Devotion to Mary

UNIT 6, LESSON 4

Learning Goals Connection to the ӹӹ The Church’s devotion to Mary is intrinsic Catechism of the to Christian worship. ӹӹ Devotion to Mary is expressed in various ӹӹ CCC 487 liturgical feasts and in Marian prayer. ӹӹ CCC 971 ӹӹ The can teach us about loving Mary. ӹӹ CCC 2676-2679

Vocabulary ӹӹ Devotion

BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness When the wine ran short, the mother of of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” said to him, “They have no wine.” [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect LUKE 1:46-47 me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

JOHN 2:3-5

507 Lesson Plan

Materials ӹӹ My Mary Museum Journal ӹӹ Teacher Resource: Saints ӹӹ Teacher Resource: Titles of and Mary Discussion Guide Mary Discussion Guide ӹӹ Teacher Resource: Mary and You ӹӹ Teacher Resource: Titles of ӹӹ Crayons, markers, and/ Mary Museum Images or colored pencils ӹӹ Teacher Resource: Saints ӹӹ A picture of each student and Mary Museum Images in your class ӹӹ Butcher paper (or other covering)

Prayer , full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Note: In advance, create a “museum” in your classroom with three “exhibits”: , Saints and Mary, and Mary and You. Use butcher paper or some other material to cover up each section so that you can reveal the exhibit only when the students are instructed to tour that section. For the Titles of Mary and Saints and Mary exhibits, print out the entire set of Museum Images from Teacher Resource: Titles of Mary Museum Images (page 517 in this guide) and Teacher Resource: Saints and Mary Museum Images (page 530 in this guide). Hang them in two different spaces in your classroom, keeping the images in each Teacher Resource together. For the Mary and You exhibit, create a space for students to display their own artwork. Print out and hang a picture of each student so they can tape their own artwork underneath their picture.

DAY ONE Warm-Up A. Begin by praying the Hail Mary together. B. Ask your students to think about different names they have been called, including nicknames. Then call on a number of students to share their nicknames or other names they might go by.

Invitation to Witness: Consider sharing with your students about a nickname or another name that you have gone by or currently go by. Take the time to share a story about how you earned that name. Explain that having nicknames for someone means they are special to us, because they have “earned” those names somehow. Mary has earned a lot of names because she is very very special!

508 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS LESSON PLAN

C. Explain to your students that Mary is very special to us as Catholics. We treat her in a special way and show her great respect because of her role in our salvation (by her yes to God, she cooperated with God’s plan for salvation and allowed His Son to be born) and because of how much Jesus loved His mother. We call this special treatment of Mary devotion. Devotion means showing someone great respect and treating him or her in a special way because of how great and important that person is. D. Tell your students that for the next few days, the classroom has been turned into a museum for Mary! They get to be the lucky guests of this museum and will learn about Mary and how to show devotion to her. They will even have the chance to display their own artwork!

Activity A. Explain to your students that one of the ways we show our devotion to Mary is by using different names or titles for her that honor her and help us to know her better. Ask your students if they know any names or titles for Mary. Accept reasoned answers. B. Tell your students that in today’s lesson, as they tour the first section of the “Mary Museum,” they are going to learn about some of the many names we use for Mary and some special days on which we can celebrate her. C. Play classical music in the background and create a prayerful atmosphere in the classroom. Lead your students through a tour of the Titles for Mary exhibit: ӹӹ Have your students gather around to see the images more closely. ӹӹ Show your students the different names of Mary, one by one, accompanied by the images. Explain each title, image, and feast day using Teacher Resource: Titles of Mary Discussion Guide (page 515 in this guide). ӹӹ Engage your students in discussion about the images and titles by asking your students a se onal Pa e ans an a Pa les o a whether they have any favorites, whether eons eons A they have heard of this or that name before, nsaon what they notice about each image, what ______ they like and dislike, and so forth. ______ ______Formative Assessment ______Have your students turn to My Mary Museum ______ Journal (page 245). Explain that they will be ______ ______keeping a journal of the different exhibits they see ______from the Mary Museum. Give your students some ______ time to answer the questions from the Titles of ______Mary portion of the worksheet.

