A Fertile Heart - Year 4 (S) by fertileheart.org.uk

Key Stage 2 Year 4

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Love is creative. To have a fertile heart is to love, grow and make a positive difference.

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Children have a natural desire to love. They have a longing to make a difference. They love growing. A Fertile Heart helps them understand that these desires are all connected. God’s first words to us were, “Be fertile!” And the whole of the Bible teaches us that we are fertile through healthy, loving relationships – with God and each other. Learning to authentically and appropriately receive and give love leads to us having fertile hearts. Using the concept ‘fertile’ helps the children see the similarity between plants growing through fertile soil, sun and water, and us growing through a caring environment, love and truth.

Key Stage 2: Year 4

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love Panda Press Publishing would like to thank the following contributors to A Fertile Heart: Kathryn Lycett, John Cook, Mary Dickenson, Maryanne Dowle, Bernadette Eakin, Christopher Hancox, Louise Kirk, Gavin McAleer and Rebecca Surman Thanks also to Dr Charlie O’Donnell, Joe Smiles, Michael H. Barton, Mary Flynn, Rev Dr Stephen Morgan and Fr Wayne Coughlin for their kind support. ISBN: 978-0-9930555-6-0 A Fertile Heart KS2 Scripture quotations taken from various authorised translations. Every effort has been made to locate copyright holders and to obtain permission to reproduce sources. For those sources where it has been difficult to trace the originator of the work, we would welcome further information. If any copyright holder would like us to make an amendment, please inform us and we will update our information during the next reprint. All images and illustrations used under licence. Design © 2021 Panda Press Publishing Limited Illustrations and Images: Shutterstock All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher who can be contacted at hello@fertileheart.org.uk British Library Catalogue Publication Data. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Printed and bound in the UK and published under licence by Panda Press Publishing Ltd, 1 Newcastle Street, Stone, Staffordshire, ST15 8JU Company Number 11786188 Printed, bound and distributed in Australia by Createl Publishing, 98 Logistics Street, Keilor Park, Victoria 3042, t: 03 9336 0800, f: 03 9336 0900, www.createl.com.au Keep in touch Facebook @afertileheart Linkedin.com/company/a-fertile-heart Twitter @afertileheart visit A Fertile Heart at www.fertileheart.org.uk Version 7, September 2021

Imprimatur:

Nihil Obstat for KS2, 3 & 4: Reverend Jonathan Veasey. Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, 30th November 2020.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

04/07/2018

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Coat_of_arms_of_George_Stack.svg

1/1

Foreword His Grace George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “The Glory of God is humanity fully alive”. Thus wrote St. Irenaeus in the 3rd century. His words remain true to this day. They mean that God is the creator of the gift of life. In that gift, each human person receives a share in His own creative love. His revelation in life and love, as well as through creation, is pure gift. This is the ‘grace’ of which we speak, in order that “we may have life and have it to the full” (Gospel of St. John 10:10). This truth lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is what it means to be truly human. The gift of life is bestowed by God in order that we may flourish and thrive. We do this in the first place simply by living with gratitude. We do it by responding to His love in a life of joyful communion with Him. We express it by actively engaging in the good of others so that mutual ‘flourishing’ may take place. The more we give, the more we receive. The ‘Gospel of Life’ outlined above is, indeed, ‘Good News’. It is revealed in every aspect of human nature and creation itself. This is the life-giving teaching we seek to hand on to our children who are “the messages we send to tomorrow”. The Rite of Baptism reminds us that parents are the first and best teachers of their children. The Catholic school exists primarily to educate children to receive and respond to God’s love for each one of them and for all. Our schools are designed to help parents fulfil their God given task of caring for their children in the school of love. The Catholic school is not just a place for professional education – existing for improvement in learning - important though that is. It is a place of formation, a place in which ‘lessons for life’ are imparted, received and shared. The whole school community teaches and learns these lessons in a truly Catholic environment. Human relationships are obviously at the heart of life and flourishing. We are made to relate to each other, body, mind and spirit. The physical, emotional and spiritual reality of our being are part and parcel of the ‘holy trinity’ of each one of us. Thus affective sexuality education is a crucial part of human formation. A Fertile Heart is the culmination of several years work of dedicated individuals [teachers, theologians, education advisers and parents] from within the dioceses of Birmingham, Cardiff, Clifton, Arundel and Brighton and Shrewsbury. They have worked tirelessly to create a resource which puts the human person and the flourishing of our pupils at the heart of the Catholic school. It is offered as an important aid to pupils, parents, teachers, governors and clergy to remind us all that “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning God had meant us to live it” (Ephesians 2:10).

Introduction If you don’t know how a car works, you’re not likely to be able to fix it. If you don’t know something about how crops grow, you’re not likely to be a great farmer. If you don’t understand a mobile phone, you’re not likely to get the most out of it. Understanding what it is to be a human person will help us know how to think and act, and so be happy and fulfilled. This booklet is the second stage of a curriculum that goes from Reception to Y11, comprising 11 modules for Years 3-6. A Fertile Heart seeks to give a coherent vision of what it is to be human, empowering the young person to understand themselves more deeply, and therefore make better, more informed choices. In KS1 we focused on Bible stories to help the children learn about life, growing and love. This continues in Y3, with a focus on Jesus in John’s Gospel, and in particular on: receiving and giving; Jesus being our light and living water; decreasing in selfishness so that we can increase in life and love; and bearing much fruit in union with Jesus. In Y4 we begin to turn to reason more, to help the children grasp the foundational understandings of personhood and relationship. Just as there is no point in branching out into other subjects if children have not learnt how to read, write and do arithmetic, so it is more important to thoroughly cover the essentials than it is to cover a breadth of less important things. Thus, personhood, relationship, dignity, freedom, happiness, tolerance and the importance of being rational and being open to faith are all dealt with thoroughly. Some concepts are introduced that maybe, by themselves, don’t seem central. Please be assured that they are, as will be more apparent in looking at the whole curriculum. Two very important dimensions to being human are the need for love and relationship, and the desire to grow and make a meaningful difference. We can only truly grow and make a meaningful difference if we have meaning and purpose. Thus, underpinning PSE/PSHE and RHE/RHSE is the need to help the pupil to understand themselves: both in their given-ness - including what it is to be human - and in their uniqueness - their personhood. Key to gaining correct self-understanding is the ability to think correctly. If they don’t get that process right they won’t understand themselves correctly and be able to withstand destructive pressures from within and without. As humans, therefore, we have to come to understand ourselves in the light of reason. Crucially, authentic faith strengthens reason and opens it up to deeper realities. This curriculum is completely set against the polarisation of faith and reason. Whether referring to faith or not, it always seeks to reflect and think things through logically, and help the young person to slowly learn to do the same. Central to the understanding of being human is that we are called to be fertile. We use ‘fertile’ and ‘fruitful’ interchangeably in KS2 - with the emphasis on growing, helping others to grow and making a difference. At the core of reality, all creativity comes from the communion of persons in reciprocal complementary unity. Reciprocal complementarity is when, as well as the equality of personhood, the God-given differences between persons shape the relationship between them in a bond of mutual love. This is true of God himself, and of the relationship of each of us with God, and with each other. Within this creativity is the fertility of procreation, but so are all dimensions of creativity and growth. KS2 will focus on this general truth, helping every pupil to gradually get in touch with their deeper fertility at the heart of their personhood, and their ability to cooperate with others for the good of all. This will allow us, in KS3 and 4, to situate procreational fertility within this deeper, richer understanding of the communion of persons, and uniquely, marriage. This prevents sexuality, sex and parenthood being dealt with in a reduced or even merely functional way. This curriculum is not dumbed down. Some of the concepts dealt with might challenge the pupils and stretch them, but all modules have been tried and tested and found to really engage and lead on the young person. Please persevere in rational trust! The last three modules, on faith and science, are more specialist and so the modules and powerpoints are enhanced by extended podcasts, embedded in the powerpoints and available separately on our website. The modules often refer to parents and family - and obviously your pupils will be in very diverse family situations: you will know best how to keep the example but communicate it sensitively. The curriculum deliberately does not deal with reproductive biology, as we think this is best done discretely. And finally life is joyful. The modules are open to a sense of fun - please use that opening!

