Shyre Ann Buling

I. Topic: Advent-Christmas
II. Grade 7 Liceo de Calamba
III. Introduction

 Greetings
Teacher: Good morning/ Good afternoon grade 7!
Grade 7: Students: Good morning/ Good afternoon Ma’am Buling!
Teacher: Kindly arrange your chairs properly, keep the materials that are not related with the Religion and
take your seat. (When the students seem ready)…

 Opening Prayer:

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear Lord, through the darkness, I look for your wisdom. I want my heart to be open to you. But
sometimes in these days, it seems that so many things come between us.
Help me to be awake and aware of the radiance you bring to my life. Help me to be grateful each day for
the blessings of family and friends. Let me be a peacemaker in my own life, and in the world. Let me pray
especially for this difficult world and those who are so in need of an end to violence. My heart begs for
this as my Advent prayer today. Amen
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

How are you? How do you feel right now? First, I just want to inform you that, now we will be having a
special lesson once again and the actual lesson will be discussed next year. So for this special lesson,
two sessions are needed. Since we only have two sessions in this lesson, the getting-to-know activity and
the presentation of my class rules will be done next year before we proceed to the actual lesson. Did I
explain myself?

Now I’ll be passing a paper that will serve as our attendance. Please write your name, age and birthday.
Just a reminder in writing, you don’t have to use your mouth so please remain quite while writing your
name, age and birthday. Is it clear?

So now it is obvious that you are all busy on this month starting last week, you are preparing something
for the coming Christmas. As we can see, there are decorations around, you also have planned for your
Christmas party, and you are searching for gifts that you can give for the exchange gifts. You are also
writing your wish list. But the question is, do you know why we celebrate Christmas? If you know, how
aware are you to remember the real protagonist of this event?

Before we proceed with our discussion, let us watch this video carefully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjSio8jur2 this video is entitled John 3:16 which talks about the
father who sacrificed His son for the sake of the many. This will be linked to the Gospel that will be
read.

Guide Questions:

1. Do you like the video?

2. What was the video all about?
3. How do you feel while watching the video?
4. What comes to your mind while watching the video? How does it touch you?
I presented you this video since our topic for today is about Advent and Christmas. So can you see any
relevance of this video with our celebration on Dec. 25?

Now, to deepen our understanding about Christmas and to identify its connection with the video that I
presented, let us refer to the source of our faith, the Sacred Scripture.

John 3:16-17

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St.John.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might
not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through him.

The Gospel of the Lord, praise to you O Lord Jesus Christ.

Exegesis:

 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. It is here affirmed that God so loved
the world. The term “God” is the designation of the divine nature, and so can be employed of
either the Father, of Jesus, the Son or of the Holy Spirit. In this verse, obviously “God” is used of
the Father, who gave his Son. Giving is characteristic of God. He has given us life and the
greatest was the gift of his Son.

 …so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.- imply
an acceptance of the historical facts regarding Christ, along with a willingness to trust him as
Savior. Eternal life is here promised to those who pursue the life of obedient trust.

 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
might be saved through him- states God’s purpose in sending the Son. It is not to condemn the
world, but to save it. If it was necessary for God to send the Son to save the world, it must be that
the world needs saving—is lost. The Son’s work is efficacious only if the world accepts salvation

Now, since we have learned why God sent Jesus, it is now our task to prepare ourselves for his coming.
And this season is actually a preparation of the Church for Jesus’ coming.

Presently, the Church celebrates our second week of Advent. Are you familiar?

Advent is a Latin word that actually means “coming.” In the Christian church, advent is time of
preparation and waiting for the birth of Jesus. Advent officially begins four Sundays before Christmas.