Unit 6, lesson 4 509 LESSON PLAN

DAY TWO Warm-Up A. Begin by praying the Hail Mary together. B. Have your students turn to My Mary Museum Journal again. Make crayons, markers, and/ or colored pencils available. In the space labeled “My Inspiration,” have your students draw a picture of the person from whom they have learned the most in their lives. After a few minutes, have your students take turns sharing their drawing with a neighbor and explaining why they chose to draw that person. C. Then explain to your students that in the Catholic Church we have the saints to look up to, to learn from, and to inspire us. Many saints had a special devotion to Mary. We can learn from these saints how to know and love Mary better. D. Remind your students that they are the lucky guests of a Mary Museum this week! Today they will tour the second section of the museum and learn about some saints who had a particular devotion to Mary. Remind your students that devotion means showing someone great respect and treating him or her in a special way because of how great and important that person is.

Activity Play classical music in the background and create a prayerful atmosphere in the classroom. Lead your students through a tour of the Saints and Mary exhibit:

ӹӹ Have your students gather around the exhibit to see the images more closely. ӹӹ Go through the five saints from this exhibit who have a devotion to Mary. Give your students background on each using Teacher Resource: Saints and Mary Discussion Guide (page 527 in this guide). Read the quotes and help the students understand what they mean. ӹӹ Engage your students in discussion about the saints by asking which of the quotes means the most to them, which saint’s quote is the most interesting, and so forth.

Formative Assessment A. Have your students turn to My Mary Museum Journal. Give them some time to answer the questions from the “Saints and Mary” portion of the worksheet. B. Then have your students turn to a neighbor and take turns sharing which saint is their favorite from the five presented and one question they would ask that saint if they could meet him or her.

510 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS LESSON PLAN

DAY THREE Note: In advance, make enough copies of Teacher Resource: Mary and You (page 535 in this guide) for every student in your class.

Warm-Up A. Begin by praying the Hail Mary together. B. Have your students gather in front of the Mary and You section of the Mary Museum. Tell them that this exhibit is about some up-and-coming artists and ask them to guess who might be behind the “curtain”! Then reveal the section by removing the butcher paper. Students will be excited to see their photos on the wall! C. Tell your students that they will get to add their own original work to the museum today before more guests come to tour the museum!

Activity and Assessment A. Distribute to each student a copy of Teacher Resource: Mary and You. Make crayons, markers, and/or colored pencils available. Then have your students create their own piece of artwork about Mary, based on anything they have learned about Mary over the last several days. Explain that this is their chance to show their devotion to Mary in art. B. As students finish their art, hang their work on the wall underneath their picture. C. Invite other students or adults from the school (or parents) to visit the Mary Museum. Arrange your students in pairs or trios and have them act as tour guides to lead your guests through the exhibits and explain each section to them. Allow each student to share his or her original work with the guests.

Unit 6, lesson 4 511 a se onal

Pa les o a eons A

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512 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS Pa e ans an a eons

nsaon

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Unit 6, lesson 4 513

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514 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS Titles of Mary Discussion Guide

TEACHER RESOURCE

Directions: Go through each title for Mary and the corresponding image. Use the discussion guide below to give your students more information about each title, image, and feast day.

1. Mary the Mother of God: We celebrate the feast (solemnity) of Mary, Mother of God, on January 1. It is a holy day of obligation. God chose Mary to be the mother of His Son, Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Therefore, it is appropriate for us to call Mary the Mother of God and to honor her as His mother.

2. The : We celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. It is a holy day of obligation. Mary was prepared to be the Mother of God from the moment her life began. She was freed from the stain of Original Sin to be a spotless vessel for her Son.

3. : We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 18. In 1858, Mary appeared in a grotto, or small cave, 18 times to a young girl named Bernadette in Lourdes, France. She asked Bernadette to pray for sinners, to do penance, and to have a chapel built on the spot of her appearances. She also led Bernadette to discover a spring of water that had not been there before. To this day, the water from this spring has miraculous healing properties, and people from all over the world come to drink from it and bathe in it.

4. : We celebrate the Queenship of Mary on August 22. At the end of her earthly life Mary was taken, or assumed, into Heaven body and soul. She was crowned Queen of Heaven and is seated at the right hand of her Son, Jesus, the King. The tradition of the king’s mother being his queen comes from the practice of the ancient kings of Israel in the line of , whose mothers reigned beside them as queen.