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Family Involvement The Church consistently speaks of the triangle of family, parish and school that, working together, truly help the young person grow. With increased emphasis on a school’s responsibility to help the child grow in RHE/RHSE, it is essential to seek parental involvement. These modules are written with this in mind. Each module has various suggested activities, with corresponding downloadable worksheets when needed. Perhaps one of these activities could be adapted or continued - or one of your own used - for the child to go home and discuss with their parent/carer, with a view to returning to school with something to add to the subject. The worksheet might sometimes help with this. Modules & Prayer The 44 topics included here are called modules, not lessons. Piloting the curriculum revealed that much more was gained from each topic being visited over the week focusing on a lesson, rather than being simply a stand-alone lesson. The home activity and follow-up discussion in the class complement this. Thus, a quote from the module might be on the whiteboard Monday morning - with a little five-minute discussion on it during the day, the main lesson be on Tuesday and a continuation take place later in the week, after the home activity. This more holistic approach also helps communicate to the children the importance of learning about themselves: situating self-understanding at the heart of education, not merely being an imposed add-on. At the heart of this self-understanding is the truth that we discover ourselves in relationship, especially with God. Therefore, from module 4e onwards, the lessons start with a meditative prayer (except for 6e when it is part of the lesson, and 6i-k when it is at the end). The concepts and truths learnt here are always secondary to the reality of that relationship. Planting Seeds The whole curriculum starts, in Reception, with both the creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2. These are filled with fertile images of gardens, seed and fruit, which show us that God’s call to man and woman to ‘Be fertile!’ (Gen. 1:28) isn’t separate from the fertility of all life. Thus, we also encouraged the children to plant and tend seeds as a living backdrop to their learning. This could be done again in Y3, especially in conjunction with their science module. This gives a good setting for exploring that, for instance, being loved and belonging is the fertile soil of us growing, that the light of truth helps us grow, that grace waters us into life, and that true freedom and tolerance mean we can all grow together. We are unique within creation as being able to think, choose and relate to each other and our Creator. This means we can consent to what we are, and cooperate in our growth. Such obedience is like being directed towards the sun (cf. key point in module 4h & drama in 4i), and allows us to grow in true beauty. At the heart self-understanding is the knowledge that I need to receive from God before I can respond, and give - and this is eloquently reflected in the seed receiving light, nutrients and water and then being able to blossom and seed itself. Starting at Y5 or Y6 A strength of this curriculum is its integrated, developing vision. However, a side-effect of this is that it is slightly harder to immediately enter into it at the start of Y5 or 6. This will, obviously, only be a problem in the first year of using A Fertile Heart. The glossary provided helps if words that have been thought through in Y5 say, suddenly appear in Y6. References back to previous modules should also be an aid. However, if the children can be won over to accept modules from earlier years, there would be benefits, as a one-off, in completing Y4 and Y5 modules in Y5, and a selection of Y4 and 5 modules, and then all of Y6 ones, in Y6.

Glossary Person A rational being for whom relationship is central to their fulfilment and happiness. This is a richer understanding than ‘individual’, which can mean a thinking being whose fulfilment is found primarily in themselves. Fertility The capacity to cooperate in growth. We are not Creators, but we are not sterile either: we can cooperate in our own growth, the growth of the other and the relationship between us. We tend to think in terms of babies when we hear the word fertile, but you can have fertile crops or a fertile imagination or intellect, etc. Understanding fertility in this broader sense helps us understand that it is as a person that you are fertile, not primarily as a gender: every person is called to be fertile in this sense and every person can be. It is through communion with God and each other, in love, that we are most fertile. Freedom The ability to readily act in complete accord with my true nature - in harmony with who I truly am. True human freedom always seeks truth and love. The false understanding of freedom is to be able to do what I like. Tolerance Respect for the other’s true freedom. (So, if we misunderstand freedom, we will misunderstand tolerance as well.) Nature The given-ness of something, of who I am. Justice Acting in accord with the nature of things. Joy The deepest experience of being alive, growing, and being in life-giving relationship; of being and living in accord with who I truly am. Initiator The one who takes a lead in a relationship of love: not a controller or someone who dominates, but one who initiates out of love for the other. In turn, the initiator receives from the receiver & responder. Receiver & Responder The one who first receives from the initiator in a communion of love, and loves in return by accepting the love offered and responding to it. In the Bible, this receiving of love is often called obedience or submission, but in a respectful way that is in no way demeaning, and is fulfilled in the response - often an initiating in itself - being then received by the initiator, and responded to, etc. - resulting in a life-giving relationship of mutual submission and respect. Reciprocal Complementarity This is the relationship of love between initiator and receiver & responder, where both persons benefit from the other and their genuine differences enrich each other. It helps us see how right order in relationship does not mean domination, but rather can be mutually beneficial. It can be seen that the three above definitions are interconnected. This relationship is primarily between persons, but can also be between things - such as reason and emotions. Appropriate Vulnerability Relationship and intimacy require a certain vulnerability on behalf of both persons. Especially as we are growing, we can tend towards too little vulnerability or too much. Appropriate vulnerability is the ability to allow one’s relationships to grow steadily and with appropriate boundaries, that benefit both persons.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Year 4 Modules a-k

Contents: Year 4 In Y4 we focus more on reason - though in harmony with faith. From 4e to 6k there is a prayer session in each module, so that whatever is learnt enters the children into a deeper relationship with God, and his family - rather than it just being ‘learning facts’. NB There are alternative modules 4j and 4k for C of E schools. Module 4a: Made In the Image of God To understand that we are made in the image of God, and it is only by trying to understand what that means that we can truly understand ourselves. Our faith and our reason help us to do this. Module 4b: Happiness To understand what makes us happy: God; relationship - being loved and loving; things that make us grow, feel alive; making a difference. We call long-term happiness joy, and short term happiness pleasure. Pleasure should complement joy, not replace it. Module 4c: Happiness, Conscience and Emotions To further understand the difference between joy and pleasure. To understand that emotions often encourage us to seek pleasure; faith, reason and conscience encourage us to seek joy. Module 4d: God is Happy! Let’s be like God To understand more about who God is, and therefore, what we are truly like, since we are made in his image. Module 4e: Adopted by God: Receiving his Love We are made in the image of God, but we are not God - we reflect him. An important things for me to understand about myself is that, even regarding me, God is the initiator and I am the receiver-responder. Module 4f: Obedience in Jesus We are receivers and responders to the Father, in love. This is connected with obedience, and sometimes obedience can seem demeaning: Jesus shows that obedience to the Father is the way to happiness. He teaches us what true submission and dominion are - and how they only ‘work’ within loving unity. Module 4g: Life Cycles and Life Spirals To see how in all life there is growth and there are cycles. To understand how this applies to me. Module 4h: I don’t quite work correctly - and that’s okay! Initially, I know nothing about myself! However, I do have impulses and desires in me, even if I know nothing about them. Some of these, we discover, are not good for us - which can be hard to admit, and confusing. We need to understand where they come from, and how best to shape them into something good. Module 4i: God saves me from me! To reflect on our experience that although I and humanity are good, there is something self-destructive in us all. Nothing we can do by ourselves can put that right - we need saving, not primarily from bad things happening to us, but from ourselves. Jesus is that Saviour - thank God. Module 4j: Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation We are called to receivers and responders to the Father’s love, united in the Son. The Sacraments of Initiation - Baptism,Communion and Confirmation - are central to this. Baptism makes us children of God - receiving. Confirmation empowers us to fully live like children of God - responding. Holy Communion unites us fully to Christ, in whom we receive and respond. Module 4k: The Mass, the Sacraments and God’s Life To fully grow in the image of the Son; we must be perfectly united to him in receiving from and responding to God the Father. The Sacraments of Initiation give us the capacity to do this, but it is the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass that uniquely brings it about. From this, all other sacraments help us too, as do all authentic, loving actions of the Church and her sons and daughters.

Made in the Image of God

Learning Objective To understand - through both reason and faith - that we are made in the image of God. We long to understand ourselves fully. To do this we need to use our thinking. Faith guides this thinking, but doesn’t replace it. We live in a culture that has almost completely bought into the idea that reason and faith are opposites, holding that reason deals with objective truth and faith deals with opinions. Faith is relegated to superstition. Before our pupils encounter that cynicism towards their faith, they need to understand that true faith is completely rational, and invites them to think clearly about who they are, and what is true. Both faith and reason help us understand that we are made in the image of God; both faith and reason help us understand what that means. Step 1 Show, say, a statue or an image of one - a more abstract one might work better. Ask: What questions would you ask if you wanted to know about it? Hopefully: What is it? Of what is it made? How was it made? Who made it? Once they’ve asked this one they can ask: Why did they make it? How were they able? Step 2 Show some pictures of famous people for the children to identify (saints as well as footballers, pop singers etc.) Ask them to suggest questions they would like to ask about them. Guide the discussion towards the children wanting to know the person’s own story, about what is going on inside them. (Activity 1.) Step 3

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’.” Gen. 1:26-28

We may not be famous (yet!) but it’s the same with us. Ask: Who knows themselves completely? If the children think they do, then pose some questions. How tall will you be when you are an adult? Do you enjoy alligator meat? What are your best abilities? (Activity 2.)

Success Criteria Key Point It is the same with us as with the sculpture and the famous person. To really understand myself I need to ask “Who made me?’”and “What is going on inside me?”

