Open the doors smaller version

Open the Doors:
Seven Approaches
to an Encounter
with Christ
Leland Nagel
Executive
Director

A L i t a n y o f t h e W a y
Prayer for the Journey
As Jesus sought the quiet of the desert,
Teach us to pray.
As Jesus washed the feet of his disciples,
Teach us to love.
As Jesus promised Paradise to the thief on
the cross,
Teach us to hope.
As the child Jesus sat among the
elders in the temple,
Teach us to seek answers.

A L i t a n y o f t h e W a y
Prayer for the Journey
As Jesus in the garden opened his mind and
heart to God's will,
Teach us to listen.
As Jesus reflected on the Law and the Prophets,
Teach us to learn.
As Jesus used parables to reveal the
mysteries of the Kingdom,
Teach us to teach.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

All you holy men and women
Pray for us.
Catholic saints are
holy people and
human people who
lived extraordinary
lives. Each saint the
Church honors responded
to God's invitation to use
his or her unique gifts.
God calls each one of us
to be a saint .
AmericanCatholic.org

Saint Pulcheria
Empress (399-453)
• Ruled as partner and tutor to her
younger brother at age fifteen when
their father died – named Augusta
• Took a vow of perpetual celibacy - thus
shielding herself from the intrigue of
potential suitors
• Built and endowed many churches, including
three devoted to the mother of God,
as well as hospitals and
shelters for the poor.

More Saints of the Day
St. Salvius of Albi, St. Achilleus, Bl. Agnes Takea, Bl.
Agnes Tsao-Kouy, Bl. Angelus Orsucci, Bl. Anthony
Kiun, Bl. Anthony of Korea, Bl. Anthony Sanga, Bl.
Anthony Vom, St. Apollinaris Franco, St. Autbert,
Bl. Bartholomew Shikiemon, St. Barypsabas, St.
Candida the Younger, St. Cosmas of Aphrodisia, Bl.
Damien Yamiki, Bl. Dominic Nakano, St. Dominic
Shamada, St. Finian, St. Francis de Morales, St.
Frithestan, Bl. Gundislavus Fusai, St. Hyacinth
Orfanel, Bl. John Kingoku, Bl. John of Korea, St.
Joseph of St. Hyacinth, St. Leo Satsuma, Bl. Louis
Kawara. Bl. Lucy de Freitas

More Saints of the Day
Bl. Louis Kawara, Bl. Lucy de Freitas, Bl. Mary
Tokuan & Mary Choun, Bl. Mary Tanaura, Bl.
Mary Tokuan & Mary Choun, St. Menodora,
Bl. Michael Shumpo, Bl. Michael Yamiki, St.
Nemesian, Felix, and Companions, Bl. Paul
Tanaka, St. Peter Martinez, Bl. Peter Nangashi, Bl.
Peter of Avila, Bl. Peter Sampo, Bl. Peter Sanga, Bl.
Richard of St. Ann, Bl. Sebastian Kimura, Bl. Thecla
Nangashi, St. Theodard of Maastricht, Bl. Thomas
of the Holy Rosary, Bl. Thomas Sherwood,
http://www.catholic.org/saints/sofd.php St. Veranus of Vence

OPEN THE DOORS
God is constantly
knocking at the gate
of my heart
to invite me to go
beyond the state I
have reached,
because my whole life
should be a journey
on the way to Love.
- Charles Cardinal Journet

OPEN THE DOORS:
Seven Approaches to an
Encounter with Christ
Why “Encounter”?
The catechist
•Has encountered Christ
•Has been converted by Christ
•Follows Christ
•Shares in Christ’s life and mission
•Possesses a living social conscience
•Well-rooted in the cultural environment
NDC, no. 21 C, p. 65

God is incredibly in love with
you.
“For most of my life I have struggled to find
God, to know God, to love God. I have tried
hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual
life — pray always, work for others, read
the Scriptures — and to avoid the many
temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed
many times but always tried again,
even when I was close to
despair.”

