- How do human beings try to make themselves more powerful, “like gods”?
- Discuss 3-5 choices you freely made and acted on today. Describe in detail how you are responsible for each of these choices.
- What does it mean to say the human beings are “made in God’s image”?
- What does God’s unconditional love for us mean?
- Write about an experience in which you were affected by another person’s acceptance or rejection of you.
- Link to a news story that illustrates the negative effects of being deprived of human love. Write a brief commentary of the article and title it “How Could Love Have Made A Difference.”
- List the Ten Commandments. For each, describe in a sentence or two how that commandment is include in the great commandment of love.
- Define the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.
- Name the four cardinal virtues.
- Which of these seven virtues does the world today need most?
Author: D. Sader
What We Hunger For
Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it … If a person lives and dies and no one notices, if the world continues as it was, was that person ever really alive? I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived. — Rabbi Harold Kushner
What does Kushner mean by saying we hunger to make the world “a little bit different”?
Write your own reflection entitled, “What My Soul Hungers For.” To foster a meditative spirit, embed a snippet of instrumental music (mp3) in your post.
Human Characteristics
Identify at least ten characteristics of what you think describes a fully human person. Which characteristics do you value most?
Choosing a New Direction
Have you experienced any turning points in your life that required you to make a decision? If so, describe how one of these choices set you in a new direction.
A Fascinating Person
Read a biography of someone who fascinates you, and write about the acts in that person’s life that turned into the habits (virtues or vices) that shaped his or her character.
What Kind Of Person Do I Want To Become?
Write a personal essay answering this question as best you can:
- What kind of person am I becoming, and what kind of person do I want to become?
Exploring the Meaning of Jesus and the Gospels
The focus of this project is to explore the person of Chrst and what Scriptures reveal about His unique relationship to His Father.
Your task is to explore in detail one of the four Gospel accounts. Spend some part of your evenings and weekends working on the creative part of this assignment.
- Read ONE gospel slowly. As you read, note passages that impressed you
- After you have finished your reading and notetaking, choose one of the following activities:
- Note how Jesus relates to the poor of His day. Draw a parallel between the times of Jesus and contemporary society
- choose a story and rewrite it using images and a contemporary setting
- podcast a paraphrase of a familiar parable
Basis of Belief
“If the thought comes to you that everything that you have thought about God is mistaken and that there is no God, do not be dismayed. It happens to many people. But do no think that the source of your disbelief is that there is no God. If you no longer believe in the God whom you believed before, …you must strive better to grasp that which you call God. When a savage ceases to believe in his wooden god, this does not mean that there is no God, but only that the true God is not made of wood.” Leo Tolstoy
Important Moments
Answer the following questions. For each question, identify at least one value from Values Discussion that played a role in this event.
- When did you first realize your family loves you?
- When did you learn that it is better to tell the truth?
- Who was the first person to make you feel invincible?
- When did you realize you could be anything you want to be?
- When did you learn that life isn’t always fair?
- Who taught you that sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to?
- When did you learn that you can’t always get what you want?
- How did you learn about the Tooth Fairy, or other characters?
- Has anyone ever tested your faith?
- Have you ever done something that you regret? What did you learn from that moment?
These questions are not always easy to answer. Take enough time to think. If you are stuck, ask
your teacher, a friend, or someone at home to help you “unglue” your memories.
Reflect On What You Believe
- List beliefs you held when you were 5 or 10 years old.
- After you have completed your list(s), identify those beliefs you still hold as passionately today. Second, highlight those you will still believe when you are 50 or 80 years old.
- As you compile your beliefs, identify or classify them as social, political, religious, public, personal, etc.
- Are any of these commitments diminished because you may look different in 10–20 years? Are some types of beliefs tied to age? What role do life experience or the beliefs of others play in refining values?