Simple strategies for liturgical catechists
Experience and Mystagogy
Engage your learning group in an experience of ritual prayer involving symbol, gesture and action: have them pray by lighting a candle, being blessed with water or oil, or engaging in a procession. After the experience, ask them to tell you what they noticed during it, or what they felt. After all have had a chance to speak or write about this, help them understand how the symbol or gesture is a part of the way humans experience the world and express themselves through use of the senses or the movement of the body. Also, talk about how the symbol or gesture is normally used in the liturgy of the Church. You can also use this format to reflect on any liturgical or sacramental experience they have had.
Come to the Water
Especially for Confirmation candidates and already-baptized RCIA candidates. Gather your learning group around the baptismal font in your church. Have them recall memories of baptisms they have seen - or their own baptism, if they were old enough at the time to remember - ask for details that particularly stand out. Have someone read aloud Isaiah 55:1. Ask them what it means to "come to the water" - and if time permits, discuss the various functions of water. Remind them that baptism in the "living water" of Christ is the "gateway" to belonging to the Church community - and that their Confirmation is a completion of the promise of their baptism. End your time around the font by having them dip their hand in the water and bless themselves.
What is in the Bread? (Fr. Richard Fragomeni)
Gather your learning group around a table or a circle of chairs. Hold up a homemade (preferably round) loaf of bread and ask them "What is in the bread?" Normally, they will begin with flour, water, yeast, etc. Keep asking "What else is in the bread?" trying to surface the deeper reality - the grain, the soil, the rain, the work of the farmer, miller, baker, packager, delivery truck driver, store shelf-stocker,.. keep going until the group exhausts all the possible materials and work that have contributed to the existence of the bread. End by saying: "The whole world is in the bread!" Then talk about the bread that becomes the Eucharist and how it incarnates Jesus through all that has brought it into being.
Reacting to the Symbols (Gilbert Osdiek, OFM)
Have ready a bowl of water, crucifix, olive oil... Pass them around the room and invite each person to do what comes naturally to them when they encounter the symbol. (For instance, many people dabble their fingers in the water, some will automatically bless themselves. When encountering the crucifix, some may kiss the feet of the corpus...) Make sure they know that they do not have to do what everyone else does. Each person's reaction will come from their own relationship to the symbol. When all the symbols have made the rounds, ask people to share what they felt as they interacted with the symbols and as they watched others. Then, talk briefly about why these symbols evoke such a powerful response in us, and why there are conventional, ritual reactions associated with them. Discuss how these symbols are used in the Church.
Engage your learning group in an experience of ritual prayer involving symbol, gesture and action: have them pray by lighting a candle, being blessed with water or oil, or engaging in a procession. After the experience, ask them to tell you what they noticed during it, or what they felt. After all have had a chance to speak or write about this, help them understand how the symbol or gesture is a part of the way humans experience the world and express themselves through use of the senses or the movement of the body. Also, talk about how the symbol or gesture is normally used in the liturgy of the Church. You can also use this format to reflect on any liturgical or sacramental experience they have had.
Come to the Water
Especially for Confirmation candidates and already-baptized RCIA candidates. Gather your learning group around the baptismal font in your church. Have them recall memories of baptisms they have seen - or their own baptism, if they were old enough at the time to remember - ask for details that particularly stand out. Have someone read aloud Isaiah 55:1. Ask them what it means to "come to the water" - and if time permits, discuss the various functions of water. Remind them that baptism in the "living water" of Christ is the "gateway" to belonging to the Church community - and that their Confirmation is a completion of the promise of their baptism. End your time around the font by having them dip their hand in the water and bless themselves.
What is in the Bread? (Fr. Richard Fragomeni)
Gather your learning group around a table or a circle of chairs. Hold up a homemade (preferably round) loaf of bread and ask them "What is in the bread?" Normally, they will begin with flour, water, yeast, etc. Keep asking "What else is in the bread?" trying to surface the deeper reality - the grain, the soil, the rain, the work of the farmer, miller, baker, packager, delivery truck driver, store shelf-stocker,.. keep going until the group exhausts all the possible materials and work that have contributed to the existence of the bread. End by saying: "The whole world is in the bread!" Then talk about the bread that becomes the Eucharist and how it incarnates Jesus through all that has brought it into being.
Reacting to the Symbols (Gilbert Osdiek, OFM)
Have ready a bowl of water, crucifix, olive oil... Pass them around the room and invite each person to do what comes naturally to them when they encounter the symbol. (For instance, many people dabble their fingers in the water, some will automatically bless themselves. When encountering the crucifix, some may kiss the feet of the corpus...) Make sure they know that they do not have to do what everyone else does. Each person's reaction will come from their own relationship to the symbol. When all the symbols have made the rounds, ask people to share what they felt as they interacted with the symbols and as they watched others. Then, talk briefly about why these symbols evoke such a powerful response in us, and why there are conventional, ritual reactions associated with them. Discuss how these symbols are used in the Church.