5. : We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15. At the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple, a man named prophesied that Mary’s heart would be pierced by a sword as a share in her Son’s sufferings. Tradition has identified seven sorrows of Mary, or ways in which she suffered with her Son: the prophecy of Simeon, the escape and , the loss of the child Jesus in the Temple, the meeting of Mary and Jesus on the road to His Crucifixion, the on Mount Calvary, the piercing of Jesus’ side and being taken down from the Cross, and the burial of Jesus.

Unit 6, lesson 4 515 6. : We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. In 1531, Mary appeared in to a native man named Juan Diego. She asked him to have a chapel built on the hill on which she had appeared. Juan Diego went to his bishop to tell of this message, but the bishop did not believe him. Days later, Mary appeared to Juan Diego again and told him to gather roses in his cloak to take to the bishop as a sign (roses were out of season). This he did, and when he opened his cloak to remove the roses, a beautiful miraculous image of Mary appeared on the cloak. Eventually the chapel was built, and within ten years of Mary’s appearance, more than nine million people had converted to Catholicism. Today, almost 500 years later, this image still exists and is venerated.

7. : We do not celebrate a specific feast day in honor of Mary’s motherhood of the Church. However, we do celebrate her motherhood of the Church on every feast day that we celebrate her. Mary was Jesus’ first and was present during all of the significant moments of His public ministry; during His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension; and on , when the Holy Spirit descended upon her and the Apostles. When Jesus was dying on the Cross, He spoke to Mary and to John the Beloved Apostle and gave His mother to John to be his mother. The Church has always understood this as a sign that Jesus gave His mother to the whole Church to be the mother of the Church.

8. Holy Mary: We celebrate the holy name of Mary as an optional feast day on September 12. We also celebrate the birth of Mary on September 8. Mary’s holiness began at the beginning of her life, when she was preserved from the stain of Original Sin, and lasted throughout her life as she remained free of sin. Mary’s holiness is a model for us all as we strive for holiness in our own lives.

9. Our Lady of Perpetual Help: We celebrate the feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on June 27. This title for Mary comes from a well-known fifteenth-century Byzantine icon of Mary and Jesus as a child, with two angels holding the instruments of Jesus’ Crucifixion. The artist intended to show the child Jesus being comforted by His mother. This is an example of the perpetual help Mary offers each of us.

10. Mother of Mercy: We do not celebrate a specific feast day in honor of Mary the Mother of Mercy. We do, however, celebrate her mercy on every feast day on which we celebrate her. We call Mary the Mother of Mercy because she is the Mother of Jesus, whose sacrifice on the Cross was the means by which the divine mercy of God was given to all of us. Further, Jesus has given His mother the task of distributing all graces, which includes showering His mercy upon us.

516 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS Titles of Mary Museum Images

TEACHER RESOURCE

1. Mary the Mother of God

Unit 6, lesson 4 517 2. The Immaculate Conception

518 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 3. Our Lady of Lourdes

Unit 6, lesson 4 519 4. Queen of Heaven

520 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 5. Our Lady of Sorrows

Unit 6, lesson 4 521 6. Our Lady of Guadalupe

522 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 7. Mother of the Church

Unit 6, lesson 4 523 8. Holy Mary

524 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 9. Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Unit 6, lesson 4 525 10. Mother of Mercy

526 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS Saints and Mary Discussion Guide

TEACHER RESOURCE

Directions: Using the guide below, discuss with your students each saint’s devotion to Mary and the quote about Mary attributed to that saint.

1. St. When Maximilian Kolbe was a boy, he had a vision of Mary, who showed him two crowns: one red, representing martyrdom (dying for the Christian faith), and one white, representing purity. She asked if he would accept either of these crowns in his life, and he told her he would accept both. The next year Maximilian joined the Franciscan order and was eventually ordained a priest. He founded the Militia Immaculata (the Army of the Immaculate One), which worked for the conversion of sinners and against enemies of the Church in the name and through the intercession of Mary. Maximilian died a martyr for the faith in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” —St. Maximilian Kolbe

2. Saint John Paul the Great When Pope Saint John Paul the Great, or John Paul II, was a young boy, his mother died. Raised by his father, John Paul would spend time praying before the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in his parish. This brought him comfort, and he grew close to Mary. He knew that she would protect him from harm and help him persevere through the difficulties he would face in life. Throughout his life, John Paul would repeat the words “totus tuus” (totally yours) to Mary in prayer. By these words he meant to give his life in service to Mary and her Son. When he was elected pope, John Paul II made “totus tuus” the motto of his papacy. During his reign as pope, Pope John Paul II added a fourth set of mysteries to the , the Luminous Mysteries, which focus on events during Christ’s public life, before His Passion.

