Res Ipsa Loquitur 19: Love and Marriage from Genesis to Revelations

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

like this but much faster

30-minute video from the March 2014 online Catholic Conference 4 Moms: Love and Marriage from Genesis to Revelations.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 18: Tony Agnesi Show

Finding God’s Grace Radio- Week of March 2, 2015

Res Ipsa Loquitur 17: Whole Lotta Eatin' Goin' On

A few minutes from the Bible about eating at this episode of Source and Summit.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 16: Mass Density

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

James Tissot Strikes Again

Six minutes on a Scripturally-packed part of the Mass, in this podcast at Source and Summit; and a winsome conversion story by host Marvin Max.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 15: Food Pyramid

This post links to Source and Summit

Jesus spoke literally at the Last Supper. 7-minute podcast based on 6th-grade catechism class content.

Stealth Award

Link to audio here.

Res Ipsa Loquitur: Mass Model

 

No, not a mass model...

 

...a Mass model.

About 8 minutes of class time. Yes it's bedlam, but you can hear the kids thinking and learning. Multiply this 8 minutes by 7, and you get a sense of how much content is covered in 55 minutes of teaching, and at what depth.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 13: Odds'n'Ends

Class on March 28 covered the end times in Revelations, mostly chapters 19-22. These are some bits from that class, not all of them strictly adhering to the lesson plan.

1. For Riparians, a short digression on Adam & Eve while handing out a few rubber vocation bracelets.

2. While discussing the Final Judgment, the subject of Purgatory came up again. That worked out well because I was only a page away from a helpful verse at the time.

3. The lesson plan ended 6 minutes early. I had this bit on palmers in reserve.

Pitchers 8, Res Ipsa 10: Tebow & Tassels

 

...and zap! Jesus' power flowed through his body to his cloak to the tassel to the woman...

Edited recap of the January 18, 2012 class.

This bit by Joyce Donahue motivated me to work Tebowing into Wednesday Night Sunday School: "Hey I gotta question for y'all. Don't answer, just raise your hand: who knows how to Tebow...y'all come up here. Nobody else knows? That's OK. You two, when I count to three, do it...1, 2, 3, TEBOW!" And the two sporting boys execute perfect, simultaneous Tebows, rivaling the Master.

"None of y'all know what this is? Oh yeah, that's the football player who prays all the time! Right, they're praying. If you're gonna pray for just a few seconds it's simpler to get down and up on one knee instead of two. When do we do that in a Catholic Church? When do we Tebow? No...I mean when do we go down on one knee instead of two. Genuflecting! Umm, yes, that's what we call it. But when do you do it? When you're about to sit down. Yes. Have any of y'all been to a church that isn't Catholic? Me...me too. OK, do y'all genuflect in those churches? No. Anybody know why not? 'Cause they don't have a tabernacle! Yes, genius, like so...altar...tabernacle.
 

Hey, what's a tavern? A bar! Yes, a place to have a beer, but it comes from this word, taberna, which means house in Latin. Our word tabernacle comes from the Latin word tabernaculum, which means little house. So...tell me something. It's Jesus' house! Yes, so when Jesus is in his house...we genuflect. Yes. Tell me a day that we don't genuflect. Christmas! No! Easter! No! Stop guessing like monkeys! Good Friday! Yes, why? Cause Jesus isn't in his house. So where is he? On the cross. Yes. Usually on Good Friday we kneel to venerate the crucifix. It's a bit more intense than a genuflection. By the way, what's that mean: to genuflect? Bow down! Close...pray! Also close...if something is flexible it can...bend! Yes, so if -flect- means bend, then...it means bend your knee! Yes. Genua is Latin for...knee! Yes. The G-N is related to the K-N from before there was English or Latin; "-kn-" and "-gn-" sounds are very close to each other. Yes? Why don't we say the k? Well, we stopped saying those k's centuries ago, but we used to say them. Germans still do, they say "k'nee." That sounds weird. Yes, but it sounds normal to Germans. Historically speaking, people were genuflecting long before Jesus was born...why? For an emperor! Yes, or...a king! Yes, people genuflected before people who had authority over them. We still do that when Jesus is in his little house."

