6683 TOB Gr6-8

To do with your students
Activity #1: Stations of the Cross
You will need: arrangements to visit a church or chapel with indoor or outdoor Stations, or
you can use a video meditation in the classroom, such as the one found here: SophiaOnline.
org/StationsoftheCrossVideo.
A. Lead your students in the Stations of the Cross either in your parish church or chapel,
or using a video meditation.
B. Afterwards, reflect for a few moments together on the physical as well as spiritual
suffering of Jesus. Ask your students why it is significant that Jesus experienced physical
suffering and not just spiritual suffering and emotional anguish. Accept reasoned
answers.
C. Then, explain the following to your students: The Church teaches that in His very
flesh, Jesus restores God’s plan for human love as a self-giving, sacrificial gift. By Jesus’
taking on human flesh God elevates the dignity of the human body. The bleeding, pierced,
and broken body of Jesus on the Cross exposes the self-giving, life-giving love that the
body was always meant to express. For man “cannot fully find himself except through a
sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes 24). And a gift of self must be complete — our
bodies and souls form a unity! If Jesus had only suffered spiritually, the redemption of
our nature would have been incomplete.
Activity #2: Evidence from Scripture that Jesus Rose from the Dead
You will need: Bibles.
A. Begin by having your students read John 20:19–29 and record points of evidence from
the Scripture passage that support the following statements:
ӹ Jesus rose from the dead.
ӹ
ӹ
Jesus was bodily present to His Apostles.
Jesus’ body was in a glorified state.
ӹ Jesus wanted us to believe in His Resurrection.
B. When they have finished, call on students to share and discuss their findings. Keep a
master list on the board.
C. Wrap up by explaining the following to your students: The Paschal Mystery shows us
that our bodies are good. Jesus used His body to suffer and die for us to bring about our
redemption. At first it might seem like God is condemning the body, since Jesus submitted
Himself to such physical suffering. But we see this cannot be the case because He
then rose from the dead! Jesus did not just rise from the dead spiritually. He rose from
the dead in His glorified body.
42 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS