Our Friends the Saints

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this module is to demonstrate that there is only one Church, it is composed of saints in Heaven, known collectively as the church triumphant and saints on earth, known collectively as the church militant. The lives of the saints who were triumphant over the deceits of the world and Satan are recorded for us to emulate.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 7 Minutes

Imagine two different people watching highlights of Michael Jordan. The first is an older man in his 70's that enjoyed watching Michael Jordan play and he rewatches the highlights because they remind him of how great of a player Michael Jordan was. The second is an up and coming college player who also thinks Michael Jordan was a great player, but he is also watching to see what moves/skills he can incorporate into his own game so that he can improve. When we read the hagiographies of the saints we are not just reading them as we would a novel that we like or to pass time. We read them so that we can emulate the lives of the saints in our own lives.

St. Athanasius recorded for us the life of St. Antony the Great so that people all over the world can read it. The amount of people whose lives were changed by that book is in the millions. St. Athanasius writes about "The Life of Antony," "I feel that, once you have heard the story, you will not merely admire the man but will wish to emulate his commitment as well."

St. Augustine of Hippo was one of those people; he wasn't always a Christian and during the early days of his conversion, he was going back and forth about his conversion, due to the radically different life he would live in Christianity. A friend of his told him about the life of St. Antony in Egypt based on the book by St. Athanasius the apostolic. St. Antony's resolve and God's guidance led St. Augustine to emphatically accept Christianity as his own faith.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse - Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

When we read the lives of the saints we copy the generalities, but we do not copy them in every detail. For example when we read that St. Beshoy used to tie his hair while standing to pray so that when he began to doze off and his head dropped, there would be a tug on his hair, waking him up. We are all definitely not supposed to tie our hair while we stand to pray, but we are supposed to try to stand in prayer and keep vigil, not just give up as soon as we feel tired or bored.

We also believe that the saints are a part of us or part of the church, we believe that they take a more active role in the church and in the lives of her children still on earth. So we offer our prayers while asking them to pray for us, increasing the bond between us and this is part of the Communion with the saints.

We also come into communion with them when we venerate their relics. We read in II Kings 13 that some people were taking a dead man to bury him when a group of raiders from Moab was spotted, to avoid being captured by him, they lowered the body of the dead man into the tomb of Elisha which was close by, soon as the body of the dead man touched the bones of Elisha, he rose from the dead. We see a clear example in this that the bodies of the saints who have reposed in the Lord are still holy and still confer blessings and miracles.

In Acts 19, we read that the apron or handkerchiefs of St. Paul had the ability to heal the sick and cast out demons, we also read in Acts 5 that the people brought the sick out into the street hoping that the shadow of St. Peter could fall on them to heal them.

In this example, physical things and even non-physical things simply associated with the saints of God were enough to carry the power of God to those who had faith. When we venerate the relics of the saints we believe them to be present and we offer them praise which indirectly is a praise to the Lord Himself. We do not worship them or the relics, but we know that their bodies carry special power and blessings.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 10 Minutes

Ask the students if they know any stories about miracles performed by the saints that they can share with the class. Have two prepared, just in case the children are too shy to share.

LIFE APPLICATION - 7 Minutes

The task for the week will be to think about the saint that they like the most and identify what part of their life appeals to them and to start to apply that to their lives.

ACTIVITY - 7 Minutes

Activity will be to choose a saint whose feast day is close or by default we can choose the most holy Theotokos and the class can sing her praise that we sing during her veneration.

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Parents are to help their children at home cement this lesson by further discussing the lives of multiple saints and discussing the aspect of each ones life that is admirable.