Puzzle Pieces
God always had a plan for us: to be in union of love with Him and each other. Sin destroyed
the union for which we were made – but it never destroyed the love of God. So, God the
Father initiated a new plan which Jesus, the Son, carried out as He redeemed us from sin.
Jesus then sent God the Holy Spirit to establish a Church to dispense the Sacraments and
make us ONE in the body of Christ.
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Mt 28:18-20; Jn 17:21-23
CCC: 811-816; 820; 866
The goal of this Edge Night is for the youth to come to a greater understanding of what it
means when we profess that the Church is One.
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Puzzle to either make or put together collaboratively
YouTube clip: C4: Ignite Your Catholic Faith – What are the Four Marks of the Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxxaAJ7_nY
GATHER
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Each group will have part of a puzzle to put together. This will be a part of
a larger puzzle that the whole group will assemble.
Small Group Break – Discuss the following questions:
o Could you tell what the puzzle was going to be of at first?
o When could you tell what the picture was?
o Could you have put this puzzle together by yourself in the time you
were given? Why or why not?
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Hot seat – each member of the small group gets to be in the ‘hot seat’. While in the
hot seat (each youth will be in the seat for about 2 minutes), kids will be able to ask
one another any question. Small group leaders also get the joy of participating in this
little activity .
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Invite God to be present at your session.
PROCLAIM
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We started our Edge Night with making and putting together puzzles – the
image of a puzzle can help us understand what we will be talking about
which is the Church as One.
(Have the speaker ask the youth what they think the puzzles have to do with
the topic for the night).
Have you ever noticed when we profess the Creed at Mass we say that we
believe in “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”? These four things
are called the four marks of the Church, and each one reveals something
different about the Church.
Show video music clip of C4: Ignite Your Catholic Faith – What are the four marks of
the Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxxaAJ7_nY
We are going to be talking specifically about the Church as One
When we say Church, can anyone remember from last week what we are
talking about? (We are talking about the One (Catholic) Church)
How do you think the Church is One? (Allow for some kids to give their input
– it may help to allow them to think, pair up with their small group and then
share with whole group)
Like a puzzle that has many pieces that come together to make one
picture, the Church is One but it is made up of many different people. When
you put together puzzl es no two puzzle pieces are ever the same, and if you
lose one piece there will always be a noticeable hole in your finished
puzzle. Similarly, when we talk about the Church as One, we are talking
about many different people from many different backgrounds all coming
together in unity brought together through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
And just like our puzzle pieces, no two people are the same. God created us
all uniquely, and each of us serves a purpose and has a place in the whole
picture of the puzzle. If you think that you are not important or not a part of
the oneness of the Church just think about a puzzle missing a piece, the
same goes if you were not a part of the Church.
Small Group Break – Discuss the following questions:
o How is the Church One?
o Why would Jesus want the Church to be One?
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Let’s go back to the very, very beginning. In the beginning God made man
and woman in His own image and likeness. What does that mean? Does
anyone remember from the beginning of the year? (God is a family –
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – so therefore we are made to be in community
with God and one another)
We are made to know community, unity, or oneness. That means we are made to be
in union with God and each other. We are made for oneness. But, as we all know, we
lost something when Adam and Eve ate of the Fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil we
lost something. We lost our ability to be like God. The likeness – or another word for
likeness is holiness – is how God was able to be in union with us, and from that holiness,
we were also able to freely love those around us. So God’s plan to be one with us and
for us to be one with one another just got complicated!
Now God does not stop loving us and still wants to be in a relationship with us and for
us to be in a relationship with one another, so God the Father needs to come up with
a new plan. That plan entailed God the Son, Jesus Christ, giving up heaven to come
down to earth to show us how much He loves us. He takes the God the Father’s plan
and makes it effective by dying on the Cross for all of our sins.
So the plan is complete – but now the graces from that plan still need to make it into
our hearts. To complete this “task” God the Son sends the Holy Spirit into the world to
establish the Church and give the sacraments so we can now be in living union with
God. When we are in living union with God, we are able to live in union much more
effectively with one another.
Jesus desired the Church to be one. During the Last Supper Jesus prayed:
“So that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in m e and I in you.” The
Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is the source of our unity, and
Jesus desires for us to know the perfect love of the Trinity. Jesus Himself is
also the source of our unity because when He died on the cross for our sins,
He brought us back into right relationship and unity with God and each
other. We can also find unity in the Church because of the Holy Spirit, who is
in each and every one of us. The Holy Spirit is always at work to help us to
live in harmony and love with Jesus and each other.
