b - What is marriage? (1:51 - it probably won’t be week 27b of the Church’s year, but the rest of the video says some important things beautifully.) Explain: Parents don’t marry just for their children’s sake! They do it out of love for each other. The Bible compares marriage to God’s love for his people: a covenant. A covenant is where both persons make a commitment for the good 64

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Exchange of rings.

Key Point

Suggested Activities

Marriage is a special relationship of love and fruitfulness. A loving marriage helps every member of the family grow - and all the relationships between them! of the relationship. Mum and dad are way ahead of you in growing - so they can teach you - but they’re still learning themselves. And when you know the other person loves you so much that they are never going to leave you, it helps you make that journey inside that we all need to make. It also makes it a lot more enjoyable journey! Read Mt. 19:4-5. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1gvhk2HSk (4:31). Check basic understanding of vows. Highlight that marriage is a formal and legal commitment between two people. The ring symbolises complete and unending love. Explain: For the Church, marriage is also a sacrament - a special moment where our relationship with God is deepened - in this case as husband and wife. Marriage is about love in many ways, and it is about being fruitful or fertile in many ways: God’s call for us to, “Be fruitful!” (Gen. 1:28) and “to love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12) are met in marriage in lots of special ways! Read Learning to Love quote on facing page.

1. Discuss in pairs: who helps us in our journey of growing? Who helps us the most? Mind map. 2. In small groups think of 2 more examples how our parents help us with basic needs, with learning and with loving. Explain how you knew which column to put them in. 3. How can you help mum and dad in their relationship? Take suggestions. Try to link their answers to: give them space sometimes; get on with your siblings; appreciate all they do for you. 4. Make a thank you card for mum and dad, or whoever looks after you at home.

Step 4 Explain: God’s call to marriage is beautiful and life-giving. There are lots of people who aren’t married and God loves them just as much. But of all the relationships in the world God especially blesses marriage. That’s one reason why Jesus did his first miracle at the Wedding at Cana. (Activity 3.) Jesus would say, treat your parents how you would like your children to treat you! (Activity 4.)

Summary We need to grow physically; we need to grow in life-skills, we need to grow in love. Parents help us more than anyone to do these. Marriage, and its life-long commitment, is especially helpful in husband and wife loving each other and their children. Remaining in love always bears fruit. We can help our parents by giving them time to themselves, letting them love our brothers and sisters, and always being thankful for all they do for us.

Growing in love.

Freedom

Learning Objective To understand the importance of freedom, and how it is linked to happiness. We have seen how relationship and happiness are central to being human, but connected with these is freedom. We all know we want to be happy. We all want to be free. But there is a big divergence in us over what freedom really is. As is consistent in this course, we will first look at what freedom really is through reason, reflecting on experience; then, in the next module , through what faith teaches us too.

“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” The opening sentence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract.

Step 1 Ask: What is the best bit about growing up? Paired talk and feedback. (Almost certainly, the main answer will be “you can do what you like” - at the heart of which is often, you can decide your own bedtime!) It is worth, firstly, unpacking whether that is true or not - comparing how much free time they get compared to parents, how often parents don’t do what they want, so as to take them places etc. However, the main point to raise is whether doing what I want really makes me happy. This is at the heart of understanding freedom. Step 2 Collectively read: There are two boys who are learning the flute. Every Tuesday, at 4pm, they have to go for a lesson after school. Their friends hang around on the field outside. To start with, both boys are happy to go to the lessons, and slowly learn to play the different notes. As the months roll on, they both see their friends outside chatting and listening to music, and it often looks more appealing than “boring” flute lessons. So, one of them decides to ask his mum if he can stop going to lessons. At first she isn’t happy, but he keeps on and on, and eventually she agrees. He stops going and is free to do what he likes after school; so instead, he hangs around with his friends. The other boy carries on, and gets better, and better, and better. When older, he plays at concerts and is very good. When he plays, he plays with real freedom - everything is so natural, it even seems like the flute is almost part of him. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5OTnlphaUI Flute Concertino by C. Chaminade for 1 minute. Discuss and feedback: Which of these two are free? Why? David Beckham is famous for being an England footballer. He was especially famous for his free-kicks. He could bend them round walls, into the top corner, with the goal-keeper having no chance. He once got a last minute (92nd minute!) goal against Greece which meant England qualified for the World Cup. But, when asked what his secret was, he always answered “practice”. He was very gifted, and some people might think that he therefore didn’t need to practise as much as others. But, actually, he practised with the others, and then when they had finished and went off for a shower, he stayed over and tried his free-kicks, again and again and again. We all love seeing old married couples who, though not as able as us any more, are at peace with each other: there’s a great beauty about them, a lovely freedom about how they relate to each other - so natural. It’s tempting to think they were always like that, but that’s unlikely - like fluting and free-kicks, we get better at love when we keep trying and trying. (Activity 1.) 66

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Success Criteria 1. I can describe what true freedom is, especially spiritual freedom. 2. I can explain how there are two ideas of what freedom is. 3. I can reflect on these ideas, so as to discern the truth.

Key Point

Suggested Activities

Freedom is found in love, not in just doing what I want.

1. In small groups , prepare an information leaflet “How to be amazing at...” Children to demonstrate that they understand the need for practice and perseverance.

