God's Plan for Our Happiness - Catholic Youth Ministry

IN PURSUIT outline
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IN PURSUIT
God’s Plan for Our Happiness
LIfe NIGHT OUTLINe
CATeCHISM
# 302-314
# 1719
# 1950-1960
SCRIPTURe
Psalm 1:1-3
John 15:11
John 16:22
Romans 7:22
keY CONCePTS
• God desires happiness for all His
children.
• God created each of us so that we can
live with Him for eternity.
• Because of our sin God created law
so that we would have a path back to
him.
GOAL
The goal of this Life Night is to introduce the semester on morality. This night
will also help the teens understand God’s desire for our happiness and freedom.
The night will challenge the teens to see God’s law as a way to help us live in His
freedom and not as a hindrance to our freedom.
ABOUT THIS NIGHT
This night marks the beginning of the morality Semester. God desires that we
would live as He created us, free and loving. This night will look at what law
means for our lives; law is not something that hinders our freedom, but is rather
something that allows us to live as God intended. This night will begin with an
icebreaker where each teen will meet other teens with similarities. After the
icebreaker there will be a humorous skit that will transition into the teaching. The
teaching will focus on God’s plan for our lives and what it means to live according
to His plan. each teen will have a chance to discuss the teaching in their small
groups that will be divided out by grade. The night will conclude with a time of
reflection and prayer that will encourage each teen to bring their lives to God’s
altar.
PAReNTAL NOTICe
Welcome to our semester on morality! This will be an exciting semester where
we will look not only at the Ten Commandments but also at God’s plan for our
happiness. Yes, there is sin in this world, but God’s law guides us away from sin and
challenges us to live according to His plan for our freedom. Spend a few minutes
this week discussing with your teen(s) their thoughts on morality. Here are a few
questions to get the conversation started:
1. When you think about morality, what comes to mind?
2. Why do you think God put laws into place?
3. To you, what is the difference between Godly happiness and worldly happiness?
L I f e T e e N C U R R I C U L U m G U I d e

eNVIRONMeNT
The room will be set up like a courtroom; the opening skit will take place in “God’s
Courtroom.” Place a judge’s bench at the front of the room; you can do this by
placing a table on a platform so that it stands higher than the other tables. To the
right of the judge’s bench, place a chair and microphone for the witness stand.
Then, opposite the witness stand, place two more tables, one for the defense and
one for the prosecution.
MeDIA SUGGeSTIONS
Song: "Lay it down" by matt maher (Empty & Beautiful, emI)
Song: "enough" by Chris Tomlin (Not To Us, Sparrow)
Life Teen Video: "Life Teen Logo Loop" (Life Teen Video Support 14)
GATHeR 15 Minutes
WeLCOMe AND INTRODUCTIONS (5 min)
The youth minister will welcome everyone to the night and
new semester and welcome any teens at Life Night for the
first time. He/She may give a brief overview of the semester
covering the topic of morality and how we are called to live a
moral life.
HAPPINeSS ICe BReAkeR (5 min)
each person will be given a piece of paper and a pen. They
will be instructed to write down ten things that make them
happy (for example: friends, sports, school, dance, etc.).
Once all the teens have ten things on their list, they must
go around the room and find other people with at least one
matching item on their list. When they find one person who
matches one item, they are to write that name down next to
the item that makes them happy. The goal of this icebreaker
is to meet ten new people who have similar items on their list.
“GOD’S COURTROOM” SkIT (5 min)
The skit for this night is set in a courtroom where a man is
on trial for breaking a few unconventional laws. The “God’s
Courtroom” skit can be found on pages 18 to 19.
PROCLAIM 15 Minutes
"IN PURSUIT" TeACHING (15 min)
The teaching for this night will introduce the morality
Semester and begin to answer a few basic questions about
God's plan for our happiness, Natural Law, and our freedom.
The teaching can be found on pages 15 to 17.
NOTeS
BReAk 20 Minutes
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (20 min)
Tonight each teen will break into small groups according to
their grade. for example, all the 9th graders will meet in one
area of the room and from there move into smaller groups,
depending on the numbers. Breaking the teens up into
grades will give them a chance to meet others their own age
they may not know.
