J.M.J.
For years now, I have been helping families and the occasional Catholic school and parish teach children a few of the treasures hidden in the Rosary: The virtues! St. Louis de Montfort has shown us in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, that each Mystery of the Rosary has within it a virtue or grace to be prayed for. Our Lady emulates each virtue and grace perfectly within the Mysteries, teaching us how to imitate her. She is a perfect example of who we should strive to become. Don't we want to show our children her example as well?
To celebrate October - the month dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary - I am giving you the complete lesson plans and workbook pages for the first Joyful Mystery, which we pray for humility. I never claimed to be an artist but humility calls me to post my pictures of the Mysteries online anyway LOL Anyway, below is a sample of my Rosary Quilt program, along with some extra files to enhance your family rosary time. Couldn't we all benefit from a lesson or two in humility? (Be careful how you answer that one! LOL) Enjoy these pages!
ROSARY QUILT LESSON PLANS
1.
The
Annunciation: For the Love of Humility Activities
Read Isaiah 10:15. Talk about what kinds of jobs can be
accomplished by using such tools. Lay out a few tools your child may use for
her own talents. For instance, a pianist needs a piano; a painter needs a
brush, a writer needs a pencil, a carpenter needs sandpaper and a saw. Explain
that your child is the piano, paintbrush, saw, etc. and God is the pianist,
artist, carpenter, etc. Your child is simply the tool for the things God wants
done. Just as it is silly for a paintbrush to take credit for a painting, it is
also foolish for us to take credit for the work God does through us.
Practice
responding to compliments. When
someone compliments you on one of your talents, respond with something that
directs all glory to God instead of to yourself: “Thank you! I have been very
blessed.” If pride/boasting is a temptation to your child, make sure he/she
receives a petal for responding appropriately to compliments.
**(WB pg 4) Help your
child make a list of her God given talents. Have her write God a thank you
note, thanking Him for these talents and noting how she might use them to bring
Him glory.
Have your child look in the mirror and pretend to be
“snooty”. It should not be long before he closes his eyes and sticks his nose
up in the air. When he does, say, “Freeze! This is what a prideful heart looks
like.” Explain that turning one’s nose “up” at someone else shows pride. It
tells other people that you think you are better than they are. Now ask him
what he is looking at when his eyes are closed. (“Nothing” or “My eyelids”) Ask
him where his nose is pointed. (“Up” or “Towards the sky”) Explain that when
one is not humble, one is sticking his nose up towards God. When children’s
eyes are closed, they are not looking for God’s will, nor are they able to see
God’s hand in whatever success they are being “snooty” about. They are, in
essence, snubbing God and denying God’s hand in their successes.
Have your child look humble. This usually looks like a shy
look: head cocked to the side (listening for God’s will); chin down (and not
vain or prideful), eyes looking upwards (towards God above). Tell him that a
humble heart looks like this. Which heart did Mary have? Which heart should we
have? Take pictures of your child “acting” out these two traits. Put them in
your scrapbook and label each feature and what they are saying to others.
Discuss the fall of Adam and Eve – Satan tempted them with the
idea that they too could be like God. What a thought! One of the effects of
Original Sin is a temptation to make ourselves into our own gods! The Catechism
tells us that the meaning of life is: To know, love and serve God
in this world so that we may be happy with Him in the next. Original Sin makes
us want to make others know, love and serve US in this world so
that we may be happy in this world. Make your children more aware of how we all
make ourselves into gods during the day. Discuss how this makes others feel.
What happens when our entire household is filled with people trying to make
themselves into gods?
Discuss with your children the trend our society has to build
and protect self-esteem at all costs: schools adjusting test scores or passing
students who may need to be held back, bombarding children with over
exaggerated compliments, etc. How is this harmful to souls? How can this be harmful
to society? How does this affect a person’s earthly life? What will happen to
these children when they grow up and live “in the real world”?
Discuss Proverbs 15:33.
Examples
of humility
The
fall of Lucifer: Aside from being pure spirits, angels also have a perfectly
informed intellect. Because of this, the angels knew God’s plan for humans and
for our salvation. They knew of God’s power, too. He gave the angels a chance
to serve Him and two thirds of the angels joyfully announced that indeed they
would serve Him! Unfortunately, Lucifer, who was the brightest and most beautiful
angel, dared to say that he would not serve God. A third of the angels also
made this decision. Why would they do such a thing? They knew of God’s power
and His love, yet they would not serve Him! Lucifer was full of pride. He was
bright, powerful, and beautiful, but he was created to serve God. He thought he
was better than a servant – he wanted to be a god. And not just any god, but he
wanted to take over God’s throne in Heaven and be God Himself!
Matthew
8:5 – 10: In this story, the Roman Officer, though pagan, acknowledges
Christ as an important person. He admits he is not worthy to receive Him in his
home, but has faith that all his servant needs to be healed is Jesus’ word.
Recall the words we speak before receiving Communion at Mass, as the priest
holds the Blessed Sacrament up: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only
say the word and I shall be healed.” Both this story and the words we speak
during the Mass represent the degree of humility we need to strive for.
Philippians
2:1-11: Paul challenges us to imitate Christ in His humility. The verses
also show us how great Christ is because of His humility.
The Cure’ of Ars: This Saint performed many
miracles in his life. When each miracle occurred, he humbly, and appropriately,
directed all eyes to God instead of to himself. He shied away from praise from
the villagers and always credited other Saints’ intercessions and God for the
miracles for which he himself prayed. His humility did not even allow himself
to believe that it was his own prayers that God was responding to – he always
believed that it was another Saint’s intercession on his behalf that the
miracles occurred.
Verses
for memorization
Proverbs
30:32
Proverbs
16:5
Proverbs
22:4
Luke 18:14
WORKBOOK PAGES (Pages correspond to activities above)
BEADS PAGES Family members suggest their intentions for each Hail Mary. Who suffers from pride? Who needs to accept God's will instead of forcing their own will? etc. Read the prayer at the top to announce the Mystery. Announce each intention before each Hail Mary. Recite the prayer at the bottom of the prayer to end the Mystery.
Here is the page with the Annunciation bead. Print and laminate it for your younger children to hold as you pray this Mystery. It can also be used along with the Rosary Quilt itself. (The activity blanket which is explained in the manual) The blank beads may be copied and used to help young children keep track of their prayers. (There are actually 10 blank beads in the file, not 2)
What is NOT pictured here is the Virtue Chart which goes with the set. All I could get was a portion of it, pictured below so you can't really use it, but I wanted to at least show you what it is. Its purpose is to help keep track of your child's progress, whenever you catch your child being good. The manual explains this concept in a little more detail, but you get the idea.
I hope you enjoy using these prayer aids! I would love to hear how you like these pages.
If you are interested in obtaining the 4 digital file set (Manual, instructions and workbook plus virtue chart) for $17 and the color painting Beads files which supplement the program for $5, please contact me at
poppe clan at gmail dot com