Step 3 Explain: At the heart of these examples are the two ideas of freedom. There is a “given-ness” to each of us. I didn’t decide to exist, or to be a human, or to be a boy or girl. But I am. I didn’t decide that I need water, or vitamins, or sleep, or love. But I do. We call this given-ness our nature. The given-ness we all share we call human nature, but within that, we also have things about us that are given - like a gift for music or maths or languages or sport. To start with, I might not like everything about my given-ness, and we certainly are often tempted to not want to have to work at things - I want to be great at football now, not have to listen to my teacher explain how to pass with the inside of my foot etc. However, a real joy of life is when gifts have become a natural part of me through me working at it. This is true of skills. It is especially true of love. So, we all think freedom makes us happy. Sometimes we think that freedom is doing what I like. Sometimes I think that it is acting in harmony with my nature. So, which one is the real one: will the real freedom stand up?! Step 4 We can answer that through reflecting on experience – Pose both questions on IWB: When I get my own way does that always make me happier? When I act in harmony with my nature, am I always happy? (This latter one is harder, because obviously I don’t immediately know what my nature fully is - and as we’ve shown, it normally takes hard work to become in harmony with my nature.) Discuss and share responses. Explain: We can also answer it through reason. The deeper happiness of life is connected with relationship, meaning, having a purpose, making a difference. Which of the “two freedoms”are connected with those? Yes, the freedom to act in harmony with my nature. This leads to building relationships and making a difference; doing what I want normally leads to short-term pleasure and being an individual. A simple example is, you and your sister are in the TV room. You both want to watch something, but you want to watch different things. It is so easy to want to watch what you want, but if you both do that, you watch things by yourself, whereas there is more happiness in watching my second or third choice, but watching it with someone else, than watching my favourite programme by myself. (Activities 2 and 3.)

2. In small groups, role play the example given in Step 4, and come up with short dramas of other scenarios to demonstrate understanding. 3. Create a “step ladder to true freedom” mobile or other related classroom display.

Suggested Resources 1. Flute Concertino in D Major (Chaminade) played by Sonia Ruiz (aged 15). Also clips featuring Emmanuel Pahud, James Galway and K. Zgraya (all on YouTube). 2. Downloadable ladder template with space to write in.

Summary Freedom is really important - everyone wants to be free. However, there are two ideas of freedom: doing what I want, or growing so that I act in complete harmony with who I am, and have no clash of impulses in me. The first one leads to me being in chains because I end up always wanting my own way, and so end up alone and trapped. The second one leads to relationship, peace and love. It takes effort to achieve, but it is worth it, because it is true freedom.

Practice makes perfect. 67

Freedom in Christ

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To understand how freedom is our ability to act in harmony with our God-given nature.

1. I can explain that true freedom is not the same as doing what I like.

All of us, adults and children alike, know the temptation to think that freedom is doing what we like. This is made worse by a culture in which “obedience” is almost a naughty word. We sense that obedience is demeaning, and full happiness comes from being the one in charge, in control, able to do what I like. This is the fundamental temptation of the human person. It is at the heart of what we call Original Sin - the first turning away of our parents. God gave them everything they needed to live and be happy, and simply asked them to trust him as regards what was best for them, what was in keeping with who they truly were. But they were tempted to think that being able to choose completely what was best for them was more life-giving - with disastrous consequences (Gen. 2: 16-17; 3:1-6), just as it would be disastrous to let children do whatever they liked in the classroom. In his teaching, and particularly in his person, Jesus teaches that obedience to God does not demean us - in fact it sets us free. He is God. If anyone had a right to say to the Father that they wanted to do what they wanted, it is him. Instead, he is completely happy to do the Father’s works. He was the freest human ever to walk this earth, and he used that freedom to love - which is why he was also the happiest person to ever walk this planet. The Cross reveals the ultimate truth of freedom. Step 1 Collectively read the Bible references from the IWB: Gen. 2: 16-17; 3:1-6; Jn 8:31-36. Ask: What do we think of when we think of the word “obedience”? What do we think of when we hear the words “free” or “freedom”? What does Jesus say about “obedience”? What does he say about “freedom”? Does he want us to be free and happy? Does he want us to be obedient? Discuss and mind map. Ask: So, how can he want us to be both, if they are almost opposites? He seems to be teaching that they are not! (Other useful references here are: Jn 5:19, 36 re. obedience; Jn 10:18 re. true freedom; Jn 15:10-11 re. obedience and happiness). Step 2 Explain: We have looked before at how, particularly in John’s Gospel, Jesus is always saying he only does the Father’s will (e.g. Jn 5:19). Indeed, every day, when we say the Our Father - the prayer he taught us - we pray that the Father’s will may be done. But Jesus was the freest person who ever lived! He did not fear what might happen to him; he answered all questions wisely, even when people were trying to trick him; he treated women as complete equals, when not everyone around him did; he talked to Samaritans even when he “wasn’t supposed to”. He cast out devils with complete freedom, healed the sick, raised the dead - and laughed a lot. (I think he often said “I tell you solemnly” - e.g. Jn 8:34 above - before saying something important, because he so often liked to joke with his friends.) He even said he was free to lay down his life, and free to take it up again (Jn 10:18). In his life he showed he was completely obedient to the Father AND completely free and happy. Step 3 Explain: This deepens the understanding we learnt last session - that actually, having my own way doesn’t make me happy. That’s a lie. It’s the biggest lie in the world. It tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit “of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17)

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2. I can see how my initial feelings don’t always fit in with true freedom. 3. I can understand how Jesus’ Cross shows us what true freedom is.

