|
Spirituality class
For the week of November 15-19 the homework is:
Tuesday-SHOW JOURNAL WORK OVER LANGUAGES OF LOVE QUESTIONS
Wednesday- Turn in your connection over love or hope.
Thursday- Bring song for music meditation. Reflect in your journal what you choose this particulae song to be played.
Purpose of Spiritual book reports
For 2000 years Christians have been writing about their faith. The New Testament contains what the first Christians
remembered from traveling with Jesus, and what the earliest Christian commmunities learned as they tried to live their new
faith in Jesus. Since then, all different kinds of literature has been written by Christians. Unfortunately, we
don't hear much about this treasury of spiritual wisdom.
Spiritual book reports are my attempt to bring this best kept secret of the faith into the light of day. You have
the option to read one of the true classics that gives an introduction to living the Christian life. Or, the other option
is that you may read any book on a Christian subject or on a topic for self-help or self-improvement. Examples of the
latter would be a student who lacks self-confidence may read about improving one's self-image, or a student who suffers from
depression may choose to read about strategies for recovery from depression.
Whatever the topic, the purpose of the spiritual reading is to learn what wisdom others have gained from their experiences
and apply it to our situation. We shouldn't have to re-invent the spiritual wheel, or learn life-lessons that others
could just as easily tell us about. The goal of Spiritual book reports is to teach students how to do this.
What do you write in the Reflection?
Spiritual Book Reports are written in two parts, a summary of the book and a section of personal reaction to the book,
or the reflection. As you, the student, read a spiritual book, certain things the author writes will impact you in a
significant way. They will help you understand or relate to God or to others in more meaningful ways, help you see connections
between your life and the Bible or the teaching of the Faith, or to appreciate life or things in life more. All
of these things are material for reflection.
The reflection is meant to help you get a firm grasp on what you have gained by reading the book. A good way to
help you write your reflection is to take notes as you read. When you have one of those moments of significant impact,
amke a note of it. When what the author says makes you realize something or see a new connection between things, make
a note of it. These notes will almost write your reflection for you.
One other thing that should be mentioned; all of the techniques mentioned above assume that the reader is taking his
time and attempting to get something out of reading the book. This can only be done if you begin to read the book early
in the quarter. If you wait until only a few days before it is due, most likely you will fly through the book only half-reading
it, (or reading only half of it.) You will not have understood it well enough to write anything worthwhile in your reflection.
It will be obvious that you didn't really complete the assignment and your grade will suffer accordingly.
All of the spiritual classics I want you to read are available on-line at Catholic Classics: Etheral Library, use the
link below to get there. If you decide to get one of these books on-line, do not print it. This is a violation
of copywrite laws and is a huge waste of paper and ink. You may save it to a floppy disk, but please do not save to
a C drive or any other hard drives here at school. Many of these books are available in our library and other libraries
at Rockhurst or Avila.
Augustine, Saint. Confessions, books 1-9 only.
This is his autobiography. It tells of his early life and what led him to become a Christian.
Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy
In this book, Chesterton looks at what is realbelief in Christ. He takes great pains to disprove the many foolish
ways of thinking about the Christian religion that people may hold today.
Francis de Sales(of Sales) Introduction to the Devout Life
In this book St. Francis de Sales writes to the new members of the religious community about the spiritual skills and
attributes one will need in his struggle to get to know God.
Thomas a Kempis. Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ offers advise and many wise sayings about what one needs to do in order to live a Christian life,
and, in the process, to come to know and to love God.
Kelly, Matthew. Rediscovering Catholicism
The only book not available on the internet.
In this book the renowned writer and speaker talks about basic elements of the Catholic faith and how the individual
believer can make these elements part of his/her spirituality.
[This is the first line on the page for 1-inch margins.]
Format for Spiritual Book Reports (Titles no large than 16pt.)
Every quarter you are required to read one book for spiritual enrichment. The book should cover some spiritual
topic in the Christian tradition. (If you are of some faith besides Christian, we can discuss possibilities.) If you are interested
in a topic because of events in your life--like grieving because you have recently experienced the death of a loved one, or
addiction and recovery because someone you know is dealing with this--then you may choose to read a book on such a topic that
is more for personal improvement and enrichment. All books have to be approved by me. If you fail to have a book approved
prior to writing your report, you run the risk of receiving a zero for writing about an unacceptable book.
After you have read the book (or listened to a book on tape,) you are to write a report about the book and
what you learned from reading it. The grade for this report will be averaged in as a test grade. The format for the report
is as follows.
The transition from one paragraph to the next should look like the ones on this page. The report is to be
four (4) typed pages. The margins are to be one (1) inch at top, bottom and sides. The type style and size is
to be Times New Roman (PC) or Times Roman (Mac) 12, no larger. Your paper should also be double-spaced, like
this page is. If you have any questions, refer to this page because it is set up exactly as I want your paper, type size,
style and all. The first sentence of the report should contain the book’s title, author and ISBN number. The first two
pages of your report are to give a summary of the book. The third and fourth pages are to tell what you learned, realized
or gained a new appreciation or understanding of because you read this book. [This is the last line on the page for 1-inch
margins.]
To find spiritual classics on line
|