Begin the small group with prayer and use the following
questions to guide the discussion:
• Why do you think there are laws in our schools, state,
country, and world?
• do you think all people are accountable to the same law?
Where does this law come from?
• many people argue that laws restrict our freedom; do you
agree or disagree? Why?
• How can following God’s law bring us true and lasting
happiness?
• What brings you true and lasting happiness? Is God a part
of what brings you happiness?
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IN PURSUIT outline
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IN PURSUIT outline
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SeND 25 Minutes
ReCAP OF LIFe NIGHT (5 min)
Gather all the teens back together into the sanctuary of the
church or chapel or into your gathering space (the space will
need an altar in the middle). This will be a time of prayer, so
set an appropriate tone by lowering the lights and playing
soft background music. As they enter into this time, have the
Core members pass out prayer journals to each teen (prayer
journals are available at store.lifeteen.com). This is something
that will be given to each teen and can be used throughout
the semester. The youth minister will welcome everyone
back from small groups, give a recap of the Life Night, and
transition into this time of prayer.
JOURNAL PROMPT (20 min)
The Send will begin with several minutes of quiet journaling
and reflection for each person to truly converse with God
through writing. The youth minister should explain how
journaling can be a fruitful prayer activity. He or she will then
explain that the teens will begin their journal by reflecting on
the following questions:
• Are you happy? Why or why not?
• do you believe that God desires your TRUe happiness?
• God created you free and with free will. do you use the gift
of your freedom to choose God? Why or why not?
After the time of journaling and reflection, invite the teens to
gather around the altar. The youth minister will lead into the
final challenge and prayer:
What makes you truly happy? Where do you feel the freest? God
has created each of us to be free. He does not want His children
to be bound by sin and broken with sadness. The Lord wants
each of us to experience true joy, in this life and the next. Over
the next few weeks we are going to break open God’s Law and
see how He has given us the necessary tools we need to be free
and happy. We are going to look at the Commandments and
follow this path that He has given us to heaven. Ultimately, He
wants us to join Him in heaven, but we cannot do that if we are
attached to sin. Are there things in your life that keep you from
loving the Lord and allowing yourself to experience the joy He
wants for you? If so, this is the time to bring them to the Lord. He
wants everything, and tonight is an opportunity to lay it down at
his altar.
At this time, have a few minutes of silence for the teens to
pray. Invite the teens to think of the things that keep them
from being truly free and fully happy. After a few minutes of
silence, begin some soft music (see “media Suggestions”) and
invite the teens to come forward to the altar. At the altar, have
Core members prepared to pray for and with each teen. After
L I f e T e e N C U R R I C U L U m G U I d e
everyone has had a chance to come to the altar, close the
night by praying the Hail mary and Ave maria.
GOING DeePeR
• Once a month, offer the teens a holy hour of eucharistic
Adoration. encourage the teens to bring their journals to
use as a prayer tool.
• Give each teen a copy of the semester schedule – including
event dates, retreat dates, and how they can get more
involved during the semester.
ADAPTING THIS LIFe NIGHT
• Instead of a live skit, have the Core Team create a video.
• A new semester may bring new Core members. Have a
meet-and-greet before Life Night with teens and their
parents.
• If the budget does not afford each teen a prayer journal,
hand out a few sheets of paper instead.

IN PURSUIT TeACHING
He’S GOT A PLAN
If you’ve been coming to church for a while, you might notice that there are a few
phrases and ideas that get repeated a lot during our Christian lives. We hear things
like “Jesus loves you” and “Offer it up” all the time, but one of the phrases that comes
out when we’re in times of trouble is, “It’s okay; God’s got a plan.”
When we hear that God has it all under control, it can often feel like just words. Life
is crazy, and full of twists and turns that we don’t understand. “How can all this be
part of what God wants?” we ask, “And what does God want anyway?”
The answer to that question is simple enough to fit into two words, but massive
enough to take all of our history to explain. God wants our happiness.