“Jesus said, ‘If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; You will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. I tell you solemnly, everyone who commits a sin is a slave. Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’” Jn 8:31-36

– which is deciding that I know what’s best for me. How can I possibly know better than the loving God who made me, what is best for me? All physical suffering and death came into the world because of that sin, and yet we keep on committing that same sin in trying to avoid that suffering.

Key Point Jesus shows us what true freedom really is. Step 4 Explain: Jesus showed us a different way: he showed us that life isn’t about control and power and therefore about doing what I like. It is about humble service and life lived trusting God as my loving Father. That’s exactly what made him happy, and it is exactly what makes us happy. Freedom is cooperating with God in me growing in who I truly am: and the more I grow in who I truly am, the freer and happier I become. Doing good doesn’t always give us immediate pleasure: sometimes we have to dig deep to be good, but then are happier because of it. The ultimate example of that is the Cross. The Cross looks like the ultimate example of un-freedom: Jesus couldn’t even move; he was nailed to the cross; he certainly didn’t enjoy it. Yet, no person has ever been freer: sadly, we threw everything we could at him: hate, frustration, wanting our own way - everything - and he absorbed it and still chose to act in accord with his nature - love - and in obedience to his Father. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JroyjxTx7ls Miracle Maker - Jesus’ Crucifixion. Set to ‘Everything I do, I do it for You’ (6:33). This is what brought him, and all of us, to the Resurrection. The Resurrection isn’t a magic wand the Father waves as a reward to Jesus for being good. It is the result of Jesus completely freely choosing to love, no matter what. When you are tempted to want your own way, look at the Cross and see what true freedom really is - the freedom to seek the truth and the freedom to love. Explain: And of course, looking at the Cross also helps us want to say sorry for when we’ve wanted just to have our own way, and gives us confidence that we will be forgiven. To conclude, maybe teach the children this worship song. They may already know it. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOJ9CqsVmLk&list=PLxybjfxLKz_ ycANO79qr4LKxxBKcOA3s9&index=17 When I Think About The Cross (0:57). Or, the full version is in ‘Easter Songs for Primary Schools’ (Out of the Ark Music). (Activities 1 & 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. Using an outline of the cross, children to write in the centre what they desire in order to be truly free. 2. Make a “promise tree” for display. Children to write their promises, stating their intentions to love, serve, be humble etc. on “leaf” shaped templates.

Suggested Resources 1. A flipchart on IWB of all the Bible references for Step 1. 2. Bibles. 3. “Cross” and “Leaf” downloadable templates.

Summary It feels like obedience and freedom are very different, if not opposites. Jesus reveals that they are not. Society today can view them as though life is about control and power. Jesus sees them in terms of love, humility, service and relationship. It is completely logical to believe that the God who made me knows what is best for me, and wouldn’t ask me to do something that harmed me. Jesus trusted this even to the Cross and showed that perfect freedom is to love, no matter what.

You have the freedom to seek the truth and the freedom to love. 69

Tolerance

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To explore how tolerance develops relationship.

1. I can define tolerance.

Tolerance is a very misunderstood concept in our society. At the heart of the difference in understandings is the fundamental understanding of the human as, primarily, a person or an individual. If we are all meant to be individuals, then tolerance becomes: “live and let live”. If we are persons, then tolerance is a dimension of relationship and becomes: “help me to live, and I will help you to live”. Although “live and let live” sounds appealing - especially when difficult situations arise, actually it is a recipe for isolation and loneliness. This first module builds the foundation for tolerance: the equal dignity of all persons. We will then reflect on how we put this into practice. Overcoming unhelpful fear helps us to celebrate legitimate difference, and even to introduce the important understanding of “complementarity” - that God-given differences, when worked at, lead to deeper relationships, built on different strengths and weaknesses. Note: Some topics connected with tolerance are sensitive, but this means that they should be dealt with in a relaxed, sensitive way, not avoided - which ultimately breeds more intolerance. If advice is required to tackle sensitive issues, it is always available from SLT, the Parish Priest, or even the diocese. Step 1 Ask: How do we feel when in an unknown place, in the dark? How do we feel when a stranger walks into the room? (If the child is in a protected environment they may feel positive things, but by themselves, they will probably tend towards fear.) Instinctively, we have a fear of the unknown. And that is healthy - the unknown might be dangerous or harmful to me. Step 2 Explain: As we grow up, we realise that people are different from us. Ask: In what ways can people be different? Discuss and take suggestions: age, gender, race, colour, language, religion, family makeup. Draw out that some of these differences are given us from conception: gender, colour, race. Some are given us by our parents, at first: language, religion. Some others are partly created by human society: social status, and conditions. A lot of people have illnesses or disabilities too. Watch https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Sg7Uv2Ixtac Planting the seeds of peace (to 1:03). However, we’ve just said that the unknown makes us fearful. But the first time we meet someone who is different in any way, then this is unknown to us. You probably don’t remember the first time you met a girl or a boy, whatever you’re not - if you have an older brother or sister then it was probably before you even remember. Or the first time you met someone of a different colour. Or who spoke a different language. Maybe you can, as a boy, remember the first time you saw a group of girls playing, and saw that they were maybe playing differently to how boys play together. Or the first time you saw someone praying, or praying in a different way. All these things are unknown to us at first, and can make us feel nervous. And that’s okay. It’s important to understand that: it’s okay. What is important is what we do about it. Explain: We can react badly, and try not to have anything to do with others who are different. A trouble with that is, you would miss out on a lot of really nice people. It is also unfair, because those other people aren’t any less important 70

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2. I can acknowledge that fear of differences between us can lead to prejudice and discrimination. 3. I can understand how I can overcome that fear, and so be a good communicator.