1. I can explain what image and likeness mean. 2. I can identify the relationship between faith and reason. 3. I can recognise how faith and reason combine to help me to understand me.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Step 4

Suggested Activities

Explain: Faith and reason both tell me that I didn’t make myself. Mum and Dad were important in this, but even they couldn’t create me. God created me. We can’t make anything without giving of ourselves; that is why we feel good when we make things. Everything we make reflects us in some way. God is the same; he can’t create anything that doesn’t in some way reflect him. But we are special reflections because we can relate to him. If we reflect him, we can say that we are made in his image and likeness. When we love, we reflect him more, but first of all we reflect him simply in who we are, in our being. Collectively read Genesis 1: 26-28. Watch https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IeueTdUskos Made in the Image (3:09). This is a catchy song. It reinforces everything we’ve said up to now, and leads nicely into the call to make a difference. Display the following concept: Man is made in his image. Woman is made in his image, but extra especially man and woman are made in his image. You are made in his image. Listen again to this reading from the very first page of the Bible. What are the very first words God says to us? Be fruitful. What does this mean? Make a difference. So, who wants to make a difference? Who wants to help other people to grow? Give the children opportunities to suggest ways they could do this. One of our deepest desires is to make a difference, to be creative. This is not surprising as we are made in the image of the creator. (Activities 3 and 4.)

1. Use IWB or a set of pictures to show children various famous people. See if they know who they are, then ask them what questions they would like to ask them. 2. Hot seat any child willing to answer questions about ‘who am I?’ - finish with ‘who made you?’ and, ‘what is going on inside you?’ 3. Children to make posters or badges “I’m going to make a difference by.....” 4. Children to plan and carry out a class project where they could make a difference e.g. a cake sale, raising money for charity, helping to weed the school garden etc.

Suggested Resources 1. Abstract statue, or pictures of one. 2. Pictures of famous people, celebrities and saints, on either IWB or photocopies. 3. IWB flipchart or flashcards listing some things the children may not know about themselves to prompt discussion.

I am made in God’s image.

Summary To help us understand who we are, we have to understand that we are made in the image of God. Firstly we reflect him because we are persons, because of who we are. But also, he is the Creator, so if we are made in his image we should be creative; we have been made to make a difference. Something very important happens in me when I do try to make a difference - I grow - and by reflecting on this I also grow in understanding who I truly am.

Happiness

Learning Objective To determine what makes me truly happy. A common starting point for thinking about what it is to be human is happiness, because you won’t find a person who doesn’t want to be happy. Jesus teaches us what makes us happy (especially in the Beatitudes, Mt. 5:1-11), but we can also work it out from experience, if we are honest. What we really long for is joy, not pleasure: things go wrong when we forget that. In fact, sin is when we choose pleasure over joy: if sin didn’t bring any happiness, we wouldn’t do it, but it is such a short term, surface happiness.

“We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not agree with this.” St Augustine, CCC 1718

Step 1 Recall prior learning: To understand ourselves better we need to remember that we are made in the image of God, and try to get in touch with what goes on inside us. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utr6j92oN_Y Made in your image (3:40). Discuss & mind map: What would you say are the best bits about being human? The best bits about being you? Think: What do all these things have in common? (Play extracts from the suggested music resources). They make us happy! What else makes you happy? Discuss and take feedback. Make a list on the IWB/flipchart. Step 2 Ask the children if they know anyone who wants to be unhappy (to help them understand that they will never meet anyone who says, “I hope I’m unhappy tomorrow. I’m fed up of being happy.”) Given that, is there anything else that they can add to the list on the IWB/flipchart that also makes us happy? Allow time for discussion and scribe any additional suggestions. Then sort answers independently, or in pairs, into three columns (short, medium and long-term happiness). Model how to sort some of the items, making a few “mistakes” so that the children can challenge your thinking, then allow time to sort and discuss. Step 3 Highlight links between grouped points: Long-term relates to persons – family, God, friends. Medium-term relates to growing and making a difference. Shortterm should be about fun stuff, things.

Key Point Love stays with you, growth remains - so the joy they give is renewed constantly, not so with things. Obviously, these boundaries won’t always be clear cut to the children, but more or less, they should separate like this. If someone is obstinate that their computer game makes them happy long term, then just assure them - in a constructive way - that they are going to be very unhappy in life if they continue to think that.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Success Criteria 1. I can explain that happiness comes through my relationship with God and others (being loved and loving). 2. I can explain the difference between things that make me happy for a short time (pleasure) and things that make me happy for a long time (joy). 3. I can understand that joy will make me happier than pleasure.

“Only he who makes man makes man happy.” St Augustine, YouCat p. 166

Step 4

Suggested Activities

Look back at the flipchart and draw out that some things make us happier than others; relationship and persons are most important, followed by growing and making a difference. God tells us to love and make a difference, the very things that make us happy. He also reveals that love gives life, so loving is the deepest way of making a difference. If we really reflect on happiness, we understand that at its heart, it is feeling alive. God has also made things pleasurable to encourage us to do what is good for us, but this goes wrong if we put pleasure above joy: e.g. eating all the sweets instead of sharing. Ask the children to come up with more examples of this. Being spiritually alive - as a person - is more important than being physically alive (though of course, depends on it really). Therefore, things that make us spiritually alive make us happier. (Activities 1 and 2.)

1. Children to record a Happiness Journey, depicting a road towards happiness, showing short-, medium- and long-term milestones along the way. This could be done individually in workbooks, or in small groups on sheets of sugar paper for display purposes. 2. Children to plan a prayer service in small groups to deliver to Key Stage 2 pupils based around happiness – use the model: Gather, Listen, Respond, Go Forth.

Suggested Resources 1. “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “Happiness is Here” (Disney), “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, Bobby McFerrin or similar, all on YouTube. 2. Flashcards with “the best bits about being me” to start the discussion. 3. IWB flip-chart, to enable children to drag/sort suggestions. 4. “Happiness Journey” worksheet or sugar paper/felt tips etc. for posters posters (or use downloadable smaller version.) Let’s be happy together.

Summary Everyone wants to be happy, but lots of people aren’t. I have to understand what is most important to me as a human person, and act accordingly, to be happy. If I always act as though love and persons are most important to me, followed by growing and making a difference, followed by things, then I will be happy. Question: Does this mean we will always be happy? (Bad things can still happen to us, and can bring unhappiness for a time, but even this can’t stop someone being happy for very long, if they know the importance of God, other people, truly growing and making a difference.)

Happiness, Conscience and Emotions

Learning Objective

“Conscience is the inner voice in a man that moves him to do good under any circumstances and to avoid evil by all means. At the same time it is the ability to distinguish one from the other. In the conscience, God speaks to man.”

To understand that emotions often encourage us to seek pleasure; faith, reason and conscience encourage us to seek joy. We have learnt that we all want to be happy, we always choose things that make us happy, but sometimes we choose things that make us happy long-term and others short-term: joy and pleasure. Ultimately, seeking pleasure makes us unhappy because it doesn’t lead to loving or spiritual growth. An extraordinary thing about being human is that we start off knowing absolutely nothing, including nothing about ourselves. And yet we have lots of longings and impulses within us. Happiness comes from gradually understanding these longings, and ordering them and integrating them properly (Mt. 6:33). Every time we choose to follow an impulse we give it greater strength within us - this is the path of virtue or vice. The more I am patient, the more (slowly!) I become a patient person. The more often I eat chocolate, the more often I have an impulse to eat chocolate… Each of us has self-awareness. It’s an amazing thing! But I am much more immediately aware of my physical and emotional life than I am of my spiritual life. In fact, the only way I get in touch with my spiritual life is through my physical and emotional life. Initially, my emotions focus on the immediate: pleasure. They are important to me in getting to know myself better but they are not good guides! The trouble is, though our spiritual longings are more important and deeper, we don’t sense them so strongly. So much of life within us is a battle between choosing between my strongest desires and my deepest desires. God has given me a conscience, his inner voice within me which calls me to follow what is most important. Though too much for Y4 children, this is an important backdrop to teach the module. The “Happiness Graph” will be referred to in later modules , so it is important it is used. Step 1 Recall prior learning: We all want to be happy and every choice we make is guided by us wanting to be happy. Ask the children to recall, (using the flipchart and re-sorting if necessary) examples of short-, medium- and long-term pleasure/joy. Introduce the following scenario. You have been invited to your friend’s party on Saturday. You’re really looking forward to it. Why? Discuss and mind map - food, drink, games etc.

YouCat 295, p. 171

Success Criteria 1. I can explain the difference between joy and pleasure. 2. I can understand that my emotions are not reliable guides. 3. I can explain what my conscience is and how it can help me to make good choices.

The Happiness Graph ing

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Happiness

And then on Saturday morning, you fall out with mum because you have been naughty. You go to the party, and although it’s as you’d hoped, you don’t really enjoy it, because deep down, you’re not at rights with mum. Half way through, mum turns up to bring your friend’s birthday present that you’d forgotten. When you see her, you run to her and say sorry. She gives you a big hug and all of a sudden you can enjoy everything about the party as well. Life is like this. We can pretend things that are important aren’t, or things that aren’t are. But it doesn’t make them so. If we are at rights, first with God, then our family, then other people we enjoy the rest of life more too. (Activity 1.)

