Our Gifts and God’s Call
Grade 3 Vocation Awareness
Vocation Prayer
• God, thank you for loving me.
In Baptism you called me by name
to live as your child.
Help all your people to know their call in life.
For your greater glory, raise up generous
leaders
to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, and
brothers.
Amen.
God created us to love and serve Him
• He gave us special gifts to help us do this!
Vocations
• The talents and gifts God gave us will help us
decide which way God is calling us to serve
Him.
• The way we serve God is our vocation.
Before you can figure out your
vocation, you should recognize the
gifts that God has given you.
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What gifts do you have that are bringing you closer
to God?
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Do you have courage or a positive attitude? Are
you a hard worker, helpful, kind, energetic,
smart,musican, good at math or reading?
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On each step that leads to Jesus write a gift that
you have.
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If you having trouble ask a friend, teacher or a
parent to help you recognize your gifts and talents
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Write! How can you use these gifts to become
closer to God?
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Example
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Share some with you class
Recap
• Why did God create us?
• How should we use the gifts God gave us?
• What is a vocation?
What’s Next?
Tomorrow we will discuss the vocation to the priesthood
Vocation Prayer
• God, thank you for loving me.
In Baptism you called me by name
to live as your child.
Help all your people to know their call in life.
For your greater glory, raise up generous
leaders
to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, and
brothers.
Amen.
Priesthood
•The first vocation that we will learn about is priesthood.
•What priests do you know?
•How would you describe them? Share
Some men decide that God is calling
them to be priest. They use their gifts
and talents to bring people closer to
God
An important part of being a priest is
administering the Sacraments
• What’s a sacrament again?
A sacrament is a visible sign, given to us
by Christ, to give us grace
God gave us 7 sacraments. Lets see
who can remember what they are.
• Lots of people get this sacrament as a baby. It
takes away original sin and gives us a new birth in
the Holy Spirit. Its sign is the pouring of water.
Baptism
• Have you ever been to a Baptism that you
remember?
• When we are baptized, we become children of
God, members of the church, and are given
eternal life. A person is baptized only once.
2) This next sacrament has a few
different names. During this sacrament
you confess your sins to a priest
Penance or Reconciliation
• When we go to Confession we say our sins to
the priest. By the power given to him by Jesus,
he forgives us. We get lots of grace and
should go to Confession often!
3) In this sacrament, we receive Jesus
in the form of bread and wine
Holy Eucharist
• In this sacrament, a priest changes bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. This
miracle occurs each time Mass is said during
the Consecration . Saying Mass each day is an
important part of being a priest
4) In this sacrament, a man and a
woman make promises to one another
to stay together forever
Holy Matrimony (aka Marriage)
• The bride and groom make vows ( special
promises) to love one another and help each
other grow closer to God
5) This is a sacrament when men
become priests.
Holy Orders
• After a man goes to seminary for a few years
he is finally ordained a priest.
6) You receive this sacrament when
you are sick. The priest blesses you
with oil
Annointing of the Sick
• An important job of a priest is to comfort and
help people who are sick.
7) In this sacrament you receive the
gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit
Confirmation
• During Confirmation you are blessed with holy
oil called Chrism and become a full member of
the Catholic Church!
Priests play an important role in all
these sacraments!
• In your religion copybook write down 3-5
sentences on what you learned about
sacraments. Draw a picture underneath.
Don’t forget to include the priest!
Recap
• Today you learned that some men are called
to be priest.
• One job of the priest is to administer the
sacraments to us
• Tomorrow we will talk about the vocation to
marriage
Vocation Prayer
• God, thank you for loving me.
In Baptism you called me by name
to live as your child.
Help all your people to know their call in life.
For your greater glory, raise up generous
leaders
to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, and
brothers.
Amen.
Who can remember what vocation we
learned about yesterday?
The Priesthood
Today we will discuss vocations to the
religious life
• Sisters, Brothers, Nuns and Monks
Some people feel God is calling them
to join a religious order. Many great
saints were members of religious
order
• Can anyone name the saints below?
Saints and Vocations
• If you said St Therese, St. Francis of Assisi and
St. Katherine Drexel than you’re right!
• Listen to their stories of how they followed
God’s call
Write about it!
• Think about St. Therese the Little Flower.
What little acts of kindness and sacrifices can
you make to become closer to God. How can
you follow her example?
Recap
• What vocations have we discussed so far?
• What saints were members of religious
orders?
• How can we follow in the footsteps of the
saints to become closer to God?
Vocation Prayer
• God, thank you for loving me.
In Baptism you called me by name
to live as your child.
Help all your people to know their call in life.
For your greater glory, raise up generous
leaders
to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, and
brothers.
Amen.
Marriage
Marriage is a sacrament in which a man
and woman vow to love each other
forever.
Marriage is a Vocation
• Marriage is a vocation just like priesthood, or the
call to religious life
• No matter what your vocation, we are all called
to spread God’s love and His word throughout
the world.
• People who are called to marriage share God’s
love and His word with one another and their
families.
Can anyone think of any saints who
are married?
Read about St. Anne and St. Joachim
St Anne and Joachim are very
special saints because they are the
parents of Mary and the
grandparents of Jesus.! Tradition
holds that for a long time they
were childless. They prayed and
prayed and finally God sent them a
daughter. She grew up to be the
mother of God! Anne and Joachim
are great examples of what a good
marriage is because they spread
God’s word to their daughter
Mary. They taught her all about
God and helped her grow into a
good and holy woman.
Do you know anyone who is married?
• Write about ways in which the saints we
talked about or someone you know is closer to
God through the sacrament of marriage?
Example
My grandparents are great examples of married people who help
one another become closer to God. They stuck with each other through
good times and bad. For awhile, my Grandpop had to go to war, my
Grandmom had to raise seven children on her own. It wasn’t easy but she
knew it that it was important to teach her children to pray and go to Mass.
When he got back from war, the family was finally together again! They
thanked God for his safe return by praying every night as a family. My Mom
taught me the same prayers her Mom and Dad taught her. Their good
example of how to be a strong Catholic was passed down to me!
Recap
What are the 3 vocations we learned
• Priesthood about this week?
• Marriage
• Religious Life
Vocation Prayer
• God, thank you for loving me.
In Baptism you called me by name
to live as your child.
Help all your people to know their call in life.
For your greater glory, raise up generous
leaders
to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, and
brothers.
Amen.
God calls us to our vocations, but not
the way we call people
Pray to know the way…
• God doesn’t call on phones or yell over our
noisy lives. We need to quiet down so we can
hear him. When we pray, we are talking to
God. If we keep praying He will help us
discover the path He wants us to follow.
Talking with Jesus
• Pretend Jesus really did call you on the phone. What do you
think you would talk about? Write a conversation between
you and Jesus. Include what you learned about vocations this
week. If you wish, share some of your conversation with your
classmates and teacher.
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Jesus –
Me –
Jesus –
Me –
Jesus –
Me –
Jesus –
Me –
Jesus –
Me –
Jesus –
Me -
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Recap
God has a great plan for each one of us!
We should use our gifts and develop our talents and
use them for good, how God wants us to.
If we listen, God is speaking. If you want to know
your vocation make time to pray to God and ask him
to guide you!
It’s never too early to start praying about God’s plan
for you!