November 2009 Study Guide

Bible Blurbs

“…the LORD declares, ‘… I will honor those who honor me…’”
1 Samuel 2:30

“I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.”
John 17:14-16

“Every ath­lete exer­cises dis­ci­pline in every way. They do it to win a per­ish­able crown, but we an imper­ish­able one.”
1 Corinthi­nans 9:25

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and save what was lost.”
Luke 19:10

Cat­e­chism Clips

1432 - “The human heart is heavy and hard­ened. God must give man a new heart. Con­ver­sion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him…”

440 - “the true apos­tle is on the look­out for occa­sions of announc­ing Christ…, either to unbe­liev­ers… or to the faithful.”

1229 - “From the time of the apos­tles, becom­ing a Chris­t­ian has been accom­plished by a journey…”

1285 - “…[the bap­tized] are… as true wit­nesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.”

Pope Quotes

“Be pre­pared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and dis­re­gard for life; to pro­claim the hope of the Risen Christ in every cor­ner of the earth.”
Pope Bene­dict XVI, Mes­sage for World Youth Day 2008

“…the Spirit of For­ti­tude and Wit­ness… gives us the courage to live accord­ing to the Gospel and to pro­claim it boldly.”
Pope Bene­dict XVI, Mes­sage for World Youth Day 2008

“Those who allow them­selves to be led by the Spirit under­stand that plac­ing one­self at the ser­vice of the Gospel is not an optional extra, because they are aware of the urgency of trans­mit­ting this Good News to oth­ers.”
Pope Bene­dict XVI, Mes­sage for World Youth Day 2008

“But you, my dear young peo­ple, do not be afraid to pro­claim the Gospel of the Cross on all occa­sions. Do not be afraid to go against the grain!”
Pope John Paul II, April 4, 2004, Palm Sun­day Address to Youth

Vir­tu­ous Ver­biage Verification

adren­a­line - a stim­u­lant chem­i­cal pro­duced by the body to help it cope with stress or trauma. It has many effects on the body and brain, includ­ing rais­ing the heart rate and extreme men­tal focus
awak­en­ing - a moment when one comes to a new under­stand­ing of things they didn’t know or care about before.
bap­tized (bap­tism) - the first sacra­ment of ini­ti­a­tion into the church, when some­one is accepted into the fam­ily of God, the stain of orig­i­nal sin is washed from their soul, and they become a Chris­t­ian.
bible study - when a group of peo­ple get together and read, dis­cuss, and learn more about the bible. Usu­ally the peo­ple talk about how to really use what is said in the bible in their daily life.
dis­sent - con­flict or divi­sion when one or a few mem­bers of a group of peo­ple dis­agree with the pop­u­lar opin­ion or rebel against what the group thinks is nor­mal.
faith shar­ing - when peo­ple dis­cuss with each other their expe­ri­ence of God and their faith, and how God has touched their lives.
gnarly - beyond extreme, totally out­side of what is nor­mal or expected, even in a grotesque way, but also inter­est­ing and demand­ing atten­tion.
image - a way some­one por­trays them­self, the way some­one wants oth­ers to see them.
motocross - when a wit­ness tells their story about what they saw or expe­ri­enced.
rad­i­cal - extreme, beyond the nor­mal.
rau­cous - loud, rough, rowdy, dis­turb­ing the pub­lic peace.
revul­sion - vio­lent feel­ing of dis­gust.
self­less - more inter­ested in the good of oth­ers than in one’s own good.

Dis­cus­sion Questions

1. Brian risked his rep­u­ta­tion, los­ing his teammat­­es, alien­at­ing his fans, and ruin­ing his career when he took his faith “pub­lic”. What are some things we might risk if we spoke up pub­licly about our faith? Are they as big of a risk as Brian took? Does it give you hope that in the end Brian didn’t lose any­thing, but actu­ally gained sup­port for his faith?
2. Brian and his fel­low Metal Mul­isha mem­bers, as well as many peo­ple involved in Xtreme Sports, often take unnec­es­sary risks in their quest for a thrill or a rush. Is this risky behav­ior healthy? What are some other ways peo­ple act out this kind of risk-​​taking behav­ior? What are some healthy ways we can feed the desire for that adren­a­line rush, with­out putting our­selves in danger?
3. Brian Dee­gan attrib­utes his entrance in to dirt bik­ing and extreme sports as a release for anger he felt when his par­ents divorced. Do you, or does any­one you know, engage in risky behav­ior out of anger? Is this a good way to han­dle anger? Who ends up really get­ting hurt if we respond this way when some­one makes us angry?
4. Brian’s story, how he ignored God and faith until he was faced with death and then had a change of heart, is not uncom­mon. Many times peo­ple don’t see a need for faith in their lives until they come face to face with death. Is it the best thing to put God off until tragedy strikes? Wouldn’t it be smarter to have a strong faith all along? What if we put God off until later, and never get the chance to turn to God until it is too late?

Activ­i­ties

1. Host your own “X-​​treme Believer” awards… Make a list of peo­ple you know or know of who make their faith pub­lic and aren’t afraid. They can be your priest, teach­ers, par­ents, grand­par­ents, or even famous peo­ple. Col­lect the bal­lots, vote, and give some sort of award or cer­tifi­cates to the win­ners. You might even find a place at your church or school where you can pub­licly post the results.
2. If you have a face­book™ or MyS­apce™ account avail­able, see if you can find a page for Brian Dee­gan or Metal Mul­isha, and post a com­ment that you appre­ci­ate their open­ness to shar­ing their faith.

Jour­nal Writing

Pick one of your favorite celebri­ties. Write a fic­tional story about what might hap­pen to them and their career if they turned to God and spoke out about it. How would the media respond? And their fans? What kind of pos­i­tive influ­ences might they have? How would it affect you?

Debate

Split in two teams. The topic for the debate is:
Should we start believ­ing and fol­low­ing Jesus now, or will there be plenty of time for that later, after we do what we feel like?
Be sure to use infor­ma­tion from the les­son, the Bible, the Cat­e­chism of the Catholic Church, your Parish priest, and other reli­able resources to back up your arguments.