“From Mary we learn to surrender to God’s will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her son and the son of God.” —Pope Saint John Paul the Great

Unit 6, lesson 4 527 3. St. Teresa of Calcutta St. Teresa of Calcutta, known during her life as , founded an order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity, who care for the extremely poor, the sick, and the dying in some of the poorest places throughout the world. Mother Teresa and the sisters of her order made sure that these people knew they were loved by God. One way Teresa did this was to give out Miraculous Medals. The began when Mary appeared in a vision to another saint, Catherine Laboure, and asked her to make and give out a medal with very specific images imprinted on it. On the front of the medal is an image of Mary crushing the head of a serpent with her foot (a depiction of Genesis 3:15, when God first promised salvation). Surrounding this image are the words “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Rays of light are coming from Mary’s hands, which symbolize the grace of God being given to us. On the back of the medal is a cross intertwined with an M (for Mary), which represents the way in which Mary brings all the faithful to her Son, Jesus, and represents hope. Many miraculous healings are associated with the Miraculous Medal, which is where its name comes from. Mother Teresa trusted in Mary and her Son and their loving care for those she served.

“If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon Our Lady. Just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit: this prayer has never failed me.” —St. Teresa of Calcultta

4. St. Louis Marie de Montfort St. had a deep love for Mary during his entire life. He was a priest and a powerful preacher, and often large crowds would gather to hear him preach about devotion and love for Mary. One group of people who believed in false teachings about the Catholic Faith grew angry with Louis and poisoned him. While recovering from this attack, St. Louis wrote a book called True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which taught the faithful how to deepen their devotion to Mary and commit their lives and all they do to her. His book is still used by many today.

“We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor His mother, and when we honor her simply and solely to honor Him all the more perfectly.” —St. Louis Marie de Montfort

528 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 5. St. Thérèse of Lisieux When Thérèse was young she became very sick. Nothing seemed to help. Thérèse and her whole family would pray before a statue of Mary for her healing. Then one day, while praying before the statue, Thérèse was miraculously healed. A few years later, Thérèse entered into a Carmelite convent, where she spent her days in prayer and work. She deeply loved Mary and would do everything in Mary’s presence and by her example. Thérèse called herself the “little flower” of Mary and would say that Mary was her “heavenly gardener.” Thérèse kept her devotion to Mary throughout her short life. She died when she was 24, after a long illness in which she had to remain in bed. During this time, Thérèse wrote the story of her short life to tell all who would read it about her love for Mary and for Jesus.

“What a joy to remember that she is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?” —St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Unit 6, lesson 4 529 Saints and Mary Museum Images

TEACHER RESOURCE

1. St. Maximilian Kolbe

Zvonimir Atletic / Shutterstock.com

530 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 2. Pope St. John Paul the Great

Unit 6, lesson 4 531 3. St. Teresa of Calcutta

532 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS 4. St. Louis Marie de Montfort

Unit 6, lesson 4 533 5. St. Thérèse of Lisieux

534 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS Mary and You

TEACHER RESOURCE

Unit 6, lesson 4 535 Notes ______

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536 © SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS My Mary Museum Journal

Part 1: Titles of Mary Directions: Answer the questions below .

1 . Which title of Mary do you like the best? Why?

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2 . Which painting of Mary do you like the best? Why?

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3 . If you could tell Mary anything, what would you tell her?

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Unit 6, Lesson 4 245 Part 2: The Saints and Mary Directions: Draw a picture . Then answer the questions .

My Inspiration Draw a picture of the person from whom you have learned the most in your life .

4 . Which saint’s story did you like the best? Why?

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246 Unit 6, Lesson 4 5 . If you could ask that saint any question, what would you ask him or her?

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6 . How can you be more like that saint?

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Unit 6, Lesson 4 247