“All humans are created in the image of the one God, equally endowed with a rational soul, are offered redemption through Christ, are called to happiness in heaven: so they all enjoy equal dignity. From this, every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, colour, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.” cf. CCC nn. 1934, 1935 N.B. This quotation has been simplified in the powerpoint.

than you. They’re not more important, but they’re not less important as persons, than you. What is much better is if we, sensibly and safely, find out about the other. We normally find out two things: firstly, people who are “different” from me aren’t so different after all - we all eat and sleep, live somewhere, have hopes and dreams etc.; and secondly, what makes us different is often quite interesting - learning or experiencing how other people live can be really fascinating.

Key Point Good communication breaks down prejudice and fear, and enriches our lives. Step 3 Explain: Not doing this is called being intolerant: when I don’t want to deal with people who are different from me. It is silly and causes a lot of unnecessary hurt. We hate it when people do it to us, because deep down I know I am a person, made by God in his image, and treating me badly because of a difference between us, makes me feel I am not a person - but I am! Ask: Can you think of times when people have been intolerant of you as a person? Connected with this, someone can feel like being intolerant just because you are different to them or like doing different things to them. Have you noticed such times? Discuss and take feedback. Explain: Judging a person badly never makes sense - and we have to learn that some things about others are simply different from us. We can never treat someone badly just because they are different. Step 4 It is good communication that really helps. Ask: What could we do to help us be more tolerant? Discuss and mind map - (find out more about others - through education or asking; be patient with other people who think I’m different; do simple things together, realising that it isn’t what I do that’s as important as doing it together - so other people having different likes is fine, etc.) What makes us intolerant of other persons, ultimately, is not feeling secure: fear of the other and the desire to control always tend towards intolerance. This can then lead to bullying, which is particularly horrible. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTerS96PUic Being Different, It’s Normal (2:04) on raising awareness of Down Syndrome, and generally encouraging acceptance. The more we know we are loved, the easier it is to be tolerant. Knowing God loves me uniquely, and that he loves the other person, uniquely, makes me more want to treat them as a loving brother or sister, and get to know them. Part of our eternal happiness will be being with each other - so we might as well start to get to know one another now! (Activities 1 and 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. Pair children outside their normal friendship groups. Give them sets of questions designed to find out previously unknown things about one another. 2. Working in the same pairs, ask the children to write a profile of each other, showing that they have listened, emphasising differences in the other that they really like. Collect the profiles and make a book or display from them to celebrate the different personalities in the class.

Suggested Resources 1. Sets of questions on downloadable worksheets to support Activity 1. 2. Profile template to support Activity 2.

Summary Fear of the unknown is sensible. When we first encounter people who are different from us, the difference is unknown. So, it’s okay and understandable that we at first can feel negatively. What really counts is what we do about this. If it is appropriate, finding out about the other person is really important. Through this, we often learn that more unites us than we first thought; that our differences are interesting and mean we can help each other. Wanting my own way is the opposite of tolerance. Knowing I am loved by God, uniquely - and so is the other person - is the best starting point to tolerance.

Know our unity, love our diversity. 71

Tolerance and Solidarity

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To understand that sharing truth is part of tolerance and strengthens relationships.

1. I can understand that tolerance is part of wanting what is best for the other.

This is perhaps a sensitive subject in our culture, which, therefore needs to be dealt with, but sensitively. If happiness was found in doing what I like, and freedom was the ability to do what I like, then tolerance would be allowing the other person to do what they like. However happiness is found in seeking truth and being loving, and freedom is found in learning from God what love is, and living according to our nature, so tolerance is about always respecting every person. Tolerating persons does not include tolerating destructive thinking and actions, and any encouragement regarding these would never be expressed in an unloving way.

2. I can see how tolerance sometimes means sensitively saying or doing something. 3. I can explain that this can take courage, but builds truer friendships.

Step 1 Ask: Does anyone know what the Italian is for “I love you”? When speaking to mum or dad, they would say “ti amo” - “I love you”; but in speaking to anyone else they say “ti voglio bene” - “I want what’s best for you”. That’s a great definition of love: not “I like you liking me” or even “I like being with you”, but “I want what’s best for you”. Explain: We show that when we show compassion, and are generous towards the other (Lk. 6:36-38). In compassion, we should never judge another person. We can never truly know another person’s motive, or their situation - and who are you to judge someone else, anyway? The more I know how often I have failed, and sinned, and been forgiven, the more likely I will want to be merciful.

Key Point At the heart of respecting every person is truly wanting what’s best for them. Ti voglio bene! Step 2 Explain: However, every person’s actions affect others, affect society and the human family. Jesus calls us to live in “solidarity” - seeking to live as one family, where every other person is “another self”. Therefore, because we care for people, because we “want what is best for them” - sometimes we cannot say or do nothing in response to their actions - that would not be loving. Ask: Say you know someone is bullying someone in school: what should you do? Discuss and take feedback. (Hopefully, they will say tell you or another responsible adult.) Explain: That isn’t being intolerant towards the bully. It is being loving to both people: because the person bullied is being hurt by being bullied, and the bully is hurting themselves even more by hurting someone rather than caring for them. I want them to stop, so that the bullied person can be happier AND so that the bully can learn a better way. Step 3 Present this scenario: One of your friends tells lies. A lot. Firstly, they start telling lies so as to try and not get into trouble. Then they start telling lies to get people to like them more. Then they start telling lies to get other people into trouble. Discuss - in pairs or small groups. Ask: What do you think you should do? (Again, they might say to tell you, or they might even think that they should say something to their friend. ) So let’s say you decide to say something. How should you do it? 72

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“Respect for the human person considers the other ‘another self’. The differences among persons belong to God’s plan, who wills that we should need one another. These differences should encourage charity.” CCC n. 1944, 1946 N.B. This quotation has been simplified in the powerpoint.