Bei

Time

Sel

fish

Step 2 Question: Why don’t we always choose what is best for us? We don’t always understand our deeper longings. Draw out that this is often because our emotions often make us react strongly but without reflecting. Our emotions are important, but they are not always good guides. Discuss (talking partners/small groups) to generate ideas. Explore the “Happiness Graph”: being good - often short-term not so happy, long-term happy; sin - short-term happy, long-term unhappy. Explain: Doing good things makes us happy long-term, but in the short-term it can be hard. Give examples and then ask the children for more suggestions. Maybe I have to turn the TV off so as to go and tidy my bedroom. Maybe I have to wait politely for my turn. But, over time, I’m glad I did it, and I have made other people happy too. Being selfish is often enjoyable in the short term. Maybe I keep watching TV, or am mean to my sister, or don’t go to bed. But afterwards, I feel bad, I’ve hurt others, and I’m tired now, or still have a messy bedroom etc. Longterm, it is obvious we should do good. But emotions focus on now, and the more we focus only on now, the more tempting being selfish is. Adults can help children to learn this, but also... Step 3 Explain: There is another voice to help. Question: What is this voice? It is called our conscience. Can anyone explain what that is? It is the voice of God. (The children may be familiar with the image of Jiminy Cricket from “Pinocchio”, or the image of the little angel/devil on the shoulder). Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=DOZzNOkcEgM Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide (3:23) - a light-hearted way to capture something of today’s lesson. The main point is to help the children be aware that there are impulses within us - and outside influences - that try to sway our choices, and our conscience can protect us from these and keep us happy. Discussion/role play about occasions when the children might be guided by their conscience/tempted to ignore it. (Activities 2 and 3.)

Key Point

Suggested Activities 1. The children to use the birthday party scenario and, working in small groups, create a short drama which could be recorded. 2. Downloadable worksheet showing three different dilemmas; the children to create “thought bubbles” for each, showing the conscience at work. 3. Look at an example of an examination of conscience and then let the children write their own.

Suggested Resources 1. Flipchart from the last session, showing examples of short-, medium- and long-term happiness. 2. iPad (or similar) to record the “birthday party” drama. 3. Blank downloadable “thought bubble” worksheet to help. 4. Sample copy of an examination of conscience.

God calls to our minds and hearts to do what is good, so as to be happy and grow. If we listen to our conscience, it grows stronger. If we ignore it, it becomes quieter.

Summary To be truly happy we need to choose things that make us happy long-term, not short-term. In fact we can only enjoy pleasure when we are first joyful: like not enjoying the party until you’d made up with mum. Sin is tempting because we enjoy it, but only short-term. Question: What should guide us? Emotions are important, but are not good guides because they focus on now, not on long-term. Truth, reason and conscience all focus us on long-term, and help us make good choices.

Listen to your conscience! 39

God is Happy! Let’s be like God

Learning Objective To understand more about who God is, and therefore, what we are truly like, since we are made in his image. In the main we have used reason up to now, rather than faith, to understand that we are made by God, in his image; and reflected on our own experiences to understand what makes us happy. Throughout salvation history, God has gradually revealed more of himself to us, and so it is important to turn to the Bible to deepen our knowledge of him, of how he relates to us, and of what we are truly like. Step 1 Display the Key Quote from YouCat (p.16) and read collectively. Explain: Although we can know for certain that there is a God just by thinking about creation, we want to know more about him. Certainly the God who made so much beauty would appear to be a kind God, who loves. It is confusing, if he is so good, that there are bad things in life, we do need to think through that later - though it is worth realising that all the bad things in life are only bad because the good is so good. Falling out is bad, because friendship is so special; being ill is bad because health is so good. Death is very sad because life is so good. Question: How can we find out about God and what he reveals about himself? We can find out because God tells us in the Bible. Just like with anyone – for us to really know someone, they need to tell us about themselves. And God doesn’t just tell us - he shows us. Step 2 Question: So how do we know that God is happy? Again, we find the answer in the Bible. It doesn’t often use the word “happy” because God’s happiness is so much more than pleasure. Instead it uses words like “joy” and “blessed” and “glory”. Ask: What do you think you already know about God? Discuss and mind map. Show the powerpoint “God is” to stimulate discussion and prompt more ideas. Add them to the mind map. Step 3 Question: What does Jesus tell us about God? Read: Luke 15:11-32 (parable of the Prodigal Son/Loving Father) or collectively read the equivalent in a Children’s Bible. What does this tell us about God? (That he is loving, compassionate, generous, forgiving, patient, faithful. And that he enjoys a party and wants everyone to be happy. Everyone. God doesn’t just love you; he’s mad about you!) Discuss and mind map. Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=uR3sFOfGDAg&feature=emb_logo The Lost Son Returns (2:58). (Activities 1 and 2.)

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

Success Criteria 1. I can describe some characteristics of God. 2. I can explain what it means to be made in God’s image. 3. I can explain that I am happy when I receive God’s love and act lovingly myself.

“Man can know by reason that God exists, but not what God is really like. Yet because God would very much like to be known, he has revealed himself.” (YouCat 7 p. 16)

Key Point

Suggested Activities

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). God shows his love in creating us and in guiding us, but most of all in Jesus dying for us. If you were the only one that needed saving, Jesus would still have willingly died, just for you - that’s amazing!

Step 4 Explain: God is not happy and loving, compassionate, kind, forgiving, etc. God is happy because he is loving, compassionate, kind, forgiving, etc. Question: We are made in God’s image. If this is why God is happy, what things are going to make us happy? Exactly - the same things; being loving, kind, compassionate, forgiving, etc. We start off trying to be good, because we should, or because we are told to - but it is even better when we do it because we know it makes us happy.

1. The children make a storyboard for the Prodigal Son to demonstrate their understanding of some of God’s attributes. 2. Write an account of the parable from a different viewpoint; Father, younger son, or elder son.

Suggested Resources 1. “God is” powerpoint. (embedded in 4d powerpoint, and on website.) 2. Images from the parable of the Prodigal Son. 3. Rejoice in the Lord Always. (Youtube video embedded in powerpoint.) 4. Bible/Children’s Bible.

God is forgiving: “His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.” Mt. 18:27

God is our Loving Father.

Summary We can know more about God from him sharing himself with us. We see that he is happy, and that he is loving. Because we are his children, we are happy when we receive his love. Because we are made in his image, we are happy when we love. Conclude by singing the hymn Rejoice in the Lord Always.

Adopted by God: Receiving his Love

Learning Objective To understand that God is the initiator and I am a receiver and responder. I am aware of myself doing things: thinking, moving, eating. Initially, I am therefore aware of myself as an initiator: it is I who am choosing to think, to move, to eat, etc. However, if I reflect more deeply, I realise that I can only do these things because I first exist. And I had no say in me existing. God creates me, and I receive life from him. Furthermore, this creation isn’t something he does, and then leaves me to it - occasionally checking in on me to see if I’m doing alright. God is eternal, unchanging: therefore he is constantly creating me, at every moment of my being. It is he who empowers me, and calls me, to grow. This “utter dependence” is scary at first, but if we sit with it, it truly becomes a “source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and of confidence” (CCC 301). Using the language that will continue throughout this curriculum, we come to understand that God initiates and is responded to by us, we receive from him and respond to him. This is particularly true of love (1 Jn 4:10). Step 1 Question: How do you know how to dress yourself? To walk? To write? Discuss in small groups/with talking partners. Record answers on flipchart. Ask the children to come up with similar examples of their own to check their understanding. At the heart of the answers to all these is that we had to learn, normally to be shown: firstly mum/dad will dress me, then I will learn to help them, then I learn to do it myself. So how do I know how to love? To forgive? Even more, the answer should be that I have received love and forgiveness first. Step 2 Explain. More than anyone, it is normally our parents who teach us, especially by their example. Initially, we have two deep desires within us: I want to be me; and I want to be like my parents. (To teacher: probably not every pupil has been shown a resoundingly good example by both their parents, but by keeping it more general, it is normally possible to still draw out the important point). One of the difficulties we have to face when we are older is realising that our parents aren’t perfect, and that to be fully me I have to, in some ways, not be like my parents, but that is for the future. Physically, I tend to grow to look more and more like my parents and in my traits, I do too. (Activity 1.)

Key Point God is my loving Father, and he has made me to want to be me and to want to be like him: the advantage with him is that becoming like him is always the same as becoming more my true self.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [atoning] sacrifice for our sins.” 1 Jn 4:10

Success Criteria 1. I can explain that God is the initiator and what this means. 2. I can explain that I am a receiver & responder and what this means.

