The Catechetical Review - Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization

Youth & Young Adult Catechesis: Sharing the Gospel Message with Adolescents

Authored by Bob Rice in Issue #31.4 of The Sower
The Catechism asks a question that is so simple and yet is one that many of us have never thought to ask: ‘Why did the Word become flesh?’ The amazing answer is the heart of the Gospel message and the missionary discourse that we invite teenagers to hear and accept in their lives. There is nothing more dramatic than the story of our salvation, but in order to understand it we must tell it like any other story: in order. What if we just jumped right to last chapters of Lord of the Rings? Frodo throws the ring into the fire. Without knowing what the ring was about, the journey they had taken to get there, or what would have happened if they didn’t, it’s just an interesting moment that seems to be important but you wouldn’t know why. And I think that is exactly how teenagers view the cross. They know it is important (because they see it everywhere), they are sorry that Jesus died and think it’s cool that he did, but so what? What does it mean to them?

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This article is from The Sower and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of Maryvale Institute. Contact [email protected]

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