The lesson plan includes discussing and acting out miracles, many of them intercessory. Some people, including the pagan Centurion (who commands how many men? 100! Yes!) and the pagan Canaanite woman, are ok with miracles-at-a-distance. But Jairus wants Jesus to come to his house, the Paralytic's friends dropped him through the roof onto Jesus' head, and the Woman with the Hemorrhage tries to grab Jesus. Maybe they lack the faith of the pagan Roman; but then again, maybe they intuit something important about Jesus' body. "Yes? What's intuit? To know something or figure it out without knowing exactly why."

"OK, let's draw...the Gingerbread Man! Uh-huh, which shows we are a...body'n'soul!  Yes. Now over here to the left let's draw...another Gingerbread Man! Yes, but this one is Jesus...here's a J. Jesus also has a...body'n'soul. Yes. He's like us in that he's both stuff'n'spirit; 'cause our bodies are just...stuff! Yes, like...dirt! Yes. 

Now tell me what this is...a soul...yes. But let's say spirit in this case. And this is...another spirit! Yes. So? So what? Well, what's odd about these spirits? They don't have bodies. Yes. So? They're angels! Ooh, great guess honorary son, but no. They're God! Genius, yes, but what flavors? God the Father and the Holy Spirit! Yes. Do y'all get that? No? Explain it, please. Jesus has a body but they don't.  Yes, and those three persons make...the Trinity. Yes, exactly so, one God, three Persons.

Now before Jesus, which Person could you have a relationship with? The Father? Yes (arrow). How? By praying & stuff. Yes, spirit-to-spirit. And how does it work with the Holy Spirit? Umm, spirits, too? Yes. But I thought the Holy Spirit was a dove. That's a good question. The Holy Spirit may appear as a dove but isn't one. Like angels: did Gabriel appear to Mary? Yes. Are angels made with bodies? No. Right.

Now tell me about people having an encounter with Jesus instead of the Father or Holy Spirit. It would be with both parts. Yes...stuff''n'spirit. Because the people and Jesus all were stuff''n'spirit,  they wanted to have not just a spiritual encounter, but..a physical encounter! (two arrows) Yes, genius! So they naturally wanted Jesus to touch them, or their friends, or their children. They wanted the whole deal. Yes? But the soldier didn't. Yes. Partly because he was a commander and used to knowing things would be done if he said so. But he still went to talk to Jesus. He saw him and heard him and smelled him even if he didn't grab a hold of him. Eww, gross! Hey now, people don't necessarily stink. Y'all know I'm married; am I married to my wife just soul-to-soul? No, both parts! Yes. Well, when I go home tonight she'll be sitting at her desk, and I'll come hug her and smell her neck. If she were out of town I couldn't do that. I'd miss the physical encounter with her and how nice she smells. So people would want to have that full encounter with Jesus...just like I want to have with my wife.

But after Jesus went to Heaven he still left us with ways to have a physical encounter with him through stuff; what are those ways? Sacraments? Yes, genius! Tell us the stuff. Water? Yes in...baptism. Yes, more stuff please. Bread & wine? Yes. How about confession? Is the priest the stuff? Yes, good. So we are spirit'n'stuff; Jesus is also...spirit'n'stuff; yes, and Sacraments are...spirit'n'stuff. Yes, all similar but not exactly the same. We'll learn more about this stuff business later this year."

Class finished with a discussion of Jairus' daughter and the Woman with a Hemorrhage. You may notice that in answering a question on the fly, I conflated the Samaritan woman with the Canaanite woman. I'll sort that out next week.

Pitchers 7, Res Ipsa 9: John da Baptis'

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

John was clothed with camel's hair, had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.

Drawing from Jan 4, 2012 class; comments limited to what's on the board.

1. Most of our New Testament classes are about the Gospels, but I treat them collectively, not separately. I mention to the kids that Matthew, Mark and Luke's Gospels have a common point of view (syn-optic); and John's is different.