Step 3

Suggested Activities

Question: How do we know that there was a time when I didn’t exist? Discuss and mind map: (Examples could include seeing photos of their parents and grandparents when they were young, knowledge of historical events before they were born etc.) So, God creating me means that, for me and others, there was a time when I didn’t exist, and then, at the moment of conception, I did. Explain. But God creating me means much more than this. Since the only reason I first existed was because God loved me, then the central reason I exist at any moment is because God loves me now. I tend to think I exist now because I existed a moment ago, and nothing bad has happened - but that only explains how you are alive. Why you are alive at this moment is because God is loving you at this moment. Now. And now. And now. It is this love that also empowers you to grow - especially when you realise that there is nothing you can do that will ever make God stop loving you. That allows you to accept that you are completely dependent on him and his love for you. It can be scary, at first, to realise that even your existence depends on his loving you. But when you realise that he is your ever faithful, loving Father, then, instead, this truth gives you wisdom and freedom, joy and confidence.

1. Working in pairs/small groups, match images of mothers/ daughters, fathers/sons who look alike. 2. God our Father made us to be like him. Write down 5 ways in which you want to be like God the Father. If it helps, because Jesus showed us what the Father is like, write down instead 5 ways in which you want to be like Jesus. 3. Children to work in pairs to “act out” the symbol, receiving and responding.

Step 4 Explain: I am made to become like my Father in heaven, to be happy like him, to love like him, and I learn to do this from his example, often shown through others. However, there is one way that I am different from my Father, and will always remain so. Because he is God, he always begins, he always initiates. Because I am created, I always have to receive before I can learn to do the same, before I can respond. He still receives from me; but I always receive first. Display the symbol below. If this is an image of God and me then God is the one who initiates, who gives love to me. Demonstrate how the symbol shows this. I receive love and respond to him; he receives that love, and gives me his love anew. Each of us exists in a dance of love with God! (Activity 2.)

Suggested Resources 1. Downloadable pictures of fathers/sons, mothers/daughters who look alike, cut jigsaw style. 2. Large downloadable image of the symbol in the illustration.

Key Point Everything that goes wrong in the world - absolutely everything - is caused by persons rejecting that truth and wanting to be the initiator themselves, wanting to be their own god. Whereas all we need to be as happy as God is to say yes to him being the initiator in love and me being a receiver & responder.

Me receiver & responder

God The Father initiator God is our Loving Father.

Summary

Adopted by God

Understanding what it really means to be created by God, I also understand that everything I do is a response. I am still choosing to act, but it is also a response. Firstly, I always have to receive. Especially, I always have to first receive love. In receiving, I learn how to act, how to respond. From this, I understand that God the Father is the initiator of everyone, and everything else needs to receive and respond to him, to fully share in his life. My deep happiness is knowing I am a receiver & responder to God’s fatherly love.

Obedience in Jesus

Learning Objective To understand that as receivers and responders to the Father, we are called to obedience and that it is Jesus who teaches us how to obey. We are receivers and responders to the Father’s love, but within the Trinity, it is primarily the Son who is the receiver & responder to the Father - the Holy Spirit being the love between them. Thus, the Father is the lover, the Son the beloved (Mk. 1:11) and the Holy Spirit the love that unites them. Thus, although we are made in the image of God, we are most perfectly made in the image of the Son (that is why we become children of God through baptism, not fathers of God or spirits of God!) Obedience is intrinsic to learning and growing, because it is the openness to receive. However, Jesus teaches us that obedience is deeper than that - it is a fundamental attitude of trust in the Father, a complete consent to him being my initiator. Jesus particularly reveals this important truth in John’s Gospel. As Son he is receiver & responder to the Father; however, as God, he is initiator to us. Importantly, in John’s Gospel he also shows us what God’s initiating is like - it is love, not control; dominion not domination. When we realise that God’s dominion (or initiating, or Lordship) is one of humble service and love, then we see that there is nothing demeaning about obedience.

“Jesus said to them, ‘In all truth I tell you, by himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the Father doing; and whatever the Father does, the Son does too. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him everything he himself does.’ ” Jn 5:19-20

Step 1 Recall prior learning: As children of the Father, we have learnt that he wants us to be completely like him in happiness, through being completely like him in love. However, there is one big difference between us and the Father: he initiates and we receive and respond. That is why we are called his children, not his parent. Can you remember the symbol we used to show this? (cf. previous page) Children to demonstrate. Question: Who is most perfectly God’s Son? Yes, Jesus. So we are made in the image of God, but we are especially made in the image of the Son, Jesus. Step 2

Key Point To become like the Father we have to do what he says; we have to be obedient to him. We can only really do this if we completely trust that he loves us and calls us to what is best for us.

Question: Who likes to be obedient? When is it easy to be obedient? When is it hard to be obedient? Discuss and mind map examples, which could include helping with chores so that we can go on a family outing, or not wanting to help with chores because we are playing a computer game. (Activity 1.) It should be possible to help the children see that we find it easier to be obedient when we know it is to someone who really loves us who is asking us to do something that is good for us; we find it hard when we are not convinced what we are being told is loving.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Success Criteria 1. I can understand that I am made in the image of God and in the image of Jesus his Son. 2. I can explain what obedience means. 3. I can understand that Jesus was obedient to God the Father and how this made him act.

Step 3 Jesus is completely happy to be obedient to the Father, even when he is a grown-up and teaching us all. In John’s Gospel he is always saying that he only does his Father’s will (e.g. Jn 6:37-38), he only says his Father’s words (Jn 12:4950), he only does what he sees his Father doing (Jn 5:19-20 see Key Quote). He is completely happy to be Son, and for the Father to be Father. Why? Because he completely knows that the Father wants what is best for him. Explain: Jesus also gives a real example of God’s initiative. The Bible doesn’t use the word initiator - it talks of “Lord” and “dominion”. Look at Jesus washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper (Jn 13:1-17). Read collectively the version from a Children’s Bible. “When Jesus had washed their feet… he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you’.” (Jn 13:12-15). Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=VdHFet10XrE&feature=emb_title The Greatest is the Least, ch 9 (3:29). (Activity 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. Role play different scenarios about being obedient. 2. Hot-seating roles of Jesus/ disciple(s) for washing of the feet. 3. Children, working individually or in pairs, write a prayer about obedience - perhaps to be used in school/class assembly.

Suggested Resources 1. Children’s Bible.

Step 4 Explain: Jesus teaches us how to be obedient to God. He showed us that the Father will never tell his child to do anything that is not best for them, so we can trust God completely and this makes it easy to be obedient.

Key Point It doesn’t matter that we are receiving and responding and not initiating, because, like when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, life is about service, humility and love; it is the love between us that makes us happy. Question: Can we think of ways that we can show our love for each other in service? Discuss and mind map. We sometimes find it hard to believe that the one “in charge” won’t try to control - and sometimes we are right to be wary. But, with God, we should always trust his love. And when we are in charge, we should always try and do what is best for those in our care, and not to control. (Activity 3.)

Do to others as I have done to you.

Summary Obedience helps us to grow as children of the Father; it does not demean us. Jesus shows us that this is true. He was the most obedient human ever, and the most free and happy human ever. Wanting my own way, just because it is my way, is childish and disastrous. Every sin stems from disobedience to God, which in turn is founded on letting our trust in God die.

Life Cycles and Life Spirals

Learning Objectives To see how in all life there is growth and there are cycles. To understand how this applies to me. Step 1

“God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

When do we go to bed? At night. When do we get up? Morning. How do we have an idea that it is morning? It gets light. Birds sing - they’ve woken up too. Plants can only grow in the day - they need sunlight. Reptiles can only be active in the day because they need sunlight. For most living things, the day is a time for activity and growth; the night is a time for resting. Is resting bad for us? What would happen if we were active all the time? What would happen if we rested all the while? We need day and night to grow healthily. There is a lot of similarity between day and night, and summer and winter. Explain: We call these ‘cycles’. One day follows another. One year follows another.

Success Criteria 1. I can understand how life grows in spirals. 2. I can apply this to how I will change and grow throughout my life.

Ask: How do you know you grow every year? Discuss. You grow every day but you can’t see it happen, but if we look from Reception to Y6, we can see a difference each year. Look at the trees and grass. They’re growing right now, but we can’t see it. So, we live in cycles - days, years etc. but we slowly grow as well. If you put these together, the shape of our growth is like a spiral! Step 2 There are different stages of life. Let’s look at a plant. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSgaUBwIn4 Plant’s Life Cycle (1:41). Check understanding. What about animals? They all have life cycles too. Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=F3ElGMVU6SY Life Cycle Of A Frog! (2:52 of 4:09). Check understanding.

“For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation.” Psalm 139: 13-14

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H90btgKqNZU Life Cycle of Plants and Animals (1:45). Check understanding. This reinforces that a similar life cycle pattern is in all living things. For each plant or animal, life is a unique journey of growth. When we look at them we can also see this cycle of baby, child, adult, producing baby, child, adult etc. Read Genesis 1:31. Explain: God created all life good - and human life makes everything very good. Step 3 So, what about you? Explain: You have a unique life of growth starting from the moment God loved you into life - the moment of conception. Our faith and reason tell us that our life doesn’t end with death - we are called to live and grow in happiness forever in heaven with God. But we can see five different stages of our earthly life: unborn - developing inside our mother’s womb; childhood; adolescence; adulthood; and old age. 46

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Ultrasound image of baby.

