Year Three

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PRAYERS AND

Called to beA People of Hope

Notes for Staff

Working towards age related outcomes (with support and prompts and showing in some cases a limited response)

Pupils will be able to recognise some stories about saints and about Mary AT1 Pupils will recognise that, because of their beliefs, saints act in certain ways AT1 Pupils will know some religious words - Saint, Disciple, Pupils will recognise that, because of her beliefs, Mary chose to act in a certain way

AT2 Pupils will be able to talk about their own feelings, about Mary and Saints AT2

Age related outcomes of the Module

Pupils will be able to retell some stories about saints and about Mary, selecting which information is important or relevant AT1

Pupils will be able to relate the words of the Hail Mary to scripture AT1 Pupils will be able to describe some ways in which the Saints lived out their faith.

AT1 Pupils will use religious words like Saint, Disciple in context AT1 Pupils will be able to ask and respond to questions about the experiences and feelings

of Mary and the Saints. AT2 They will be able to ask the question ‘Could I be a Saint?’ AT 2

Pupils working at greater depth within expected standard would be expected to cover the age-related outcomes and in addition may be able to do some of the following:

Pupils will be able to give reasons for the actions of the Saints AT1 Pupils will be able to compare their own and other ideas to the question ‘Could I be a

Saint?’AT2 Pupils will be able to explain some of the symbolism used in Images of Mary AT1

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Engage

What is a Saint? Using the words provided, have pupils work in pairs to try and choose the qualities they think a saint must have. They could rank them in order of importance. Share their ideas with others. Try to explain why the qualities they picked are important. There are two blank cards where they could add in their own ideas if they wanted words which were not on the list. Alternatively, you could look at a wordle on Saints (one attached for example) and pick out the words that they think are appropriate. AT2

Explore and Express

Studied the life of at least one saint. (I have included work on Don Bosco but you can choose your own, perhaps your school saint). The idea would be to compare their life to the qualities chosen as necessary for a Saint. It is important to try to show them as real people. Tell the story, then pupils could complete the template or draw an image of the person and put key information around the image. (Cafod has examples and stories of other saints on their website – you may need to adapt. In each case try to refer back to the qualities needed to be a saint- there is a template included for use in recording information.)

The words of a song about Don Bosco are attached - you may want to use this as an extension activity. If so, please download the music from BAND CAMP. It is by Martin Poulsom the link is https://martinpoulsom.bandcamp.com/track/friend-of-the-young-a-prayer-to-don-bosco There is no fixed price. Please pay at least a pound as the money goes to continue the work of the Salesians today. To answer the questions, they will need to select the relevant information.

Ask the question could you be a saint? Read the words of Pope Francis on being a Saint. (I have adapted this as it was originally said to Adults). Ask is it easy to be a saint? (Note this is an AT3 response) Make a collage called being a Saint. Put key words showing people today doing those things. (You could ask “who do you know today who is a Saint?”)

This next section looks at Mary. Remind pupils that Catholics believe that when Mary was young she had to make a choice. Would she agree to become the mother of Jesus as God asked? Because she did, Mary holds a special place in the Church and the hearts of People. Show the images of Mary. Ask which one they like and why? Why do people from different countries often show Mary as being like themselves? (Seen as Mother for all - someone we can all belong to etc.) Some of these pictures have symbols; I have included information on 2 of these. (You would probably only want to use these with children working above age related expectations)

You could also play the hymn Gentle Woman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RERoQ1biLdE

What words would we use to describe Mary? Which Pictures best show these words. Can they draw their own image of Mary surrounding the image with words they think are important? AT1 &AT2

Study the Hail Mary If you have time and what to look at the Rosary there is a nice piece of work at

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/re/pdfs/17rosary.pdf

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Prayerful Rich

Poor Courageous

Trustworthy Honesty

Friendly Kind

Be intelligent Go to Church

Priest or a Nun Listens to God

A man A woman

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Willing to change A Good listener

Caring Unselfish

Keeps on trying Forgiving

Old Young

Hard working Generous

? ?

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A Song about Don Bosco

When you were young you felt a calling; even at nine years old, you dreamed a dream for life. The Father led you through changes, revealing all he arranges; he gave you friends for the journey and a home where you became friend of the young.

ChorusDa mihi animas, long may we walk your way! Pray for us now, as you lead us to the Father; Pray for us now, friend of the young.

Throughout your life, Christ was your teacher; the home the Father gave became a school of love. Young people teaching each other, finding Christ as their brother; learning a trade and compassion and to know they were loved by you, friend of the young.

Alongside the young, the Spirit led you on a path of hope, companionship and joy

A gift from God, a Father for the young; a humble man with many dreams, loved by everyone. Our lives grow closer together, as you lead us to our Saviour. We celebrate and give glory to the one who brought us to the friend of the young.

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What dream did John have?

What changes did John see in his life?

How did John help young people?

How do you think John helps us today?

What is a Saint? By Pope Francis

Saints are NOT

Supermen and superwomen who are born perfect.

Saints Never

Hate other people or try to tell God what to do or think they know best

Saints are

Ordinary people who put their trust in God and try to listen to God. They can make mistakes, but they try to change

Saints try to

Forgive, serve others, show real love in the way they care for others, they don’t judge other people and they bring hope to others. They try to show others, by the way they live, how much God cares about people.

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The Life of St John Bosco

He was born in a small village at the foot of the Italian Alps in 1815. His father was a farmer. When he was two, his father died and his mum was left to bring up John and his two brothers.

The family wasn’t well off and John had to work hard on the farm. He began to mix with boys who were older than he was and who fought a lot. But John was tough as well and he gave as good as he got. His mum worried about him and tried to talk him out of mixing with them.