We can see how the Trinity plays a huge role in the unity of the Church, but
it is also up to us to stay united to Christ and the Church. This happens
through us all having the same beliefs and following the teaching of the
Church. We can do this under the guide of one Pope and through learning
about our faith, which has been passed down from Jesus Christ Himself. A
good way to remember what we are called to believe is to pray the Creed,
which expresses all the main beliefs of the Cath olic faith. Also what we do
as Catholics aids in our unity; things like our different practices of prayer
and when we participate in the sacraments, specifically the Mass.
Small Group break – Discuss the following questions:
o What does the Trinity have to do with the Church as being One? (God wants us
to be One – just as the Trinity is One)
o What do you think God thinks about division?
o What are things that divide us? (This can be any kind of divide – not just
Catholic/Protestant; one thing that divides us from the Church or from one
another is sin, things that divide us from the Church is pride; Catholic/Protestant
– different beliefs about who God is, what the Church is, etc.)
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o How does the Holy Spirit help us to remain One? (The Holy Spirit inspires and
leads the Church, the Pope, etc.; also, the Holy Spirit works on our hearts to help
us to know God)
o What can we do to be One in the Church? (We can go to Mass and follow the
teachings of Jesus that have been handed down through the ages in the
Catholic Church)
o Do you feel like you belong to the One Church? Why or why not?
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When we understand how the Church is One, we then must understand the
mission of the Church. Why does it even matter if the Church is one? Why
did Jesus care so much?
Part of the mission of the Church is to bring all people into a relationship
with Christ. This has been her mission from the very beginning. Jesus puts
forth the image of the Church as One because He knows the importance of
His people being gathered in unity around their one God and Creator. He
wants us to know the love and happiness that comes from being in right
relationship with God and following all His commandments, which are
safeguarded and taught by the Church. Jesus did not want to leave u s in
confusion of what we are supposed to believe or how we are supposed to
live. He gave us all the direction that we need through His one Church so
that we can know His love and His will for our lives.
There are many things that we can do to help build u p the unity of the
Church. One main way to do this is to learn more about our faith and to live
it out in unity with the rest of the members of the Church. We can do this by
coming to Edge, by asking our parents or other adults questions about the
faith, and by participating in the sacraments and going to Mass every
Sunday.
When Jesus spoke of the unity of the Church, He did not want unity just for
the people who were already members of His Church. He wants this unity for
everyone. We are called to go out a nd tell other people about Jesus and
our faith. We can do this by inviting our non -Catholic friends to Edge or to
Mass, or simply by talking about our faith or praying before all our meals.
Just like the puzzles we made earlier, we all play a specific role and have a
specific place in the Church, just like a puzzle piece. You are important to
the unity of the Church and its oneness just like every puzzle piece is
necessary to complete the puzzle.
Small Group Break – Discuss the following questions:
o What is the mission of the Church? (to help others come to know and have a
relationship with God)
o How would the Church being One help people be in relationship with God?
(we are always stronger together than separate; the role of the Sacraments;
etc.)
o How can you take part in the mission of the Church?
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o Do you think you have a relationship with Christ? Why or why not? What can
you do to have one? How would you go about strengthening it if you already
have one?
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I want you to imagine what it would be like to be a person with a lot of power in the
government. The president or king often looks to you for consul. You are well known
and enjoy an excellent reputation at being intelligent, fair, and a good worker for
those the government serves.
Now I want you to imagine what it would be like to have the leader of your
government decide to lead the country in a path that you disagreed with… and in
fact, you knew it was wrong. What would you do?
The saint that we are going to talk about today had to contend with such a situation.
St. Thomas More was alive during the Protestant Reformation – that was a period in
history when people began to voice some things they disagreed with in the Catholic
Church – some people were pointing out stuff priests and bishops were doing that they
shouldn’t have, some didn’t want to believe what the Church taught (may be they
didn’t understand it or something) and others just wanted to do their own thing.
St. Thomas More lived in England at the time. He was a member of the royal court
under King Henry VIII. King Henry VIII simply decided he did not want to be married to
Catherine of Aragon and wanted a divorce. Back then, if a King wanted a divorce he
had to ask the Pope for permission. Well, the pope said no. Then as a result, the King
decided to start his own religion.
St. Thomas More knew that what King Henry VIII was doing was not right, but he also
wanted to stay out of it. So, he quit his job. Well, this didn’t go over too well. The King
wanted St. Thomas More to publicly support his decision to break away from the
Church – well St. Thomas More refused to say anything.
St. Thomas More was arrested and placed in the tower of London – and eventually he
was beheaded for refusing to support the king. His last words were, “I die the Kings
good servant, but God’s first”
Small Group Break – Discuss the following questions:
o How does St. Thomas More’s life reflect that the Church is One? (He refused to
support King Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic Church)
o What would you have done in that situation?
SEND
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Gather together all the youth and have the youth minister briefly recap the
teaching about the Church as One and the role the youth play in that
oneness. End the Edge Night by praying togethe r the Creed.
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