Key Point

Suggested Activities

We have learnt a lot today: about life and growth, about life cycles and life spirals, about stages of life in plants, animals and ourselves - from being hidden in the womb, to the wisdom of old age. And it is all amazing and beautiful! Whoever gave us life must really be amazing!

1. Home Activity: Many mums have an ‘ultrasound’ scan after around 12 weeks of pregnancy - to see if everything is going well, and normally they are given a photo of their new baby. Ask mum if she has an ultrasound picture of you.

Let’s look at our development inside mum, even before we were born. You didn’t even know you were alive then! But amazing things were happening. All life is a miracle. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH9ZJu4wRUE 9 Months In The Womb (4:03 of 4:36). Allow children to comment on the video. Maybe highlight the wonder, the tininess, how quickly the heart is formed. Read Psalm 139:13-14. Explain: All life is amazing and vulnerable. This is especially true of human life, and extra especially true of the child in the womb. In the face of such a miracle, we instinctively want to simply thank God for the wonder of our being. You are amazing! And so is every other person. Anyone this amazing deserves to be loved and cherished. Ask: Can we see any similarities and differences with the growth of other animals? Explain: In humans, and all mammals, more development happens within mum. The baby stays protected inside mum until more ready to face the world! (Activity 1.) Step 4

2. On the downloadable spiral template, draw a baby in the womb, a child, an adolescent, an adult and an old person. Play https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=mEGc3_ D19Vo O God, You search Me and You Know Me (3:23).

Suggested Resources 1. Downloadable template for Suggested Activity 2.

What an amazing first stage! Ask: Do you remember the other four stages we mentioned? Childhood continues to around the time you leave primary school. Ask: What kind of growth do we see? Discuss in pairs and take feedback. There’s lots of physical growth - and you learn so much too. Adolescence begins in secondary school. Explain: Physically, you start changing from a girl to a woman, or from a boy to a man. This includes changes that mean you can be a parent as an adult. You also keep on learning about lots of things. In the process, your emotions may change a lot. Adulthood From 18 years old in this country, you are classed as an adult. Explain: As an adult you will finish your formal education (e.g. college, university, apprenticeship etc.). You will probably start working full time. More importantly, you will make choices about a family - about marriage and who you will live with - and about having children yourself. It’s a long way off, but it’s exciting to think about the adult you might become! Old age In adulthood we stop growing physically, our body starts to wear out, and we start being able to do less. But we can continue to grow as loving persons. We have a lot of wisdom to share with young people. Old people have a lot to offer us, if we see past what they can no longer do. (Activity 2.)

Summary There are cycles in our lives, like days and years. We gradually grow through these cycles - in a ‘life spiral’! Plants, animals and humans all have life cycles. Our life cycle includes our amazing growth in the womb. It also includes childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. It also carries on into heaven!

Growing year by year.

I don’t quite work correctly - and that’s okay!

Learning Objective To understand that we have impulses and desires and that not all of them are good for us. We are receivers and responders to God, our creator. We are made in his image. But we also, clearly, are flawed. We each have tendencies in us that hurt us and others, when we follow them. Reason tells us that these can’t be from a good God. However, it is hard to understand where they do come from. Our faith strengthens our reason to understand that we are part of humanity, and so, although we are all unique persons, we also share a common humanity. We are affected by every other human person, and all their actions. That is a very close link we have with each other. Reason, science and faith all point us to understanding that there was initially one man and woman. In particular, these, our first parents, had a huge effect on all the human family - as you might expect from being parents of us all. We need our faith to help us understand this more fully.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die’. ” Gen. 2:16-17

Step 1 Recall prior learning: When we are born, we know nothing about ourselves. However we do have impulses and desires in us even if we don’t know it. Some of them are very basic; a baby will cry when it is hungry. It isn’t choosing to cry, it is just following an impulse. Ask the children for other examples. Discuss. (e.g. a baby will also cry if it is lonely, or needs their nappy changing). As we grow up, we should understand our impulses more. A difficult part of growing up is realising that not all impulses are good for us, or others. We have to be reminded to say “please”, “thank you” and “sorry” but we remember how to say “no”, “mine” or “it’s not fair”! It can be easier to lie than to tell the truth, or to be mean to your brother than to play nicely. Ask children for more examples. (Activity 1.) Allow time to reflect on these impulses inside us. Explain: We need to turn to the Bible to help us to understand why we are like this. Step 2 Read collectively Gen. 2 and 3 from a Bible/Children’s Bible. Explain: If we were called to simply be receivers from God, he could just give us all we need. He does that for flowers and animals (Mt. 6:26-29). But he calls us to be receivers and responders to his love - real relationship. So we have the choice to say yes to God, and the choice to say no to him too. God gave Adam and Eve everything to make it easy for them to say yes to him. All he asked was for them to trust his love, that he knew what was best for them. Of all the trees from which they could eat, he asked them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they were tempted, and they ate. This is a way of saying they decided they knew what was best for them - they didn’t need a Father or a teacher. God created them to grow to be like him in love; but they chose to want to be like him in power: to be their own initiator, rather than a receiver & responder. This was disastrous for them, and for all their children - including us.

Success Criteria 1. I can understand that I have impulses and desires, some of which are not good for me. 2. I can explain where these desires come from and can explain how to shape them into something good.

“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die: for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [meaning ‘deciding good and evil’]. Gen. 3:4-5

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Key Point

Suggested Activities

If a plant “chose” to turn away from the sun, it would not grow so well, and eventually die. When we choose to turn away from God, we can’t grow so well, and, left to ourselves, we can die, not physically, but spiritually. We need God like a flower needs the sun - to be healthy and grow. We didn’t make the first decision to turn from him Adam and Eve did. But every time we sin, we agree with their choice.

1. Role play some of the examples in Step 1.

Step 3 It is hard for us, and a bit confusing, to admit that there are things inside us that aren’t good for us or others, but we can’t deny that it is true. The story in Genesis helps us understand it. Ask the children to suggest some examples. Discuss in small groups or with talking partners. (Activity 2.) Step 4

2. In pairs/small groups produce a cartoon strip, to demonstrate how some things inside us are not good for us. 3. Write a prayer of trust in God.

Suggested Resources 1. Bible/Children’s Bible.

Explain: In Genesis 1, when God calls us to be fertile, to make a difference (Gen. 1:28), he tells us that the main ways we do that in our life are 1) through having a family and 2) through our work, and 3) we make a bigger difference by working together in complementarity - which means we help each other in our unity. After Adam and Eve sinned, God tells them that all these three things have now been damaged - but are still good! (Gen. 3:16-19) Having children and work are both good, but painful as well, and the harmony between us, especially between man and woman, has also been damaged so that what should unite sometimes now causes separation -we find it easier to fall out than we should!

Key Point God didn’t plan physical suffering and death - it is a result of human sin.

Eve listens to the serpent and disobeys God. Adam joins in.

Step 5 Explain: God promises to save us from this mess (Gen. 3:15). He will send us a saviour. He teaches us some very important things: 1) I don’t work as perfectly as I should - and that’s okay, I’m still infinitely precious to him; 2) so while I do not like the impulses in me that harm me and others, I can still love myself; 3) I need to trust in God to save me, but I need to respond to him as well. When I can’t see properly, I get glasses, and that overcomes that fault. When I am tired, I sleep and then I am refreshed. When I know I have bad impulses in me, I have to try and learn ways of saying no to them. Because we all do wrong things it is really important that we can say sorry and that we can forgive. All this helps make our goodness increase and our faults decrease. (Activity 3.)

Summary Our experience of ourselves tells us that we don’t quite work correctly: sometimes physically or in other ways, but most importantly in our impulses. The story of Adam and Eve helps us understand why this is. Sin means the very things that make us most like God the creator don’t quite work properly now - though they are still good. We have to still love ourselves, play our part in overcoming our faults and, most of all, trust God to save us from them.

God saves me from me!

