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12Nov, 2009

Into the Head

Posted by Scott

caffeine Addressing the content of a life serves the mind and head of the young disciple.

The main character of Legally Blonde, Elle Woods, seems to live for and by emotional alone.  Every little things is an occasion for an “Omigod, you guys!” among her sorority.  But, her story  continuously follows the pattern of her heart leading her head.  Her emotions compel her each time to advance her relationships and herself by growing in knowledge.  When we fall in love (as in Elle’s case, with a guy, with law school, then with defending the innocent), we’ve got to know more and more and more.  That’s the way we are built, O my God, you guys, do you think that might be intelligent design?

head Faith is to be explicitly connected to the life, teaching, and mission of the Church. Our heads compel us to examine our lives, our world, and our faith more profoundly. As did the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we enter into dialogue with the gospel message as professed by the teaching of the Church and lived by the people of God. Through this dialogical process we come not only to know, but to make the faith our own. We begin to think and imagine in a certain way,  ever mindful of what it means to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ, participants in her mystery of communion and in her dynamism in mission and the apostolate.

Faith Formation is a meant to get into the heads of young disciples.

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4 Comments

  1. Like the way you approach this Scott. I’ve been fascinated with this topic for a while–the “stickiness” of faith. What makes Christ’s message “sticky”? And how do we get it to stick in a Teflon culture? What can we do that anchors the Gospel message deeper into the very personality of a young person? As part of that dialogical-dialectical approach I think reflection and processing are essential to everything we do with young people–from retreats to national conferences. How can we help them redirect their attention inward to have a chance to recognize their “hearts burning within” them? What a great conversation. Thanks for leading our Tribe!

    Comment by Roy Petitfils — Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 7:45 am

  2. Roy:
    I think that Christ’s message is plenty “sticky” enough! In the book “Made to Stick,” authors Chip and Dan Heath identify the elements that go into a stick-y message: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional Story. (Yea, it spells SUCCESS – almost)

    And the message of Jesus was all that… And, it worked… for Jesus!!!!

    Often our messages are complicated, the “same old, same old,” very loose, not believable, and boring.

    We’ve gotta work on that!

    Thanks for the comment – - – Scott

    Comment by Scott — Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 9:03 am

  3. I agree–The Message is sticky enough. Our relaying of that is often where the breakdown occurs. I never thought of using the word “loose” to describe it–nice–like it. How to make it “tight, connected, integrated”–our challenge for sure. Now, gotta read that book…

    Comment by Roy Petitfils — Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 9:17 am

  4. [...] striving to understand the meaning of the CONTENT of their experience, getting it all into their head addressing the cognitive dimension and the explicit side of their maturing [...]

    Pingback by Catholic Youth Ministry Blog » Caffeine for the Road — Thursday, January 7, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

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