(Hopefully the answers will be: sensitively, not angrily; being encouraging; telling them it makes you uncomfortable and you think it isn’t doing them any good etc.) Explain: In these examples tolerance isn’t doing nothing, or saying that how they are acting is okay. It means you always treat the person with respect and kindness, because they are a person. But it can also mean lovingly challenging them if it is appropriate, because you want what is best for them. (Activity 1.) Step 4 Ask: How will your friend react to you saying something? Yes, they might not be very gracious in response. We don’t often like people saying things about how we behave, do we? - no matter how lovingly they do it. Explain: Even though they might react badly straight away, they might, later, think on it. But they can’t, if we never say anything. They might throw things back at us about how we act, and indeed one reason we don’t like saying things is that, if we are honest, we know some of our actions aren’t always loving either. However, as we’ve said, if we are saying things in love, then we shouldn’t lack the courage we need. If we don’t, maybe we like the person liking us more than we actually love them as a person - if staying friends is more important than them being happy, then I don’t really want what is best for them. One very good reason to say things sensitively, is that if you don’t, it often happens that things build up and then you say them badly, and that just makes matters worse. We can all make mistakes, and say wrong things. So it helps if we are all grown up enough to be able to say sorry, and be able to forgive. (Activities 2 and 3.)

Suggested Activities 1. In small groups, role play the scenario in Step 3. Use freeze frames to demonstrate understanding. 2. Create a class chain of solidarity. Use the template of a human body to write on. Children to record words or phrases that would encourage others to be true and tolerant. 3. Invite the children to reflect quietly on tolerance, truth and respect.

Suggested Resources 1. Downloadable worksheet with template of a human body. 2. Use calming music, (eg. Stunning Aquarium, cf. 5a) to accompany Activity 3.

Summary Because we are all children of God, we should treat each other with respect and compassion. This means never judging them as a person. It means always wanting what is best for them: “ti voglio bene”. Truth sets us free, and sensitively sharing truth with a friend is a sign of true friendship and tolerance.

Tolerance – nurture healthy differences, heal destructive ones. 73

God and Dominoes

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To understand that it is rational to know there is a God.

1. I can reason that there is a God.

The Key Quote is from Aristotle - a Greek born in 384BC. He was a thinker. In fact, he was the founder of the understanding of Logic, as a subject. So comprehensive was he, that not much has been added to what he said nearly 2,400 years ago. This is important, as our culture tends us to think that knowing there is a God who moves all things is a question of belief - individual choice. It is not. Faith allows us to know God personally; but it is reason alone that allows us to understand that God exists. Rationally understanding that there is a God is the basis for seeing our unity with others and with all creation. It leads us to want to cooperate with what God has started.

2. I can relate the domino effect to God initiating creation.

Aristotle lived long before Christ. He might have heard of the Jewish faith, but his conclusions are based solely on logic. The example of dominoes at the heart of this lesson isn’t his - but it is a way of making his point. There cannot be just what we can see because the physical has the ability to pass movement or energy on, in different forms, but no ability to create it. (Physicists call this the conservation of energy.) Step 1 Recall prior learning: We have seen how happiness, freedom and tolerance are all connected with growing into fully alive persons, who make a real difference. Explain: The fact that we all seem to be called to grow into similar persons - even though we are also unique - seems to argue that there is someone behind this growth: how else would we all have so much in common? If you saw 24 cupcakes on a plate that all looked similar, your logic would straight away think that they were made by the same person. How there came to be anything, and how it came to be moving and growing, are really amazing and powerful questions. Aristotle was a Greek, who lived nearly 400 years before Jesus. He thought and thought and realised that there had to be a “prime mover” - someone who started all this movement and growth off. Get class to look at Aristotle’s quote, from Physics, Book 8 (here on the right). Watch Aristotle Song, https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=14iTm31gQ3g as a gentle way in.

Cause and effect – what effect will you have?

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3. I can see how there being one God helps me grasp the unity of creation.

