Liturgical Year – Lent
Third Level RERC Exemplar
Context for learning
Pupils were following a unit of work during the Liturgical Season of Lent that looks at the Passion, Death and
Resurrection of Jesus. Pupils explored the events of Holy Week. During this exploration they focus on the
trials of Jesus and evaluate whether they were fair and legitimate. They then consider the Salvation of all
through Christ’s Passion and Death. Finally, in this section of the unit, pupils investigate the events and people
surrounding the resurrection and make their own judgement as to whether the physical resurrection of Jesus
took place.
This unit is delivered through a pupil work book which outlines all learning intentions and success criteria. A
PowerPoint presentation is used a resource for staff to accompany the unit.
As well as the core classroom learning, pupils are also engaged in Lenten activities that reflect Faith Lived,
Prayed and Celebrated. These include almsgiving for local and international charities, whole school liturgies
and the opportunity to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
TIOF Core learning
3-04a REVEALED TRUTH OF GOD
I have examined key events in the New Testament where God is revealed as Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. I have considered how this affects my understanding of the nature of God
•
I am deepening my understanding of how the loving and saving nature of God is revealed by
focussing on the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus as described in Lk.22-23 & Mt 27:27-56 and I
can describe my response to this learning.
3-05a SON OF GOD
I know that Jesus is truly divine and truly human and I can acknowledge Him as our Saviour who
brings the New Covenant
•
I am deepening my understanding that Jesus’ human and divine natures are inseparable
through consideration of The Crucifixion (Lk 23: 33-49)
•
I can describe how learning of Jesus’ human and divine nature has developed my
understanding of him as “Saviour who brings the New Covenant”.
3-07a SON OF GOD
Having examined key events during the Ministry, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the
beginnings of the Church, I can describe how these events and the influence of the Holy Spirit
affected: the early Christian communities’ understanding of Jesus’ nature; his continuing presence
and identity; the development of the Church
 I am deepening my understanding of the unity of the Life, Ministry, Passion, Death,
Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus and that the mysteries of Christ’s life culminate in the
paschal mysteries.
Pupils focussed on the Paschal Mystery and, after interrogating scriptural texts, reflection and group
work, they summarised their understanding of the meaning of Christ’s death. The examples below
demonstrate that pupils have moved beyond simply restating what happened at the Crucifixion to being
able to share the deeper implications of his sacrifice which is expected at third level.
While this pupil has written a short answer,
the knowledge and understanding of Jesus
sacrifice demonstrated shows they have
engaged with the learning and are able to
summarise their learning in a meaningful
answer.
•
We had to think more about WHY Jesus
died than WHAT happened. This helped
me see the point for today.
•
I hadn’t thought about all the parts Jesus
life before. Now I can see the link
between his teaching, his death and our
forgiveness.
•
In groups we talked about what
sacrifice really means.
We spoke about what redemption
means and whether that was
possible for all people through one
act.
I have used the word Saviour
before but now I understand it.
Pupils used Scripture Passages, previous knowledge and a ‘suspect’ sheet to consider possible reasons for
Jesus’ body being missing from the tomb. They were then asked to come to a conclusion about how this
happened and explain their reasons. The teacher evaluation shows that, while the pupils completed the task
well, the question they were asked and the information given needs to be improved, as many based their
answer solely on the ‘suspect’ sheet
It was good to be allowed to
think for ourselves about what
else could have been the
explanations for a missing body
but we decided nothing else was
logical and no one could have
kept it a secret this long.
Pupils’ next steps in learning
Pupils concluded this unit during Holy Week. On return from the Easter break learning continued by looking at the
implications of the Paschal Mystery for the Early Church. In particular pupils focussed on the events of Pentecost
and the ongoing impact this has had for the Disciples and the Church today.