2. Sorting out the conceptions and births of John the Baptist and Jesus.

3. After Jesus' birth, a "messenger of the Lord" tells Joseph to flee to Egypt. A quick map shows the Med, Jerusalem, the Tigris & Euphrates, the Nile, and the city founded by that Greek guy...Alexander! Jesus and his family may have lived among Alexandria's large Jewish community.

4. The round calendar leads into discussion of art handouts depicting the Annunciation and the Platytera. This is a basic Platytera with two houseflies seraphim in attendance.

5. Explaining the Greek abbreviation for Mother of God.

6. The calendar leads to a quick review of John the Baptist's conception and later presentation at the Temple.

7. John the Baptist's ministry. Upper right shows John baptizing Jesus while the Holy Spirit hovers, and the Father riffs on Isaiah: the Trinity.

8. John tells the Pharisees and Levites who come to quiz him, "Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." That is, being one of the Chosen People isn't enough; each believer must also bear good fruit, which means...doing good stuff! Yes, as the Bible would say, doing good works."

9. A couple of the Spanish-speakers explain a Quinceañera; I extend that concept to young women who are debutantes. I compare these coming-out events to Jesus' debut at the Jordan river: he will now be a much-talked-about public figure for the next three years.

Audio from the Flight to Egypt to John at the Jordan.

Fine Art 6: More Spacious than a Tea Party

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets 

The January 4 class included a review of the Hail Mary prayer via the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. We had already treated the Annunciation and Visitation in the December 14 class, but without a couple of instructive artworks. [The class calendar is deliberately scheduled to finish the Old Testament in time to coordinate Mary Stuff with the Church feasts of Dec 8, Dec 25, and Jan 1.]

First I showed the kids this miniature of the Isenheim Altarpiece, explained how big it really is (about 9' x 16') how the panels work, etc. My sister got this for me as a Christmas gift when she was in Colmar, France last summer. Which was way before my wife told me a few weeks ago that the Annunciation I liked so much but couldn't name was the Isenheim Annunciation. More than coincidence?

We then focused on the Annuciation panel, which isn't visible in the photo above, using this color handout:

 Our discussion was very close to what I anticipated in an earlier post. The kids recalled Gabriel's greeting to Mary, and saw that it was directly quoted in the Hail Mary. The kids then recounted the Visitation, and recognized Elizabeth's greeting in next bit of the prayer.

I then asked the kids to guess the Catholic significance of January 1. None could, but that was OK. I told them it was the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. To add dimension to this feastday, we reviewed a handout of this ikon:

The common name for this ikon type is Platytera, Πλατυτέρα, meaning more ample, broader. That's short for "more ample than heaven." [Plat- is related to English flat, German platt, and French platte, as in the Platte (broad) River] It means that Mary, by containing the Creator of the Universe in her womb, was figuratively larger than infinity. Or as an old Greek hymn puts it, "He whom the entire universe could not contain was contained within your womb, O Theotokos (God-birther).” It's a terrific teaching tool that illustrates an aspect of Jesus' humility, and that Mary was the mother of not only Jesus' human nature, but of his entire person, comprising both his human and divine natures. That is, Mary is the Mother of God- just as the Hail Mary says. That literal womb makes this a very unusual Platytera, which was completed in January 2011 by the ikonographer Tom Athanasios Clark in the apse of St. George's Orthodox Church in Shreveport, La.

Most Platyteras look like this one:

Which is fine as far as it goes...whose lap is Jesus sitting on- his babysitter's? Just kidding, but sitting on a lap isn't what I'd call compelling visual testimony to the intimate prenatal relationship between God the Son and his momma. By the way, the Greek is Πλατυτέρα των Ουρανών, Platytera ton Ouranon, Wider than Heaven.

Or they're like this one:

This Platytera's better because it's a bit more expressive (although in an abstract sense) of Jesus being physically inside Mary. But neither of these is as effective as that cutaway pink uterus in the first example. The kids get that one right away: Mary's tummy, her womb.

We may as well learn some more Greek while we're at it:  those letters in the above ikon are M-R and Th-U. The squiggies above the letters mean those are abbreviations. They're short for Μητηρ Θεού/ Mitir Theou/ Mother of God. I always wonder: if you're going to spend a couple thousand hours or so on a mosaic, why cut corners with abbreviations?