“There must be an immortal, unchanging being, ultimately responsible for all wholeness and orderliness in the sensible world.” Aristotle, Physics, Book 8

Step 2 (Key questions are in bold to provoke thought and discussion.) Imagine you are watching television. On the screen are lots of dominoes, stacked up in a long, long line, ready to make a “domino train”. Suddenly, we see the dominoes falling down, one after the other, from the left side of the screen to the right. Now, what can we say about what was happening off screen to the left? We can’t see to the left of the television screen, but can we know anything about it, even though we can’t see? Do we know how many dominoes there were to the left of the screen? No - there could have been 2 or 20 or 2,000 or 2,000,000. We just don’t know. Can we say anything about what started the “train” off? Yes. We don’t know what it was: it could have been a gust of wind, or a finger, or swinging ball. But we do know what it wasn’t - it wasn’t a standing domino. If it was a standing domino, just like all the other standing dominoes, then what would we still have? Yes, lots of standing dominoes. Whatever caused the dominoes to move had to be something different, something that was able to make the dominoes move, and that already had movement. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo6x4eulY9g&t=67s The Amazing Triple Spiral (up to 2:03), or any similar clip. Step 3 Explain: We can think through the same with everything we see - with ourselves. You are like a domino. We can see you. We can see you move. We know your parents played their part in you coming to life, but who helped bring them to life? Your grandparents. And who helped bring them to life? Your great-grandparents. And on, and on - like the dominoes on the screen and off the screen. But reason tells us that something other than a human must have started us humans moving. If you see a ball on a string swinging, you know it swings back because it first swung forward - but you also know that something must have made it start moving in the first place - probably someone lifting it up with their fingers. We can go back and back to the beginning of the earth, to the beginning of our galaxy, to the Big Bang and the beginning of the Universe. But there always has to be something that causes it all to happen, to move. Try it - if you start with absolutely nothing you end up with… Yes, absolutely nothing. We can’t say much about this “thing” that starts everything moving, except that they exist and they must be different. They must have always been. That’s hard to imagine. But it’s not impossible. Whereas all this movement starting itself is impossible. We call that thing “God”. And we often want to ask, “Well then, who made God?” (Activities 1 and 2.)

Key Point “Who made God?” is a good question, but we know the answer is that what we mean by God is the one who wasn’t made, but made everything else. I know there’s a wind, without seeing it, when I see leaves moving in the street. I know there’s a God, when I see things moving, full stop. Step 4 Explain: This is important, because if we are going to be logical about happiness, freedom and tolerance, we need to logically know that obedience to God, acting in harmony with my nature, seeking to grow as a person and not just an individual, all make sense. And they do, if one God made us all and calls us to grow in his image. He did. And we don’t need faith to know that. Just reason and dominoes! (Activity 3.)

Suggested Activities 1. Hot seat Aristotle and ask him how he came to know about God by thinking about the Universe. 2. Produce a mind map to answer the queston “Aristotle, what were you thinking?” 3. Complete the phrase,“I can see God in…” in as many ways as you can imagine.

Suggested Resources 1. Sets of dominoes (for demonstration). 2. Information on Aristotle. eg. Aristotle: Great Scientists 5 by Steve Parker. ISBN 13 978-1841386409 3. www.facts-about.org.uk

Summary It is important to understand that we can know, by reason alone, there is a God who moves everything. Aristotle showed this long before Jesus was born. Our thinking about our domino train helps us realise that there is, what Aristotle called, an “unmoved mover” - someone who started everything off. It makes sense then for us to try and cooperate with the movement he gave us: not just physical movement, but the movement of love within us, that brings us happiness and freedom, and helps us be truly tolerant of others.

Discernment and Trust (part one)

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To explore the different impulses within me, and how to recognise and evaluate them.

1. I can be aware of the many emotions and impulses I have inside me.

Discernment is not a common word for our children, but it is an important one: so much of Christianity is trusting in God, which leads to discernment rather than deciding. This session seeks to make more concrete the work we have already done on virtue: understanding our impulses and using our reason to discern which are reliable and should be followed. What we think, the value system we live by, also leads to impulses and affects their strength: if my primary value is “me first”, then the impulse to just eat the ice-cream will be stronger; if I have been educated in the importance of healthy eating and consent to that, then the impulse to eat healthily will be stronger. If I become pre-occupied with how thin I am, then there will be a stronger impulse to not eat the ice cream than the natural one to eat things I like. I can’t always stop and analyse every impulse I have – the ice-cream will probably have melted by then! – so it helps if I get better at knowing what types of impulse are normally good to follow, and where they come from. Next module , and module 6f, will broaden this out to explicitly include impulses from others. Step 1 Question: What do we mean by impulse? Discuss and take feedback. Explain: An important part of growing up is understanding those impulses from within and those around us from others, and where they come from, and discerning whether to trust them or not. Your age now is an important time for this, because your ability to reason matures now. At the age of 3, we couldn’t expect you to be able to reflect on these things. When you were 6, you could reflect a little, but you needed a lot of help from an adult to be able to do it. Now, you are beginning to be able to be taught the process so that you can begin to do it yourself. This is an important part of becoming an adult. Even as adults, though, it is very difficult to reflect thoroughly on every impulse - we have so many, and our thinking isn’t always accurate. So, even as adults we have to use our reason to discern who to trust. In fact, the most important use of your intellect is discerning who to trust and how. (Activity 1.)

2. I can explain the difference between discerning and deciding. 3. I can evaluate my emotions and impulses and know which to follow.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” St. Catherine of Siena

“Know yourself!” inscribed on the entrance of the temple at Delphi.

Key Point Our emotions are not good guides, but understanding them helps us to make better decisions. Step 2 So, let’s imagine a simple scenario and think through what impulses we might feel. You see three ice creams in front of you (feel free to substitute ice creams for anything else you think all or most of the class will like a lot.) What impulses will you likely feel? (emphasise the amount and variation in impulses experienced from just 3 ice-creams). Step 3 Display the table overleaf on the IWB. So, now let’s reflect on these impulses, and from that we should be able to see which are good and, long-term, are going to make me happy. Explain: We can see how some of these impulses are good, some less so and some bad. Wanting an ice-cream is fine; wanting one instead of someone else having it can be selfish. To want things to be mine is a very dangerous impulse, as is wanting everything I can see - in this case all 3 icecreams, or wanting to have one first. To want an ice-cream isn’t bad, but if that is more important than wanting to share, or wanting friendship, then it becomes a 76

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Do you think first and then act later?