God is incredibly in love
with you.
“Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently
realized that during all this time God has
been trying to find me, to know me, and
to love me. The question is not ‘How am I
to find God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself
be found by him?’ …The question is not ‘How
am I to love God?’ but ‘How am I to let
myself be loved by God?’”
– Henri J. M. Nouwen,
“The Return of the Prodigal Son”, p.

Seven Approaches
1. Preparedness: Open Your Mind to What God
is Offering; Then Stop, Look, and Listen
2. Balance: Ritual and Novelty, Comfort and
Challenge, Safety and Risk
3. Prime the Pump, Make Connections, Engage
the Senses, Activate Learning Styles
4. Seven-Minute Chunks with Catholic Service
Announcements
5. Quiet Moments for Reflection
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

First Approach
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

PREPAREDNESS:
Open Your Mind to What God is Offering;
Then Stop, Look, and Listen
READ the next week’s lesson as soon as
you finish this week’s class/gathering.
Now you know what you are looking for
•Find ideas in what you read
•Hear things to use from
»People you encounter/Conversations
»Programs on the radio/TV/Videos
God is always talking – You need to

Second Approach
2. Balance: Ritual and Novelty, Comfort
and Challenge, Safety and Risk
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Balance: Ritual and Novelty,
Comfort and Challenge, Safety and Risk
BALANCE IS IMPORTANT
•RITUAL – provides structure and comfort. We
feel safe because we know what is going to
happen. We are comforted.
Too much ritual and it becomes boring.
Ritual can become routine, that’s a slippery
slope to getting into a rut.
•NOVELTY - provides a newness, excitement, risk,
unexpected delights and challenges.

Starting Class
ENGAGE AS MANY SENSES AS POSSIBLE
•Have music playing in the background when
they enter.
•Prominent place for Scripture/Bible
•Light some incense
•Strike a chime/ring a bell
• Process in the Bible & Open to the passage
• Strike a chime/ring a bell
• Light a candle
• Strike a chime/ring a bell

Rules for Using Chimes
Quiet within one (1) minute
• Strike the chimes, in a sequence of 3
• Wait thirty (30) seconds and look lovingly
at those present – NO DAGGER EYES
• Strike the chimes in the same sequence
• Wait twenty (20) seconds and continue to look
lovingly and calmly at those present
• Strike the chimes in the same sequence
• Wait ten (10) seconds, look
• lovingly and then begin, “Thank you…”

Third Approach
3. Prime the Pump, Make Connections,
Engage the Senses, Activate Learning Styles
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Prime the Pump,
Make Connections, Engage the Senses,
Activate Learning Styles
• Prime the Pump - to do something in
order to make something succeed.
To get ready. Get their attention.
– Clue may be in Opening Prayer
– Might come from homework
– Prop may be on the desk
–Word written on the board
– Picture on the wall
– Story may be shared

Prime the Pump,
• What’s going on in their lives
• What’s happening at school
• What are they watching
• What/Who are they listening to
• What are they reading
• What’s being talked/texted about
HOW DO YOU FIND THIS OUT?
Awareness*Pay Attention *Awareness

Prime the Pump,
• Listen to a piece of music
• Show a picture
• Watch a video clip
• View something from YouTube
• Pass around an object
• Engage in a ritual action: Water, oil,
bread, incense, candle, Bible
• Get up and move around the room

Prime the Pump,
•

Prime the Pump,
• Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences

Fourth Approach
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Seven-Minute Chunks with
Catholic Service Announcements (CSA)
Never talk more than seven (7) minutes
without changing something/CSA.
•Change where you are standing
•Change their focus
•Change their body position
•Change your presentation style
• Catholic Service Announcements (CSA)
Actual Bulletin Announcement, Quote,
Poem, Definition, If God was like…

Fifth Approach
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Quiet Moments for Reflection
• Start with small increments and
background music.
• Lectio Divina – Just one word/phrase
• Use questions – let them write/draw
• Guided meditation
• What would you do?
• Forced Choices with a reason – Is prayer
more like a window or a closet?