Learning Objective To reflect on our experience that although I and humanity are good, there is something self-destructive in us all and nothing we can do by ourselves can put that right - we need Jesus to save us. We have reflected on the goodness of creation and each of us, made in the image of God, but last lesson we also reflected on how there is something broken about us, too. The story of Adam and Eve - the Fall, as it is often called - helps explain that, but the mystery of Original Sin is deep. We often talk about our attachment to pleasure as “the flesh”, and our desire for joy and love as “the spirit”. St Paul accurately expresses the experience we all have - that I intend to do one thing and end up doing the opposite (Rm. 7:14-25). Having a healthy understanding of this reality, and thus loving myself, admitting and hating my sin, trusting in my Saviour and cooperating with him, is perhaps one of the hardest elements of self-understanding to get right. Gaudium et Spes - Vatican II’s document on the Church in the Modern World - starts off with a reflection on this truth regarding humanity and each of us. Like this syllabus, it doesn’t start with Jesus, but with rational reflection on human experience. What we experience is that humanity has an amazing capacity for goodness. It also has a constant capacity to self-destruct. We see both of these everywhere we look around the world and throughout history. We understand that this is true because every human person has this same “dichotomy” as it calls it - an amazing capacity for good and a constant capacity to self-destruct. Technology means we can now do even more good, or even more damage. We can see, from experience and from human history, that there is no political, sociological, psychological or technological solution to this - they all have their part to play, but the very nature of the human person has to be changed from within. Faith tells us that only Jesus Christ can do this. The story of the Bible reveals the House of Israel going through the same three stages that we need to go through. Firstly, they admitted that, time and again, they disobeyed the Ten Commandments and were unfaithful to God. (Many examples in the books of Judges, Chronicles, Samuel and Kings.) Secondly, eventually, they realised that not only didn’t they keep God’s commands, they couldn’t keep them - there was something about them that was too unreliable. Then, thirdly, they began longing for the saviour, whom God had promised them. But for most of their time, they hoped for a saviour from oppression from other countries - someone to stop bad things from happening to them. Jesus taught them, and us, that what we most need saving from is ourselves - from the self-destruct of sin.

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Rm. 7:14, 24

Success Criteria 1. I can recognise that even though I am good, and humanity is good, there is something self-destructive in us all. 2. I can acknowledge that I can’t put this right by myself. 3. I can explain that Jesus is the Saviour who will help me and save me from myself.

(Activities 1 and 2 accompany podcast which is available both in powerpoint and on website.) Step 1 Recall prior learning: Although I am very good, and made in the image of God, my experience shows that I am also a bit broken - I don’t quite work as I should. This makes me and others unhappy - but I still do it. Ask: How many times do we promise to be good, to be patient with our brothers/sisters, to share, to obey our parents and then go and do the opposite? Discuss and collect other examples. Explain: The story of Adam and Eve helps us to understand the truth that we experience and reflect on. However, that story doesn’t make sense separate from the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus (CCC 389).

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

By ourselves, we cannot keep God’s law; we need a saviour.

Step 2 Collectively read the Key Quote. Ask the children to tell their partners what they think St Paul means. Take some suggestions. Explain: St Paul shares what he experienced within himself (Rm. 7: 14-25). Remember we said that emotions and the physical incline us to think about pleasure, and the spirit, that hidden part of me, inclines me to seek for joy. St Paul talks about this battle in terms of “the flesh” and the “spirit”- but they are both part of me! Another way of looking at it is that “the flesh” is what we share with animals; the “spirit” is what makes humans different. Explain: If we look inside ourselves we see an amazing capacity to do good, and as we grow that capacity will get bigger, but we also know that we can self-destruct: causing unhappiness without there being any sense to it. If we look at any human community, we see the same amazing capacity for good and this capacity for selfdestruction. Discuss and mind map examples, e.g. fundraising, litter picking, etc. v. bullying, vandalism etc. All this stems from the truth we experience - that each human person has this brokenness within them. (Activity 3.) Step 3 Explain: God chose the People of Israel to be his people. He gave them the Promised Land and asked them to worship him and keep the Ten Commandments. But every time things were going well, the Israelites forgot about God and broke his commandments.

Key Point Eventually they realised that there was something broken within them – so, by themselves, they could not keep his commandments. They needed a saviour to change them from within. God promised to do this (“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my commandments” Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Step 4 Explain: The people of Israel did not fully understand what God was saying. They liked the idea of a saviour, but many of them thought more of a super hero, who would save them from baddies, and from bad things happening. He would be strong, and defeat all their enemies.

Key Point Instead, Jesus taught that he had come to save us from ourselves, so that we could be made whole again. The “flesh”had to be conquered by the spirit of love: in humanity and in each one of us. This took a very different sort of strength the power to continue to love even through his death on the cross. Now, the resurrected Jesus has flesh that completely and fully works with his spirit. He is fully God, fully human and fully happy.

Suggested Activities 1. Watch and, in groups of 5, re-enact the drama provided as a resource. 2. Based on the role play from the video footage, use the “profile” worksheet to write a short paragraph on what it means to “face the right way”. 3. Using the downloadable worksheet depicting two handprints, record examples of the good/bad things that we do.

Suggested Resources 1. Drama designed to support this lesson available in powerpoint or on website. 2. Downloadable worksheet showing the outline of a face in profile. 3. Downloadable worksheet depicting two hand prints.

Summary We want to do good things, but then we do bad things. This is the experience of all of us. We also experience that in our world. We need saving from this. We can’t do it by ourselves. Our faith tells us that Jesus can: this is what it means when we say that he is our Saviour (“Jesus” means “God saves”). He has promised to do this. So, we should want saving from ourselves more than from bad things happening. We should still love ourselves, while not liking the bad things we can do: we should trust in Jesus “re-creating” us and try to cooperate with him, in peace and joy.

Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion

Learning Objective To understand that the Sacraments of Initiation - Baptism, Communion and Confirmation are central to us being receivers and responders to the Father’s love. We have reflected on God creating us, but we have also seen how we are called to reflect the Son’s receiving & responding. We don’t do this by copying the Son, but by uniting with him in the very life of the Trinity that he shares with the Father. The Creed tells us that God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth, but also tells us that all things were made through the Son. All creativity stems from the communion of persons as initiator and receiver & responder. Thus, when the Father initiates my creation, he needs a receiver & responder to consent to this. I can’t, since I don’t exist at this moment. It is the Son who consents to my existence, on my behalf. Thus, we are made through him and in him. As we grow we are called to consent to this consent! However, Christ goes even further, and consents, on our behalf, to us becoming fully God’s children, in him. He especially does this through his Cross and Resurrection. Thus, similarly, the life of faith is about me consenting to Christ’s consent, on my behalf. That’s a little deep, but once we get it, so much of life begins to make more sense. This process is echoed in infant Baptism, when the parents consent to Baptism on the child’s behalf, and hopefully the child then grows in agreeing with that choice as they grow up. To be fully Christ-like we need to receive God’s love fully, respond to it fully and be united to Christ fully. The ability to do these three things fully is given us by the three Sacraments of Initiation. These affect each other, in that by being united to Christ we are more able to receive and respond to the Father; by receiving and responding to the Father, we are more united in his Son. All this helps us understand how these sacraments make a real difference to our lives, our development and nourishment. Obviously, some of the pupils won’t have received these sacraments, but you will be used to still helping them be included in the Church’s invitation. The Church’s preference is for the sacraments to be received in the order Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion (CCC 1322). This is because union with Christ is the ultimate goal of our life. However, normally our children still receive them in the order Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation. This is okay. Baptism has to come first, as we can’t do anything till we have first received, but we can be empowered to respond, so as to be united fully with Christ, or fully united with Christ so that we can fully respond. Powerpoint contains additional content to the following.

“The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life.” CCC 1212

Success Criteria 1. I can understand that I am called to be united to God and to be a receiver and responder to his love. 2. I can explain why Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion are central to this.

“I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jn 10:10

Step 1 Recall prior learning: We have seen how we are called to be receivers & responders to God the Father, through being united to Jesus, the receiver & responder. Explain: Now we are looking at how three of the sacraments enable to do this. They are called Sacraments of Initiation, because they initiate, or enter, us into the divine life of God. These sacraments are Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation. Discuss and share responses. Do you remember your Baptism? What have your parents/godparents told you about it? What was the most special thing you remember about your First Holy Communion? What are you looking forward to about Confirmation? Etc. Explain: For most of us, our parents consented to us being Baptised, because we weren’t able to. As we get older, we are called to agree to their consent. (Activity 1.)

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Key Point The Sacraments of Initiation enable us to be receivers & responders to God the Father. In Baptism we become children of God. Through Confirmation we are able to live like children of God. In Holy Communion we are fully united to God.

Step 2 Recall prior learning: Show the children the symbol from 4e. Question: Do you remember our symbol from a few weeks ago? Explain to your partner what it means. First there was God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then God created through his Son. We are not made separately from the Son, but IN the Son. The Father initiates this act of creation and the Son consents to it. This is what we mean when we say in the Creed at Mass “through him, all things were made.” Ask the children to talk to their partner about what “consent” means. Take feedback to ensure understanding. Explain: As we grow, we are called to agree with that consent. But God goes further, and Jesus consents to us receiving the fullness of God’s life. He dies and rises again, so that we can receive it, and calls us to a life of faith where we can enter fully into the life, love and happiness of God, as “sons and daughters in the Son”. In heaven we fully receive and respond in the Son, through full union with him. Step 3 Question: What did your parents expect of you when you were born? Ask the children to tell their partner. Eventually the answer they will come to is “nothing”. Explain: Whether you can do different things doesn’t affect your parents’ love for you at all, you simply receive it. They love you because you are their child, not because of anything you do or don’t do. However, as part of their family, as you grow older, you are expected to respond to your parents’ love too. So, once you can do things, once you can respond, if you don’t, that isn’t a lack of skill but a lack of love. Discuss and mind map different ways this can be expressed (e.g. being polite, helping in the house, making/giving cards/gifts). We hopefully feel united to our parents when they love us, but we feel even closer when we are able to receive and give. (Activity 2.)