“Wait. God wants me to be happy? If that’s true, then why are there so many rules
to Christianity?” That’s a question some of you might be asking, and it’s a valid one.
It can seem like there are two things being said at once; God desires for us to be
happy and joyful, but He also has a list of rules and a way of living that we are told
we have to follow.
Asking these questions is good: it means we’re thinking about our faith and actively
exploring what it means in our lives. many of you may have the same questions
right now, so we’re going to take time to try to answer some of them.
QUeSTIONS (AND ANSWeRS)
Q: So how can both of those be true? How can we be happy if we aren’t free to do
whatever we want?
A: To answer this question, we first have to take a closer look at two of the words
we’re using: “happiness” and “freedom.” See, God’s happiness isn’t just a feeling – it’s
a fulfillment. We were made to desire God; from the time of Adam and eve, our
hearts have drawn us close to the Creator of all things. To truly find happiness – and
more importantly, joy – we have to live as people of the Beatitudes; not because
they arbitrarily make us happy, but because they keep us close to Christ, who is the
source of all happiness. That’s the thing to remember: God is where we find peace,
love, and joy. All good things come from Him, and the closer we are to His heart, the
more joyful our own hearts will be.
This is where the idea of “freedom” comes in. Let’s think about freedom in a new
way. The world’s idea of freedom is a place without limits or boundaries, where
being able to choose anything without consequence is the ultimate goal. But how
did Christ, the perfect example of how to live, express freedom? He was fully man,
but He was also fully God, so couldn’t He have done whatever He wanted? Couldn’t
He have killed His enemies, or skipped out on the cross, or snapped His fingers to
skip all the pain of Calvary? Yes; He could have. But Christ showed us that there is
freedom in obedience, which sounds like a contradiction. But we are God’s children
– and when are children free to play without worry or strife? When they are being
watched over by someone to protect them – someone to keep them from running
into the street or being picked off by a stranger.
That is what God’s law is for us. It’s not a fence that keeps us from getting into the
most fun part of life; it’s a guardrail that keeps us from falling over the cliff of sin.
Our freedom – a gift from God – lets us choose the good, lets us choose Christ and
others over ourselves. Our freedom lets us offer our lives and ourselves as gift.
As you transition into the questions,
you can have different
Core Members answer each one;
this way no one has to have the
weight of the whole talk on them
and we get different personalities.
CCC 27
CCC 1730
CCC 1954
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IN PURSUIT teaching

IN PURSUIT teaching
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Matthew 7:1
CCC 2300
Make sure this comes across as
Church-positive more than
world-negative, or you may
end up turning off a few teens
If you have an obvious and a
subtle example that fit your group
of teens better, use those instead.
CCC 1954
The Beatitudes and Commandments – which we will be talking about this semester –
are the keys to living a truly blessed life in Christ.
“DON’T JUDGe Me”
Q: But aren’t those choices about right and wrong for each person to make? Aren’t I
taking away freedom from my friends when I tell them what they are doing is wrong
and judge them?
A: Okay, let’s take a second and talk about the word “judging.” It seems like one of the
biggest “sins” in the eyes of the world is to judge people; and, in fact, Scripture tells
us to “not judge, lest we be judged.” But judging someone means something very
specific. God is our perfect judge; when we die, He will see our lives as a whole and
make clear if our lives have lead us to unity with Him. That is what it truly means to
judge; to claim to know a person’s soul and where they should spend eternity. When
we take that role into our own hands, we are doing something we shouldn’t.
That’s not the same as what the world tells us, which is that any time we point out
right and wrong, we’re judging. But by calling our friends to the same holiness we’re
trying to reach we aren’t condemning them, we’re trying to help them along the
same path to happiness that we’re on. In fact, the Church calls each of us to charitably
inform the consciences of those we love.
If your friend was going to put her hand on a hot stove, you’d warn her, wouldn’t you?
Because you care about her, you would do everything you could to keep her from
being hurt – even if she was going to hurt herself. There are times when our friends
do things that are wrong – that pull them away from God and happiness – and if we
truly love them, we must do what we can to show them the truth of God.
