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The Lord’s Day Christmas Analogy Small Group Activity
Description: A brief overview of the third commandment and a light hearted (though insightful) examination of how participants spent last Sunday compared to how they spend Christmas that is meant to guide participants towards a better understanding of what is and is not keeping the Lord’s Day holy.
Instructions and Tips from the Author: I recommend distributing this handout and allowing ~8 minutes for participants to read it and write their responses by themselves. Then have them join together in groups of ~4-6 people to share their responses for ~5 minutes. I have tried reading this handout to the class and then having them respond together and it was less effective. Many participants will be shocked to learn they were so ignorant of such an important commandment and typically react in one of two ways that you should be prepared to pastorally address. First, skeptical workaholic souls will reject the idea that it is sinful to do unnecessary work on the Lord’s Day and you can explain why it truly is (refer to validation file citations for ideas and consider explaining how work ethic is a virtue but when it becomes inordinate it can become a vice). Second, scrupulous souls will despair of accidentally being in mortal sin and you can remind them per CCC 1859 that to be in mortal sin they must have had full knowledge (which they wouldn’t have had if they are only now learning about the Lord’s Day).
This certainly kept my class entertained for 15 minutes. More importantly, I have seen a big change in how my students act on Sundays. The fun nature of the activity softened the blow of being told they were not keeping the Lord’s day properly, and no one in my class was greatly offended at it. On the contrary, many were thankful to have their ignorance cured and are reporting being more at peace the rest of their weeks after real rest on Sundays. Praise God! Thanks for this!
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About the Author: Username “Cirra” I am a homeschooling mother of 5 who does graphic design for my local parish, occasionally blogs Cirra’s Clouds | the thought bubbles of a catholic minimalist mama (wordpress.com), and runs a store on Etsy “Busy Hands Holy Hearts” specializing in printable do-it-yourself Catholic arts and crafts activities for children. I pray you enjoy my content and please don’t hesitate to send me a private message if you have freelance graphic design work I could help you with.
