Teaching Real Presence

Explaining the Church's theology of the Eucharist is something worth being incorporated at every grade and level. It's a mystery and something we must believe based on faith.  How do we teach such complex theology to our students? The best way to teach it is to live it. Try to get to Mass each Sunday and  Holy Day so you can receive Christ in the Eucharist. Show reverence in the presence of the tabernacle. Teach your students how to locate the tabernacle in any church (look for the sanctuary lamp- the lit candle showing you Christ is present there). I tell students of all ages that praying before the Blessed Sacrament is like talking with Jesus, face-to-face. Short of receiving the Eucharist, it is one of the best ways to grow close to Christ.

It's important to begin explaining to the youngest of students that this is a MYSTERY. We don't know HOW the bread and wine become Jesus' Body and Blood we TRUST that it does because Jesus PROMISED us it would at the Last Supper. Jesus always keeps His promises.

For younger students (grades K-3, or so), we have the Brother Francis Bread of Life DVD and accompanying coloring book. At the First Communion retreat, 2nd graders will get a coloring book  that explains and teaches how we moved from the Old Testament Passover meal to receiving Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. If you would like a copy of this, please let me know.While I wouldn't want you to use it in class (taking away from the First Communion Retreat experience), it may help you find some words and explanations to help our younger students understand this great mystery.

I have a number of other files that I have written/compiled over the years of coloring sheets and more to help teach the theology of the Eucharist. I am happy to share them with you and, with advance notice (2 weeks or more, please), make adaptations based on the age of your students and your curriculum.

I recently learned the necessary steps to setting up for Eucharistic Adoration (placing the Eucharist in the monstrance, incensing the monstrance, etc.). I cannot do Benediction, which is when the priest blesses the people with the monstrance. While this won't help Sunday catechists, this means I can now set up and offer Adoration for our Tuesday night students. I would need to check the availability of the church in advance to set up a time for this, but anyone that wants this, just let me know.

On Sundays, let me know if you wanted to come to the Church and pray for 5 minutes or so in front of the tabernacle. I would set this up in advance as well. I would only have 1 class do this at a time. It's something I enjoy doing with our school students. We come in, kneel around the tabernacle, and I remind them that Jesus is inside the tabernacle in a special way. You can say a simple prayer or just sit in silence. At Christmas, the school preschoolers and I sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. It's great and helps teach/reenforce Real Presence without having a lengthy lesson on it.

Would you like to read more on the Church's theology of the Eucharist? Here are some great ways to brush up your knowledge:

This link teaches where we can read about Real Presence (transubstantiation) in bible, both Old and New Testament. Apologist, Tim Staples writes an excellent article about this. You can listen to a sample of a talk by Tim  here. You can also read about what the early Christian fathers had to say about Real Presence. 

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/father/a5.html