When he was about 9 he had an odd dream. He saw two of the boys he mixed with fighting and swearing. In the dream he rushed into the middle of them to try to separate them, but then they both turned on John and laughed and jeered at him; they made fun of him for having no dad. John got angry and yelled at them, then punched them. In real life he had done this a few times. In the dream however, he suddenly saw the figure of a man beside him. The man spoke to him saying “not that way John, don’t use violence try being kind to them instead”. John asked the man how he could do this and the man said, “don’t worry just as your mum already helps you, my mum will help you too”. Suddenly in the dream a beautiful woman appeared. “Look” she said and showed John a field full of wild angry animals like wolves and bears. As she walked amongst them they all turned to lambs. “This” she said, “is what you must do” Then John woke up.

The following day John told his family about the dream. His older brothers laughed at him and said it proved he was only good enough to be a shepherd. His grandmother told him dreams were meaningless and he should ignore it. But his mum got quiet and thoughtful. She spoke to John when the others had gone and said she wondered if it meant God was asking him to be a priest and help young people. She told him she thought the beautiful lady might be Mary.

As John grew older he couldn’t forget the dream. Once he saw a priest on the street and went up to say hello, but the priest was rude and ignored him. John was angry, but he told himself that if he ever got to be a priest he would never ignore anyone.

When the circus came to town John was really impressed and asked them to teach him to juggle and walk a tightrope. He learned really quickly and did it well but, something inside of him told him, the circus life was not for him.

At the village fair he performed the tricks he had learnt, and everyone told him he could make a living being a circus performer. At the fair however he also met a young man who was studying for the priesthood. As John listened to him he realised that being a priest is what he really wanted to do. However, to be a priest you need to study at school and John could not go to school, as his family did not have any money to send him there. In those days, you had to pay to go to school! However, another priest, an elderly man, was impressed with John and agreed to teach him the subjects he needs to know.

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Then just as things were going well, everything began to go wrong. John had an older step brother Anthony. Anthony did not like John very much, he thought John was lazy; he was always saying that John was just wasting time with books and not helping on the farm. He threw John out of the house and told John not to come back. His mother wanted to help but Anthony made it clear that as long as he was running the farm John wasn’t welcome. So, still a young teenager, John found himself on the streets, homeless and with no money.

He could have given up but he believed that no matter what God would still be with him. He met a neighbour who had no children to help and he took John on as a shepherd boy.

The next few years were hard for John, working as shepherd and trying to study where he could. The elderly priest who was helping him study then died, so John felt even more alone.

Then his mum sent him news that Anthony had left to go and run his own farm. Finally, John could go home. He studied really hard and at 20 he was finally able to start his training as a priest.

When training as a priest he got permission to run a boys’ club. The circus tricks he learned as a child come in useful when he was working with the young people. John realised that there were many children who couldn’t get to school and who were homeless. He knew what that felt like and was determined to help

When he became a priest, he began work in Turin, a large city. I n Italy when you became a priest you received the title Don. So, John became Don Bosco.

In Turin there were many slum areas and a lot of people were really poor. Children worked in factories almost as slaves with no proper wages, and often the dangerous conditions in the factory left them ill or hurt. Most of the boys drifted into crime.

John had no money but, he started gathering boys together to talk to them about God; he told them even if no one else cared for them God did. He said Mass for them, helped them believe in themselves and took them out into the countryside to have some fun. They had to meet in a different place each time because people didn’t like seeing the large groups of boys – they were afraid of them.

Eventually, John got a permanent place where they could meet. It was really run down but they worked at fixing it up and over 500 boys began meeting there. One night a really young child knocked on John’s door. He was freezing cold, ill, and starving. He said his mum had died, he had no other family and didn’t know what to do. John realised that the boys didn’t just need a place to meet but they also needed a home. So, he built one. Then he realised the boys needed skills and a trade if they were ever to escape poverty, so he built a school as well. It wasn’t easy. He had to persuade people to give money and he had to do some of the work himself but, John always trusted in God and somehow it happened. Though John never had any money for himself – sometimes when his clothes wore out he had to borrow new ones off friends - he always found the money to help others.

Other priests came to join him and John and a group of women, who wished to become nuns, came to help look after the girls. Eventually they formed a new religious order called the Salesians of Don Bosco. John told them to always pray,

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always trust in God and always remember that people, especially children, were won over not by shouting but by kindness.

Today there are currently almost 16,000 members (priests and brothers) in the congregation, working in 131 countries around the world. There are also 14,000 Salesian sisters working in 93 countries in the world.

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Name of Saint

Were they always perfect? Give an example of when they were not perfect

What was life like for them growing up?

What did they do in their lives?

Why do you think they are a saint?

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Hail Mary, full of grace. the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death.Amen.

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Who said these words to Mary?

Elizabeth said these words to Mary.

Can you remember when?

Why do you think we call Mary the mother of God?

Who are the sinners?

Our lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of the Angels (Slide 12 in the Power Point)

This explanation is from the cathedral

Mary does not wear the traditional veil. Her arms are bare, outstretched to welcome all. Her carriage is confident, and her hands are strong, the hands of a working woman. From the side can be seen a thick braid of hair down her back that summons thoughts of Native American or Latina women. Other characteristics, such as her eyes, lips and nose convey Asian, African and Caucasian features. Without the conventional regal trappings of jewels, crown or layers of clothing, she has a dignity that shines from within. The window above suggests a halo showing holiness and it also shines the Suns light on her representing God’s love enfolding her. She stands on the moon (this comes from revelation).

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