Queen of Apostles Catholic Parish

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Confirmation Prep – Faith in Action

by

“Faith in Action” (Hands and Feet)

Session Overview for Catechists
Catechist Summary * Slides

  • Track A: Monday 2/3/2025, 6:45-8:30 p.m.
  • Track B: Wednesday 2/5/2025 and Thursday 2/6/2025 in Religion class

Icebreaker (<5 min., Track A)

Track A can discuss journal pages 36-37 from homework journaling while students gather.
Track B should probably move on to the Opening Prayer quickly to have time for other things later in class.

Opening Prayer (5 min.)

“Do Something” by Matthew West

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3IrwujyAJ4

Sent to Serve (10 min)

See slides presented by Ms. Hohner (or Mrs. Medio or Mr. Rosales in Religion during the week).
handout: Two Feet of Service and Justice graphic

We are sent at the end of every Mass to serve our brothers and sisters in this world. The very word “Mass” comes from the Latin “missa”, meaning “it is sent”.  The priest or deacon dismisses us with the word, “Go!” with the option to send us to do a couple of different things:

  • Go forth, the Mass is ended.
  • Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
  • Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
  • Go in peace.

Service is lifelong and part of being a mature Christian.  It’s not just for 5+ hours for Confirmation Prep or for 40 hours to graduate from H.S.  But our faith teaches us that service is just the beginning. In addition to Service (or Charity), there is also Justice. When you served for your hours, did you do acts of Charity or acts of Justice? Acts of charity give direct or indirect service to meet immediate needs: giving someone a hot meal, sorting books at the school library, setting up furniture for a parish event.  Acts of justice help to educate and to break the cycles of injustice and poverty through social change: participating in an awareness walk, stuffing envelopes for a mailing at an immigrant justice organization, registering people to vote.   ​

When we think of justice, we might picture a courtroom or a criminal getting a harsh sentence after being found guilty of a terrible crime, “justice has been served”.  But remember that Justice is a Cardinal (human) Virtue — something we work at in cooperation with God. When you act with justice, you are considering the needs of others and trying to be fair. ​But that does not mean treating everyone exactly the same (equally)!  If a student gets a paper-cut, they should get a bandage. If the next student to be hurt falls off the playground equipment and breaks their arm, the equal thing is to give them a bandage too — but that’s not helpful for a broken arm, that student needs to go to the ER and get an X-ray and a cast on their arm.  Equity is everyone getting what they need, not everyone getting the same thing.

In the eyes of God, we are all equal, with equal dignity and made in the image and likeness of God.  But sin forces many inequalities on us and creates barriers — racism, poverty, prejudice, etc. — to the resources and opportunities offered by the world God created.  Charity is doing what we can to help people overcome the existing barriers, while Justice is doing what we can to remove the barriers and open opportunities to all.  Charity and Justice work together.  Charity meets basic needs, helps individuals, and is more of a temporary fix.  Justice addresses or removes the root causes of social ills, improves structures​, and is more lasting in its effects. Both are necessary responses, though Justice often takes longer and is harder to achieve.  When a skateboarder is injured, you both tend to the wounds — whether a scraped elbow or a broken arm — and try to prevent a repeat injury — wearing better protective safety gear and maybe learning how to “fall safely”.  Other responses we might make are less necessary because they do not tend to the injury: outlawing skateboarding might protect property from damage or prevent a lawsuit, but it also takes away something fun that can be done reasonably safely. We don’t outlaw driving a car or walking and you can get hurt doing both of those.  Blaming the person who fell assumes they were doing something dangerous just because they were on a skateboard at the time — they could have hit a rough spot on the flat sidewalk or been crashed into by someone else.

Brainstorm a few examples from students’ service experiences of what might be Charity and what might be Justice.

Justice takes time and effort.  Charity can seem like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic – what impact or difference can an individual act make, when there are so many complicated problems in our world?  These are big challenges, but we have a lot of help through in our faith and hope in Jesus.  We are now in a Jubilee Year 2025, in which we recall that we are Pilgrims of Hope, traveling through this life hoping to get to eternal life and doing as much good as we can while we are here because Jesus sends us to do it.  We have hope that for God, all things are possible (Mark 10:27).  We have hope because Jesus gave his life on the cross and resurrected to new life in a victory over sin and death.  Pope Francis often uses the image that the Church is a hospital for sinners.  We are the paramedics, the Church is the hospital we are bringing the injured to, and Jesus is our ultimate healer.    

Reflection on Service (25 min.)

worksheet: Reflection on My Service

worksheet: Two Feet of Service and Justice worksheet

make notes for an optional application for the Father Jim Loving Service Award (2025 link to come; in the meantime, last year’s application details are available here)

Bring service packets to the prayer table (turn-in basket).

Service Project: Valentine Cards for Nursing Home (25 min.)

Students will receive materials to make a nice card for elderly persons living in Balmoral Nursing Home.
Students working remotely from home or doing make-up work should make a Valentine Card for a family member or neighbor who may feel lonely or sad.

Confirmation Rite Explained (15 min.)

Textbook p. 88-90, or an old Confirmation Mass booklet p. 5-7

  • Presentation of Candidates by Pastor
  • Homily by Bishop
  • Renewal of Baptism Promises by Candidates
  • Laying on of Hands by Bishop over the Candidates
  • Anointing with Chrism by Bishop of each Candidate

Scripture Exploration: Anointing with Oil and Laying on of Hands (25 min.)

Each table will look up two Scripture verses, one for Anointing with Oil, and one for Laying on of Hands.  Discuss each passage and what the symbols of anointing and laying on of hands meant to the people experiencing these signs.  Use the hand outlines to record your answers.

Prayer Ritual (10 min)

Blessing using the Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila (extend hands over one another as we send each other forth to serve)

Christ has no body now but yours,​
No hands, no feet on earth but yours, ​
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world, ​
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,​
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, ​
Yours are the eyes, you are his body. ​
No hands, no feet on earth but yours, ​
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.​
Christ has no body now but yours.  ​

May almighty God bless us all + in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Closing & Dismissal (5 min)

HOMEWORK

  • Do textbook pages 88-90
  • Homework due at next class session
    • Track A (Religious Education/Catecismo) Monday 2/10, 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    • Track B (Queen of Angels School and St. Matthias School) Wednesday 2/12 and Thursday 2/13 in 8th Grade Religion class
  • Sign up for your Confirmation Interview with a parish leader
    • registration link coming by email this week
    • interviews will be outside of class time – after school, in the evening, on a Saturday
    • interviews start next week, continue through end of February
    • parish leaders involved in the interviews include Father Jason, Father Michael, Mr. Houlihan, Mrs. McGovern, Mrs. Medio, Ms. Hohner, Mrs. Pacholski, and Mr. Rosales — you will meet with one adult, not all 8 at once!
  • Retreat II with Reconciliation coming up on Friday, February 28 for all students at our St. Matthias site
    • 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., beginning at St. Matthias Gym and ending at St. Matthias Church
  • Turn in late Confirmation Name reflection and/or Letter to the Pastor – can be done digitally!
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