Impulse

Reflection

Suggested Activities

Wow, they look nice. I want one.

Indeed, they do - nothing wrong with that impulse! - but how strong is that impulse? Will it dominate other, more important, impulses?

1. Timeline of decision making and basic skills developed at each age.

I’m hungry.

Are you? It’s amazing how we cannot feel hungry when we see a bowl of peas, but do feel hungry when we see sweets. It’s like we have two stomachs!

2. Sorting and matching activity, using the impulse and reflection table, cut up into individual sections.

It’s mine. I want all three.

Isn’t it amazing how we seem to need things to be mine? And why on earth would I need all 3?

That would be greedy.

This is an impulse in us that we try to strengthen to counter the above two.

3. As an extension activity, give children the impulse column and ask them to write a reflection to match.

Perhaps all 3 wouldn’t be good for me.

Education and being sensible helps me to feel more strongly that, actually, the impulse to have all three isn’t good.

Suggested Resources

I need to have one first!

Oh dear. Why? Are you more important than the other children?

Everyone else is having one. It’s not fair.

We so easily get envious, and start feeling the victim. Why?

I’ll be laughed at if I’m the only one who doesn’t get one.

We call this peer pressure: worrying not about what happens, but what we think will be others’ reaction to what happens. This is nearly always destructive.

It would be nice to share them, especially with my friends.

This is a good impulse - coming from knowing that relationship brings more happiness than ice cream.

The other children probably would like one as well

This is a mature impulse - realising that other people are similar to me and are just as important.

bad impulse. To think of others, to share, to want to be healthy - these are always good desires. Step 4 Often, there is a mini-battle inside me as to which impulses win. There are some very common temptations that tend me towards seeking pleasure: • “It won’t hurt this time” is probably the most powerful - it will! If it’s wrong, it will hurt, this time, next time, every time.

1. Downloadable Impulse/ Reflection table on IWB or as a printout to support Activity 2 similar available for Activity 3. 2. Pictures of humans at different stages of development. 3. Clip of children making decisions, e.g. temptation explored on the TV programme “What would your kid do?” (ITV Hub and Youtube).

Summary To grow we need to understand our different impulses, and “where they come from”. Then, we get better at making right judgements about individual situations. We also get better at spotting types of impulse, and where they come from, and from that, know whether to trust them or not.

• Connected with this is “It doesn’t really matter” - again, everything we say and do matters (and if it doesn’t matter, then it won’t matter if you choose to go without!). • We can even decide that something else, unrelated, went against me, so this time I deserve to put myself first. But what happened yesterday can’t make something wrong or right today (that’s different to taking it in turns - this is about unrelated things - feeling you’re a victim, so you deserve something that you don’t). Getting used to these temptations makes us spot them quicker and helps us reject them. Over time we can get used to which type of impulses we can trust, and which we shouldn’t. (Activities 2 and 3.) 77

Discernment and Trust (part two)

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

To understand there are impulses we ‘hear’ within us that don’t come from us, and how to discern them.

1. I can understand that some impulses I ‘hear’ within me don’t come from me.

Because we are made for relationship, we are affected by lots of other persons: these include those around us, and famous people whom we choose to admire, but also good and bad spirits. No teacher is going to be comfortable reminding pupils that there is a devil, but under God’s protection, we can only be influenced by his voice. A real help in standing up to this is to know his tactics and see them for what they are. There is always a danger in bringing up the devil, that young people get fascinated by him and all their questions then focus on superstitions and myths surrounding him. Instead, what we are aiming for here is to acknowledge his existence so that we can better stand up to his temptations. Thus, once acknowledged, we need to keep the focus on God, his help and our desire to be good. Not surprisingly, Jesus gives good example. In the Our Father, he calls us to pray for help with temptation, and against evil. In his temptations in the desert he stands firm through trusting in God, being strengthened by Scripture and giving the devil short shrift. Step 1 Ask: Have you ever been in a bad mood, and wanted to spoil whatever your brother or sister has made, just because you are sulking - whether it be a sandcastle, a model, a drawing…? Silly, isn’t it? How sad is it that we can get into a mood where we think that making someone else sad will make us happy? Hopefully, you soon get out of that mood, and realise how silly it was. Question: Can you think of any examples of your own? Discuss and feedback. Consider: There is a devil. God asked him to be his close friend. He chose to say no. And that made him unhappy, because he was made to be friends with God. And ever since then he has been in that silly sulky mood, wanting to spoil our lives just because he is unhappy. He used to be very powerful and sulking: we hear many stories in the Bible about people who were affected badly by unclean spirits (e.g. Mk. 1:23-28; 5:1-20). Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY4_3aWrupw&feature=emb_logo The Boy with the Evil Spirit (1:35). But when Jesus died and rose again, he took all power from the devil. However, it is important to restate that the devil has absolutely no more power than his voice precisely because of God’s protection in Christ Jesus. Messing with things connected with the devil loses us that protection. Without negatively scaring the children it is important to instil in them a sense of the danger that if we play with fire, we get burnt.