Let’s use two examples. If someone we know were cutting themselves, what would
we do? They might think it’s right and want to do it, but does that mean we should
stand by without saying or doing anything? Is that what it really means to care about
them? What about if our friends are looking at pornography? That’s something
accepted by many people, but it’s one of the most damaging things we can to do
our souls and our sexuality. When we are fighting so hard to live lives of chastity, how
could we really love someone and let them be pulled away from God?
Q: I believe in being Catholic, but my friends don’t. What gives the Church the right
to decide what’s right and wrong? How can they impose their morality on the whole
world – even people who aren’t part of the Church?
A: Although we learn about moral law from the Church, it’s not actually the Church’s
law; it is God’s law. Over the centuries, God has revealed the path of holiness to His
people and His bride (the Church). That law is meant for all mankind; every person
ever created was designed for heaven and is a son or daughter of God. Inside all of us,
even if we never knew that God existed, is a sense of right and wrong. That is called
the Natural Law. God wrote that law on our hearts; we are naturally designed to draw
close to Him in the way we live. The ethics and “rules” the Church teaches are simply a
deeper explanation of the virtues of the natural law.
When people talk about what “the Church” says in the world, they’re often referring
to contentious issues like abortion or the death penalty or war. Politicians and
professors spend hours debating what we should think about these issues. But each
of those issues actually has to do with one simple part of that Natural Law we talked
about: life should be protected. everyone – whether they’re Catholic or not – has
human dignity and deserves to be defended. That is a truth of Natural Law, and the
Church has discovered many ways to apply it in our daily lives.
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There are a lot of misconceptions about what the Church actually teaches...and
that’s what we’re going to tackle this semester. We’ll find out what is in our Church’s
teachings, and also take a look at how the Commandments are actually guideposts
to our own happiness.
Q: I love God and I’m trying to follow Him – so if I’m being a good person, why do
I need all these rules? Why can’t I make up my own mind and find out what seems
right or wrong?
A: That’s a good question – actually, the Church says we do need to discover what’s
right and wrong. But that doesn’t mean that we just start picking things willy-nilly;
that Natural Law we talked about shows us there actually are things that are
specifically right and wrong. If I feel or decide that murder’s okay, that doesn’t mean
it’s okay for me to do – it’s still wrong.
The way we can discover what is truly right or wrong is by correctly forming our
conscience. As we shape and mold our consciences, we have to seek two virtues
in our lives. The first is humility; it takes humility to admit that we don’t (and can’t)
know everything, and that God might have a little better idea of how the world
works than we do. The second virtue is trust; we trust in Christ when He established
his Church, telling Peter that “the gates of Hell would never prevail against it.”
WHeRe DO We GO FROM HeRe?
forming our consciences, learning what the Church teaches, and learning how
God loves us even through what can seem like “rules”: these are the things we’ll be
tackling this semester. Get excited guys, because we’re about to find out the key to
what so many people want in life: true happiness.
This is a moment where a good
personal testimony about
discovering and falling in love
with a specific Church teaching
can go miles for you.
Matthew 16:18
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IN PURSUIT teaching

IN PURSUIT skit
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IN PURSUIT SKIT
GOD'S COURTROOM
CHARACTeRS:
God (aka “The Judge”)
Bailiff
defendant being accused of the crimes
defense attorney (d.A.)
Prosecution attorney (P.A.)
Transition into Court Room skit by having a bailiff come
into the room and announce: “Please rise. Will the Holy
Judge, God Himself, enter the courtroom?” Everyone
stands.
JUDGe
Be seated. Okay so what do we have here? It looks as if
we have a law-breaker.
D.A.
my client would like to plead not guilty on all charges.
He is an upstanding citizen, Your Honor.
P.A.
Your Honor, this man was found with a donkey in his
bathtub. It is clear that the state bans all donkeys from
being in bathtubs, just like in Johnson v. marshall.
JUDGe
I know what the law says. Well sir (turning to the
defendant), what do you have to say for yourself?
DeFeNDANT
Your Honor, that was not my donkey or my home. I was
house-sitting, and when I got there the donkey was
already in the bathtub. Someone is trying to frame me!