To finish our Marian train of thought, I bring out a chair that my kids sat on when they were practically toddlers- a chair like one of these...

...and demonstrate how Mary was more spacious than a tea party.

Pitchers 5: Sinless Stuff

Part of the board during our 12/7/11 Immaculate Conception discussion, a subtopic in the lesson on the first chapter of Luke

1. The Holy Spirit overshadows Mary, Ark of the New Covenant, as the Shekhinah overshadowed the Ark of the Old Covenant. That dot in Mary's womb is newly-conceived Jesus, made from one of Mary's eggs and the divine overshadowing.

2. The dot grows into a more recognizable baby. This life-size Jesus in the womb shows his complete physical connection to, and dependence on, his mom. Jesus gets all his oxygen and food from Mary's body. If Mary was a sinner, how would that sinful stuff stay out of Jesus? How could a sinful Ark be a suitable home for a sinless person?

3. Mary even as a little girl already has in her the egg that will become Jesus. Would it make sense for Jesus to be conceived using a sinner's egg? How could Jesus be made of sinful stuff? Would God want to get the sin out of the egg before it was used to make Jesus? Wouldn't it be more straightforward to have Mary be saved from sin when she was conceived in her mom? That way Mary's tummy would be a pure place for Jesus to grow, and her egg would be a source of sinless stuff for Jesus' body to grow from.

4. Who perfectly atoned for our sins? Jesus. Yes. And the Church teaches that Mary was spared from Original Sin by Jesus' atonement before she was born. But Mary was born first! Yeah, so? So how could Jesus die for her sins? He would be too late!  Well, look at this:

Twist & turn Highway 178 perceived from the road itself, versus from a hot-air balloon

Remember, God stands outside of time. Time is something He created, so he doesn't see things one after the other like we do. It's like Highway 178 from Pickens to Rosman- it may take 20 minutes to experience the road in your car. But daughter, if you were up above the road in this balloon, how long would you need to see the whole road? I could see it all at once! Yes. You'd need no time at all. God sees everything all at once, too. So for God to let Jesus' atonement work "ahead of time" for Mary would be no big deal.

 This post is linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

Res Ipsa Loquitur 6

9 minutes from the November 16 class. Review of earlier Old Testament material connects to future New Testament material, as described in Plus de Review 2.

Notice that from :30 to :54 my bouncer decides to separate a couple of mischievites, and the kids are rearranged on the fly with very little disruption to the lesson flow.

Sorry about the rough edit.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 5

The audio of the November 9 class whose whiteboard is discussed at Pitchers 4:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Res Ipsa Loquitur 4

Here are the audio files to the first of two Isaiah classes. This one is recounted in the post The Christmas Prophet. The written account is a condensation of this class, and classes from prior years covering the same material, so the audio and the post vary a bit in content & flow.

Isaiah part 1

Isaiah part 2

For more live classes, click on the Res Ipsa Loquitur label at lower right.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 3

This post is linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

 Here are the audio files of the class recounted in the post Manoah and the Angel. The written account is a condensation of this class, and classes from prior years covering the same material, so the audio and the post vary a bit in content & flow.

For more live classes, click on the Res Ipsa Loquitur label at lower right.

Res Ipsa Loquitur 2

This post is linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

Here is a short (5 minute) recorded bit from the February 20 class: Barney & St. Augustine

I posted on the topic a couple of years ago: Barney & St. Augustine.

Interesting to see how the live version compares to the old written version.


For more live classes, click on the Res Ipsa Loquitur label at lower right.



Res Ipsa Loquitur

This is the class which most of Dry Ground covers.  Readers of the blog may find it useful to hear what actually happens in the classroom, in contrast to the abbreviated and toned-down posts. You won't be able to see the acting and drawing, so use your imaginations.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

The live class doesn't strictly match the post, because the post is based on this class, and all the prior years' classes where the material was covered.

For more live class excerpts, click on the Res Ipsa Loqitur label below right.