Advent wreaths are a favorite way to celebrate the month of December leading up to Christmas Day.
 The Advent candles readily demonstrate the strong contrast between darkness and light. In the
Bible, Christ is referred to as the “Light of the World” contrasted with the darkness of sin.
 SHAPE: The circular shape of the wreath, without beginning or end, symbolizes God’s complete
and unending love for us—a love that sent his Son into the world to redeem us from the curse of
sin. It also represents eternal life which becomes ours through faith in Jesus Christ.
 During the first two weeks of Advent we light the first two purple candles. The Third Sunday of
Advent is called Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. On this day we celebrate that our waiting for the birth
of Jesus on Christmas day is almost over. Rose is a liturgical color that is used to signify joy, so
we light the single pink candle on the third Sunday of Advent.
 Then on the fourth Sunday of Advent, the final purple candle is lit to mark the final week of prayer
and penance as we wait expectantly for the soon-coming birth of the King of Kings.
After the four Sundays is the Christmas day. Once again, the real Christmas story is the story of God's
becoming a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ. Why did God do such a thing? Because He loves
us! Why was Christmas necessary? Because we needed a Savior! Why does God love us so much?
Because He is love itself. Why do we celebrate Christmas each year? Out of gratitude for what God did
for us, we remember Jesus’ birth by preparing ourselves for His coming through showing kindness,
forgiveness and generosity.

This might be an expression of love which is the true meaning of Christmas. God loved us and provided a
way—the only Way—for us to spend eternity with Him. He gave His only Son to take our punishment for
our sins. He paid the price in full, and we are free from condemnation when we accept that free gift of
love.

Christmas
 is one of the most important days of the Church year, second only to Easter itself.
 It is the feast of the incarnation, the feast of God becoming flesh (the Latin "in carne" means
"enfleshment"). It is a uniquely Christian teaching, the Divine choosing to become one of us.
Because of this belief, God is not only Superior, but also wholly Intrinsic, Emmanuel (God-with-
us). While remaining Superior (meaning we must rise above our present condition to reach Him),
He is at the same time Immanent (meaning He is with us as we rise toward Him).

Session 2

Church Teachings

CCC 476

“…At Christmas St. Augustine preached: “He who was the Son of God, for you has become the Son of
man, so that you who were children of men, might become the children of God…”

We have learned that Jesus, the Son of God was incarnated- take the human flesh that it may be
possible for us to be saved. As the Son of God become the Son of man, in His incarnation, Jesus gives
us the chance to be His brothers and be the children of God as well. That we, the children of men, might
become children of God. And as God’s children, we are also called to imitate the goodness of our Father-
in his love. As we prepare for the coming Christmas, let us be reminded that its message it is to give love
which we can concretely expressed through kindness, forgiveness and generosity.

And to make this message more concrete, we will have an activity.

Means. By pair, the students will be asked to prepare two colored papers a day before so that the teacher
will be able to cut the papers (pink and violet).
Each has its own meaning:
 Pink- write on this paper all the ‘Thank you’ that you have in mind. (A thanks to God, to your
family, friends, teachers, classmates etc.
 Violet- Write on this paper all your ‘apology and sorry’ to God, to your family, friends, teachers,
classmates etc.

Note: Do it as personal as possible, you may mention specific names. You may get 2 or more colored
papers.

This might be just a little to some but a big challenge to others, but what is important here is that in this
way, we can experience kindness and forgiveness to and from one another which I think is the important
thing that we can do to prepare ourselves in this coming Christmas- to thank those who have helped and
supported you including God, for giving you life and to ask for apology to those whom you have hurt and
forgive those who hurt you.
Integration
Guide Questions:
1. What is Christmas?
2. What is Incarnation?
3. What are the relevance of Christmas and Jesus’ Incarnation?
4. What was God’s message for sending His only begotten Son?
5. As a member of a family, how can you share what you have learned to them?
6. How can you express your gratitude to God for saving you from your sinfulness?
7. Give concrete ways on how you can express the message and essence of Christmas to others?

Summary. The class will be divided into 3 groups. Each group is assigned to make a ‘What/How/Why
questions (5) based on the lesson. This will be a kind of modified quiz bee which questions come from
each of the groups. They will be given 6 rounds to post questions to one another which will be answered
by the remaining groups. Ex. For the first round, the group 1 will post question so the group 2 and 3 have
the chance to answer. The highest score after 6 rounds will considered winner.

Reflection Paper: The Gift. Make an essay that speaks about your greatest gift to Jesus for this coming
Christmas. Atleast 5 sentences. ½ Crosswise.