St. Paul  June 2008

By Kelley Renz

See “Teaching Catholic Kids” on the OSV website for a preschool, but fun, too, teacher pattern which shows the journey of St. Paul. Talk about the difficulties of traveling in first-century A.D. When he didn’t take a boat, St. Paul walked from place to place. Challenge kids to find out the distance between the cities and calculate how long and how many steps Paul had to take to arrive there.

Challenge students to create a play about Paul’s visit to …? Presume he had never been to this city and its inhabitants had never heard of Jesus. How might Paul have begun?

Have students dissect Paul’s definition of love and discuss how each point can be applied in their lives:

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1Corinthians 13:4ff)

Challenge students to ponder why the Holy Father has asked us to study and prayer about the life of St. Paul the Apostle…

•  Might it have something to do with ecumenism?
• Might it be because of Paul’s dedication to Christ?
• Might it be because of Paul’s conversion?

Challenge students to find out what St. Paul wrote about …

•  Love
•  The Cross
•  Forgiveness
• The body
• The Holy Spirit

Challenge older students, especially those preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to ponder why Jesus chose Paul. Give these students a brief biography of Paul’s life (see OSV’s cardlinks or visit http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/PAUL.HTM) to begin their reflection. What similarities do they have with the teenager Paul? What differences? How did Paul “put on Christ” (cf. Romans 13:14)? How does he urge them to “put on Christ”?

Kelley Renz is a catechist and author of God Listens to Our Children (OSV).