P.A.
Your Honor, there is more: on the morning of July 8 th , a
Sunday, this man was also found carrying an ice cream
cone in his back pocket. And most people, unless you
live under a rock, know that it is illegal to carry an ice
cream cone in their back pocket on Sunday. We believe
he should serve the maximum sentence for this charge.
JUDGe
Wow, this is serious.
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DeFeNDANT
But, Your Honor!
JUDGe
(Yelling) Counselor, control your client!
D.A.
Sorry Your Honor, there will be no more outbursts, but
frankly, this is ridiculous. my client was found at 12:30
am on the morning of July 8th. We are talking about 30
minutes. That hardly deserves the maximum sentence.
P.A.
Yes, one more offense, and this is certainly the most
serious – this man was found wearing a strapless gown
in a public place.
JUDGe
Is this true? Were you in public wearing a strapless
garment? This is serious!
D.A.
Your Honor, he was leaving a private costume party on
his way home. Please, Your Honor, my client is a boy
scout, a volunteer fire fighter, and a family man. He is
not a lawbreaker! Can we just dismiss these silly charges
and all go home?
JUDGe
I would like to go home, actually, but these are laws
and we need to enforce the law. If we do not, then what
is the point in having laws? Sir, do you have any final
words you would like to share before I make my ruling?
DeFeNDANT
Yes sir, I understand that there are consequences to our
actions, but please, I beg for your mercy! These laws
don’t help anyone! I’m not even sure what I did wrong!
Please have mercy on me!
Pause
JUDGe
Okay, I have made my decision. With all the authority
given unto me in both heaven and earth, I hereby find
mr. ___ not guilty on all accounts. But I hope you have
learned your lesson: be careful who you house sit for,
check your pockets before sitting down, and avoid bad
costume parties. Court is adjourned! (Slams gavel.)
L I f e T e e N C U R R I C U L U m G U I d e
IN PURSUIT skit
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IN PURSUIT checklist
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IN PURSUIT CHeCKLIST
CORe PLANNING TeAM:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
DATe OF LIFe NIGHT:
__________________________________________________
ONe MONTH PRIOR TO THe NIGHT:
Give copies of the Life Night to each of the members of the
planning team. each person should read the Scripture and
Catechism references as well as review the planning guide
before the brainstorming meeting.
Get the planning team together for a brainstorming
meeting (this should last no longer than 1 hour). The team
prays and discusses where the teens are in their faith journey
in relation to this topic. Then using this planning guide as a
starting point, the team adapts the Life Night to meet the
needs of the teens and the parish. Create a detailed outline
with any changes and/or adjustments.
Assign the person responsible for each part of the Life
Night:
environment ________________________________________
Happiness Ice Breaker ________________________________
God’s Courtroom Skit _________________________________
Small Group discussion _______________________________
Journal Prompt and Prayer _____________________________
Notes
L I f e T e e N C U R R I C U L U m G U I d e
TWO WeekS PRIOR TO LIFe NIGHT:
Turn in a detailed outline of the Life Night to the youth
minister. Allow the youth minister to give feedback and make
any necessary changes.
Create a list of needed supplies and materials. Assign a
person to be responsible for collecting and/or purchasing the
materials needed.
decide the people that will be doing the following things.
make sure they have a copy of the script and/or teaching
outline. Inform them of any practices and/or deadlines.
Teaching ___________________________________________
Week OF THe LIFe NIGHT:
Written outline of the teaching is given to the youth
minister and practiced.
Run a dress rehearsal of the Life Night. Youth minister gives
feedback.
Create environment and collect needed supplies.
e-mail entire Core Team an overview of the night and small
group questions.
DAY OF THe LIFe NIGHT:
Set up the environment. make sure the room is clean and
presentable.
Set up audio and video. Test the video clips to make sure
both picture and sound work.
Walk the entire Core team through the Life Night. make sure
all transitions are ready and everyone knows their roles.
Pray! Pray for the teens attending the Night. Pray for God's
will to be done through the night. Pray over those involved.