Suggested Activities 1. Children to prepare three questions to take home to ask their family about their Baptism. They should be ready to share their answers with the class at a later date. 2. Choose any four of the suggestions on the mind map, write a sentence to describe each of them and then include an illustration. 3. Create a triptych of the Sacraments of Initiation, using the image below as a model.

Suggested Resources 1. Downloadable symbol from 4e. 2. Copy of the triptych image below, which is also in powerpoint.

Explain: It is the same with God. As we grow, we should receive God’s love more, and respond to it more, and therefore be united to him more - as created persons, made in his image. But through Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation, we are given the ability to do that as his very own children. Baptism makes us children of God. Holy Communion unites us even more closely with Jesus. Confirmation empowers us to respond like children of God, to fully cooperate with the Father’s will. They make these things possible, but we still have to grow in our ability to receive and respond in love. This is one reason why we need Holy Communion often - all three Sacraments change us for ever, but Communion also renews us in Christ every time we receive it. Step 4 Collectively read the Key Quotes. Ask the children to explain to their partners what the quotes mean. Take feedback to check understanding. (Activity 3.) The Sacraments of Initiation.

Summary God creates us. In this, the Father initiates in love, the Son receives that love on our behalf, and responds in love, the Holy Spirit is that love. Jesus, through his death and Resurrection, also consents to us sharing in the very life he has with the Father. As we grow, we are called to consent to the Son’s consent to our creation, and to respond to it in love. Through the Sacraments of Initiation we have the ability to do that fully, sharing God’s life. Baptism empowers us to receive the fullness of the Father’s love; Holy Communion unites us with the Son, fully; Confirmation empowers us to respond in love, to cooperate fully. The fullness of these three sacraments is the fullness of life.

The Mass, the Sacraments and God’s Life

Learning Objective To understand that it is uniquely the Sacrifice of the Mass that enables us to fully grow in the image of the Son, united to him in receiving from and responding to God the Father. Receiving from the Father and responding to him in Christ is at the heart of full human life. The Mass is at the centre of this process. As the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and his Resurrection, made present here and now, it is the source of the transforming power that makes us fully children of God. But to be fully a child of God is to be united to Christ in this sacrifice of love, this receiving and giving in the Holy Spirit who is love. Understanding this is at the heart of understanding being a Catholic, being human. It is important to very briefly also show how the other sacraments flow from this and help us be transformed into Christ in the journey of our life. Step 1 Recall prior learning: Question: What are the Sacraments of Initiation? Ask children to talk to their partners and take feedback. Explain: We are called to receive from God and to respond to him, in love. We do this in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion enable us to do this. But it is the Mass that is at the heart of Christ’s sharing his communion of love with the Father, with us. All other help comes from this. Step 2 Question: What words does the priest say at the offertory? Collectively read the words on the IWB: “Blessed are you Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you. Fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.” Explain: This reminds us that God is the Creator, we receive from him, we cooperate with him. So we take the wheat and the grapes, we form them into bread and wine and then offer them back to him. This cycle is repeated by Christ, through the priest, at a new level. Who can remember what the priest says over the bread and wine? Collectively read on IWB: Jesus “took bread, and giving you thanks, he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body which will be given up for you’”. (Eucharistic Prayer III) Taking the bread and giving thanks is receiving. Breaking it is what Jesus did in response, in obedience to the Father - it reflects that he handed himself over to us to break his body on the Cross, out of his love for his Father and for us. On the Cross, Christ gave his spirit to the Father, “’Into your hands, I commend my spirit’ and breathed his last” (Lk. 23:46); on the Cross, and in the Mass he gives us his body. When his body and spirit are united again through the Resurrection, we are united with the Father in a new way. Step 3 Explain: This movement of love between the Father and Son is the Holy Spirit, the very life of God. It is revealed on the Cross, and it is the power by which we can be made like Christ. That means we can share in this movement of love for ever. This is what “sacrifice” means - receiving love from God in trust, even when it is hard; responding to God in love, even unto death.

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

“Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with it.” Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, n. 11.

Success Criteria 1. I can understand that the Mass enables me to grow in the image of Jesus. 2. I can understand that the Mass unites me to Jesus in receiving and responding to God the Father.

“We must not separate our life from the Eucharist. The moment we do, something shatters.” St. (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta (YouCat p. 126)

Key Point

Suggested Activities

Never forget that Mass is a sacrifice. It is a celebration, an intimate meal with God, a time of prayer. But most of all it is a sacrifice!

1. The children should reflect on, and then record examples of what they want to offer to God at Mass. This can be done on downloadable bread/host shaped worksheets.

Step 4 Explain: Because our life is a journey, a growing in love, we are told by God to come to Mass every Sunday, where we offer ourselves with Christ and the whole community, to him. We should then help each other to try to live lovingly throughout the week. Sometimes we manage it, and we grow in joy. At other times we fail and need forgiveness. But the next Sunday, we offer to the Father all that what we have done in response - the bad to be forgiven, the good to be transformed - and receive the love to live out another week in his name. (Activity 1.) Explain: We grow as Christians when the Mass and the rest of our lives are linked like this. Sometimes Mass may not seem as exciting as other things especially if we are more interested in pleasure. The more interested we are in joy and in love, the more we will love the Mass. If Mass seems a bit boring, think about your week and ask yourself if you have concentrated on loving, or on pleasure. (Activity 2.) Step 5 Question: How many sacraments are there? Yes, 7. Listen carefully. We know there are 3 Sacraments of Initiation; there are also 3 sacraments to help us on the journey, and 3 sacraments that give us direction on that journey. Any problem with that? Yes, 3 x 3 doesn’t equal 7! Explain: If we were on a long walk, we would need food and drink and a first aid kit for when we were poorly or had an accident. On our spiritual journey the Eucharist - what we call Mass and Communion - is our food and drink, and Confession and the Sacrament of the Sick are our first aid kits for when we are spiritually or physically poorly. On our journey, we also need to be clear which way we are going. Priesthood gives the direction and strength for the priest, and through him, for everyone in our parish community; the sacrament of marriage gives a Christian direction and strength to those getting married, and through them, their family community; and the Eucharist gives direction and strength to us all, because whatever our differences in life, we are all called to the vocation to love.

2. Home/school link: ask the children to discuss with their parents/carers two ways in which they can enter into the Mass more fully. One should be practical eg. listening to the readings carefully, trying to join in with all the hymns etc. The other should be more about how they will try to respond in the coming week by being kind, helpful etc.

Suggested Resources 1. Flipchart on IWB to support Step 2. 2. Downloadable worksheet with bread/host shapes for children to record their offerings to the Father. Individual or group worksheets available.

Key Point So the Eucharist is included in all three sets of three - that’s how central it is! And that’s why here 3x3 can equal 7!

Summary The Mass enters us into the movement of God’s life and love: receiving and responding to the Father’s initiative of love, in the Son. By sharing in this sacrifice every Sunday, and seeking to live out this sacrificial love for the rest of the week, our lives become whole and we grow in holiness. The other sacraments flow from the Mass, and help us in our beginning, our development and our nourishment.

This is my Body.

This page is intentionally blank.

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

If you don’t know how a car works, you’re not likely to be able to fix it. If you don’t know how crops grow, you’re not likely to be a great farmer. If you don’t understand a mobile phone, you’re not likely to get the most out of it. Understanding what it is to be a human person will help us know how to think and act, and so be happy and fulfilled. This booklet goes from Y3 to Y6, comprising eleven modules every year. It seeks to give a coherent vision of what it is to be human, empowering the young person to understand themselves more deeply, and therefore make better choices. In KS1 we focused on Bible stories to help the children learn about life, growing and love. This continues in Y3, with a focus on Jesus in John’s Gospel, and in particular, on receiving and giving love. In Y4 we begin to turn to reason more, to help the children grasp the foundational understandings of personhood and relationship. Just as there is no point in branching out into other subjects if children have not learnt how to read, write and do arithmetic, so it is more important to thoroughly cover the essentials than it is to cover a breadth of less important things. Thus, personhood, relationship, dignity, freedom, happiness, tolerance and the importance of being rational and being open to faith are all dealt with thoroughly. A Fertile Heart unites thinking, reflecting, praying and discussing. It uses lessons, videos, activities and music. It invites parents, school and parish to unite in helping our young people to grow into truly life-giving, happy, fulfilled persons.

RRP £9.99 ISBN 978-1-7397628-4-1

9 781739 762841 Version 7 | September 2021