Chapter: Discovering Your Identity (Identity and Happiness)
Terms, People, Places -Human Person: We have a body and a soul. We are the only creatures God made in His image and likeness, made to love and be loved. All other earthly creatures are made for our beneft. Every person is unique and unrepeatable. -Saint -Theology of the Body Main Ideas Questions/Activities 1.Map: 3 questions: a.Who are you? i.What makes you you? Clothes? Friends? Sports you play? Music? What does it mean to really be human? b.Where are you headed? i.Whats your goal? To make it to the weekend? To get new stuf? To get your license? Graduating from high school or college? Getting married? But then what? None of these really answer the big question, the real goal: our goal is heaven, as a real relationship with a real God. c.And how are you going to get there? i.Some people act as if any road they take will take them to heaven, but it doesnt work that way. If you want to get where youre going, you have to follow the right road. Our road is Jesus, who says, Follow Me. You may have 1.Story: Lost and needing a map 2.Discussion Questions 3.Activity: If you had to explain human beings to an alien who had never met one, how would you do it? Have students brainstorm and have volunteers write their ideas on the board, or break them into small groups and have them make lists on poster-board. This allows for students to steer their personal experiences toward an understanding of the human person. 4.5 dimensions 5.Review: distinctly human capacities are intellect, free will, and the ability to love. Video 1.3 big questions 2.What is TOB? 3.Whats the Big deal about identity? a.What we do really needs to come from who we are? E.g. avoid temptation by saying that its not who we are; telling the tempter: that thats not who I am. Good answer because we cant live just for rules. Rules are for our good, but we have to know what our good is: to become who god created us to be. E.g. building house on sand The Religion Teacher www.thereligionteacher.com heard this a million times, and maybe you believe it a little. But to follow him means to follow him in your everyday life: where you are going this weekend, who you are going with, what you text, what you do when you turn on the computer. These things are important because they decide where were going to end up. This program is going to answer the questions of who you are and where you are headed. In this program, you will fnd your own map to happiness. 2.We experience the desire to be free and make our own choices; but we need to have an idea of what to do with our freedom. we need something to guide us, we need to know what human persons actually need to thrive and survive. freedom is not doing whatever you want, and happiness is not about having fun and avoiding problems. 3.What does it mean to be human? Who are you as a human person? True nature of the human person a.We are the pinnacle of Gods creation because we are made of the stuf of heaven (spirit) as well as the stuf of the earth (body). b.This makes us earthly creatures with a heavenly homeland. c.YouCat 62: men are bodily and spiritual creatures. Our spirit is more than our bodies, and cannot be explained in terms of material things. Both the body and the spirit must be united and seen as good; vs. building house on rock. The world around you is flled with false identities that do not stand the test of time. You and I need to stand on rocks when our identities are tested. 4.How does my relationship with God help my relationships with others? a.Look at the lives of those who put god frst in their life (e.g. mother Teresa and her story. Her intimate relationship with God transformed the way she dealt with people on a daily basis). b.The root of charity: love himself, which is God. Do we refect this love? Or not? 5.What will make me happy? a.Love. You matter; your presence gives light to another person. your deeds refect love; love can hurt and lead to sufering, but it fulflls us and makes us happy, even if we are sufering. 6.WORKBOOK: Story Starter 7.Street Talk: Who are you? in 5 words or less 8.TRIVIA (Review) a.Build house on rock b.What are the 3 big questions? (who are you, where are you headed? How are you going to get there?) c.what is our real goal? (unscramble) heaven d.Fill in blank: St. blank gave us the TOB e.Blessed blank was an avidskiier, lived in Italy, and kied of polio: Pier Giorgio Frassati. The Religion Teacher www.thereligionteacher.com the soul causes the body to be a living human body, and the body reveals the soul. d.YouCat 58: created in Gods image: unlike inanimate objects, plants, and animals, man is a person endowed with a spirit. this characteristic unites him with God more than with his visible fellow creatures (355-57; 380). Man is not something but someone. Man can think beyond the here and now; he can know himself critically and improve himself; he can perceive others as persons and love them. e.We are diferent from animals because we are persons, which means that through our understanding and will we can decide for or against love. f. CCC 1730-1731; 355-357 4.The more freedom you have, the more your happiness depends on your own choices. 5.What is Theology of the Body? Pope John Paul II spoke about the true meaning of who you are in a collection of talks called the Theology of the Body. It is like a lens that we can view the human person through. a.The world around you is not all bad; but it is certainly confused about what makes a person special and what makes a person happy.it sometimes gives you the idea that you are worth nothing more than how good you look, how well you perform, and how much you own. b.One of Gods ways of helping humanity is to inspire holy men and women with wisdom to share with others. These people are The Religion Teacher www.thereligionteacher.com known as saints. St. JPII was inspired to answer those questions you have about identity and happiness. Theology of the body is a collection of talks that asks and answers two big questions: Who am I? How should I live? the teaching is like a map that reveals how our visible bodies can express the truth about our invisible souls. It reveals many things about our relationships with God and others. Critical Thinking Opportunities The Religion Teacher www.thereligionteacher.com