Sixth Approach
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Review
• Have them read the key concepts to each
other – Two lines, one keeps rotating
• What are two things you remember from
the last 30 minutes. Partner & then again
• Print definitions on cards, distribute, move
around, when music stops, share what is on
our card, start walking until music stops,
new partners (repeat) and again.

Seventh Approach
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

Go Forth Blessed
It was the last words she ever said
to him.
When she came out,
she made a vow.
“I walked out into life. I will never say
anything that couldn’t stand as
the last thing I will ever say.”

Dead Man Walking
"I want the last
face you see in this
world to be the
face of love, so you
look at me when
they do this thing.
I'll be the face of
love for you."
-Sr. Helen

The Elements of a Blessing
The first element in any blessing is that
there has to be a relationship with God.
When we bless, when we ask for goodness ,
we ask from the source of all goodness,
we ask God. When things are going well in
our lives – when the road seems to rise and
meet us – our relationship with God will
be positive. Cursing is the furthest
thing from our minds.

When things are not going so well in our
lives – when the road does not rise to
meet us – everything in life can seem like
an uphill struggle. It is during these times that
we run the risk of losing our relationship
with God. If we allow this to happen, we are
unable to bless. We become like the
embittered psalmist who can only curse.
Relationship with and belief in God
are essential to blessing.

The second element in a blessing is the
ritual of transfer of the blessing or the
goodness. Historically, this transfer of the
blessing takes place physically through
words that we pronounce and gestures
that we make, such as uplifted arms or actual
laying-on of hands. The person giving the
blessing transfers the blessing in such a
manner that it will somehow be
experienced by the receiver.

The sense of touch, whether it is the wind
at your back, the sun shining upon your
face or the firm hand of a person signing
your forehead, can convey an enormous
life-sustaining power. A blessing is the
bridge between heaven and earth.
The transfer of the divine
that occurs when we bless
is truly a sacred moment.

The third element of a blessing is the
enhancement of the receiver, wherein we
envision the goodness of the blessing. Even
Jesus, when he pronounced the Beatitudes,
envisioned a goodness that would give
comfort and hope to millennia of believers.
We have in our possession the ability to envision
virtually any future for humanity. The power
to bless is incredibly awesome. It is the
vision of divine enhancement, of a
people resting in the palm of God’s

Go Forth Blessed
• Your turn
• Imagine me facing you and I have my
hand on your shoulder.
• I am looking you in the eyes as I pray the
blessing.
• When I am finished I will sign you on the
forehead saying, “I bless you in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit” and you will respond,
“AMEN.”

Go Forth Blessed
May you arise each day with a voice of
blessing whispering in your heart.
May you find harmony between your
soul and your life.
May there be kindness in your gaze
when you look within.
May you know that though the storm
might rage, not a hair of your head
will be harmed.
May memory bless and protect you.
To Bless the Space Between Us, John O’Donohue

Go Forth Blessed
YOU CAN DO THAT MANY WAYS
•Individually as they leave the room
•Stretch forth your arms and bless them all
together as a group.
•Have them bless one other person and be blessed
by the other – they repeat after you.
• Give them blessings that they pray over
one another
Give them a blessing to take home-bless themselves

Go Forth Blessed
WHY?
• Despite all the darkness, human hope is
based on the instinct that at the deepest
level of reality some intimate kindness
holds sway. This is the heart of blessing.
To believe in blessing is to believe that our
being here, our very presence in the world, is
itself the first gift, the primal blessing.
• -John O'Donohue

REVIEW: Seven
Approaches1. Preparedness: Open Your Mind to What God
Announcements
6. Review
7. Go Forth Blessed

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