Lesson Preparation Template

Chapter: Discovering Your Identity (Identity and Happiness)

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