2. I can discern that there are good and bad spirits. 3. I can explain how God protects me from the devil and his voice.

“...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” from the Our Father

“My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” 1 Jn 4:1

Step 2 Explain: So long as we are sensible, though, the only power the devil has is his voice. Why God allows that is a bit of a mystery, but it is connected with helping us learn to trust God, and rely on him more than ourselves - and also to strengthen us in learning to say no to evil (Isaiah 7:14-16 - cf. module 4c). We show this correct desire for God’s strength and protection every time we pray the Our Father (go through quote of the last lines of Our Father). Jesus also gave us the example of how to reject evil, when he was tempted in the desert. Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=cam5_bvAaEM Jesus’ baptism & temptations (4:49 - but start at 1:40). (Activity 1.) Explain: We can learn a lot from how Jesus dealt with temptations. Jesus was physically weaker because he hadn’t eaten for 40 days, but he didn’t let that become an excuse. We shouldn’t let how we are feeling make our temptations stronger. He trusted in God and found strength in the Bible - and we should too. He didn’t start 78

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When making choices, do I put God first?

Key Point

Suggested Activities

There are many influences on us. To grow, we need to choose good and reject evil (cf. Is. 7:15). Jesus teaches us to ask our Father for strength, and he gives us the example of rejecting temptation.

1. Read out, as a class, a version of the Temptations of Jesus in the desert (Lk. 4:1-13).

talking with the devil. He answered the temptation and then moved on - back to his focus on God. He was not interested in the devil trying to make evil seem fascinating and fun, because it isn’t - and we should be the same.

2. Use the examples in Step 3 to produce a cartoon strip showing an impulse / temptation and a good way to deal with it.

Step 3 We often see pictures of someone with a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other, both whispering suggestions, and we know the feeling of being that person! These “whispers” act as impulses on us - we don’t really hear words - and we have to deal with them as with the impulses that come from our own heart. It helps to know the devil’s most predictable temptations. We dealt with 3 of them in the last module. He loves to whisper that, “it won’t hurt this time”, or that “it doesn’t really matter” or that you’ve been wronged and deserve to put yourself first this time. He will also often try and distract you from doing good things. He might not whisper that you shouldn’t pray, or go to Mass or read the Bible - because he knows that you know these are good things. So, instead, he will say, ‘yes pray, but after you’ve done this, and this, and this….’ and then you end up not praying. Or ‘Mass is boring’, or ‘the Bible is too hard to understand’, or ‘no one reads that any more’: remember, he’s just trying to kick your sandcastle down, or spoil your picture. Don’t let him! (Activity 2.)

3. Write out and decorate the Guardian Angel prayer. Maybe laminate for use throughout the school. 4. Write an acrostic poem using the word GUARDIAN.

Suggested Resources 1. Prayer table display relating to protection and guidance: the Guardian Angel prayer, images of Jesus, Mary and St. Michael.

Step 4 Question: Who can help us to ignore these “whispers”? Discuss and feedback. Explain: We actually have an army of help! Firstly, of course, Jesus. We can pray the Our Father and be strengthened against temptation. St John also tells us we can simply say, quietly, “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Jn 4:2). Bad spirits hate to hear this, and their influence lessens; good spirits find strength from this and their influence increases. We also have all the saints to help us, especially Mary, St Michael and your own guardian angel. These make it a lot easier for us to ignore the devil - it is like they get rid of his disguise and we realise that his whispers are boring and sad. Let’s learn a prayer to our guardian angel - an angel whose sole job is to help you grow close to God - wow, what a powerful friend. Watch https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=y4MJZxlQ36s Your Guardian Angel (1:41). Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day/night be at my side, to enlighten and guard, to rule and guide. Amen. (Activities 3&4.)

Summary Some impulses that we experience don’t come from ourselves. These include the whispers of good and evil spirits. We have absolutely nothing to fear from the devil, but we do need to stay close to God in order to remain protected by him. We can stand up to the devil by saying “Jesus is Lord”; by thinking through his temptations and realising that they aren’t sensible; and by recognising his predictable temptations. Most of all, we need to use God’s strength, not our own: and Mary, St Michael and our own guardian angel, in particular, help us to do that.

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If you don’t know how a car works, you’re not likely to be able to fix it. If you don’t know how crops grow, you’re not likely to be a great farmer. If you don’t understand a mobile phone, you’re not likely to get the most out of it. Understanding what it is to be a human person will help us know how to think and act, and so be happy and fulfilled. This booklet goes from Y3 to Y6, comprising eleven modules every year. It seeks to give a coherent vision of what it is to be human, empowering the young person to understand themselves more deeply, and therefore make better choices. In KS1 we focused on Bible stories to help the children learn about life, growing and love. This continues in Y3, with a focus on Jesus in John’s Gospel, and in particular, on receiving and giving love. In Y4 we begin to turn to reason more, to help the children grasp the foundational understandings of personhood and relationship. Just as there is no point in branching out into other subjects if children have not learnt how to read, write and do arithmetic, so it is more important to thoroughly cover the essentials than it is to cover a breadth of less important things. Thus, personhood, relationship, dignity, freedom, happiness, tolerance and the importance of being rational and being open to faith are all dealt with thoroughly. A Fertile Heart unites thinking, reflecting, praying and discussing. It uses lessons, videos, activities and music. It invites parents, school and parish to unite in helping our young people to grow into truly life-giving, happy, fulfilled persons.

RRP £9.99 ISBN 978-1-7397628-5-8

9 781739 762858 Version 7 | September 2021