Revelations

This assignment will probably take you a few days to complete if done right and if you take it seriously and to heart. I believe you will benefit from it immensly. If you wait til the last moment you will only short-change yourself will have missed a 'golden' opportunity to grow. It's up to you. I will not know how much effort you put into this project, only you will know. But I can tell you this, you have absolutely nothing to lose but a ton to gain. -

There are 3 (three) parts; 2 are written and 1 is creative.

You will need

• 1 tabbed report folder
• sicissors
• glue
• colored paper
• random magazines

Revelations: but you, beloved, grow strong in your holy faith through prayer in the Holy Spirit...

Read slowly to yourself:
[PS.139]
O lord, you have probed me and you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand:
You understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it...
...Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
Wonderful are your works.
My soul also you knew full well;...
Probe me, O God, and know my thoughts;
See if my way is crooked,
and lead me in the way of old.
[Jer 1:4-8]
The word of the Lord came to me thus:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,
before you were born, I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you
“Ah, Lord God!” I said,
“I know not how to speak; I am too young.
But the Lord answered me,
Say not, “I am too young.”
To whomever I send you, you shall speak.
Have no fear before them,
because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

Introduction

The word reflection comes from the Latin “flectere” which means  to bend and “re” which means  again. This reflection means bend backward, to look back in your life for  meaning. I am interested in your  beliefs rather than your  thoughts or generalizations of philosophies. We are at the end of the Book of Exodus and following a rag-tag group of ex-slaves into the desert so that they can discover who the heck they are. In your own way, you are going to the desert in your mind.

Often what we think about ourselves is very different from what we believe about ourselves.  And on the same subject, what we believe about God can be very different from what we  think about God.  Belief involves not only our ideas about life, but is also filled with our emotional reactions to life.  Beliefs have emotional contents as well as  cognitive (intellectual) content.

Rubric for Section #1

How do you find what you truly believe?  Find a quiet place in your house or if you have your own room, shut the door.  Get relaxed (but not too relaxed that you go to sleep).  Breathe in and out deeply and quietly, concentrating on your breathing.  Breath is life and the simple activity of breathing in and breathing out mirrors life's commands of holding on and letting go.  Once relaxed ask yourself the following questions :

(Remember, that this is you, NOW a 10th grader at St. Ignatius College Prep not what you think you are or how you would like to be all things being equal.  This is your apologia pro Vitam Suam)

(briefly jot down your answers for use later) If you find yourself spending some time with one or more of these questions - stay with it. Maybe its the Spirit talking to you. The more specific you are, the better the result of this exercise. (approx time: 45 minutes)

What do I need in my life right now?
What complicates my life?
What worries me about the future?
What makes me feel excited about life?
What motivates me?
What important elements contribute to my life?
What are my friendships based on?
What activities do I like to do with my friends
What are the rules?
Who makes my decisions?
Who or what influences those decisions?
Who do I depend upon?
Who do I want to become?
What do I want to do in the future?
What miracle have I experienced?
How do I pray?
How does God show me that he is present?
Define religion.
Who is Jesus?
What type of personality do I project to others?
Who do I love?
Who are my favorite musical artists?
What are my favorite movies?
What are my weaknesses?
Who are my heroes?
What does it mean to be a man?
What does it mean to be a woman?
Define sexuality?
What changes would I like to make in my life?
What does each year in school represent to me?
What do I know for sure?

(STOP HERE- and either take a break or put this away for awhile.)

Look over your responses to the above questions, changing them as you want. Once you are satisfied with your answers, type up the finished responses for turn-in. Then with this list in front of you jump into this following exercise...

Rubric for Section #2

(a) Sit (or lie) quietly and ask yourself the following questions: "Who are the  important or significant people in my life?"  Allow all the images of them to rise to the conscious level. Name, see, hear, feel.

Then, explore meaning and importance of these people for you.  There is something about them and the way they relate to you that you hold very sacred (holy).  They are the meaningful people in your young life.  If you get beyond them (their names and faces etc.) to what they  stand for you will find some of the  beliefs about life or people you hold sacred (holy).  The good in them has attracted you.  Now you must discover what that good actually is. (Difficult though it may be, try and explain it. Write it down!)

(b) After you have explored people, turn to events in your life that you consider important.  Imagine them; relive them.  Allow them to come to your consciousness: Be there, sense, smell, hear, see, relive. There is something about each of these events that is very important to you.

Ask yourself, "What is important to me about these events"?  Explore and find what it is about each of these events that make them so important.  They also give you a clue about your deep beliefs that you hold about life, people, and even G-d.  What is important rises to the conscious level and beyond the event itself. (e.g. first day at a new school and all that happened that day. "What did I learn about myself"?...that is the important element in this exercise...not the event itself but how it affected you.) (write it down!)

(c) Now look at patterns in your life. (this may be the hardest part so be patient)

"Do I see plans or designs working out over a long period of time?  My years of grade school; my first months at S.I.? My sophomore year?  Do I see a gradual movement toward something?  Do I feel that a force or magnet has been drawing me over a period of time toward something, maybe it isn't too clear, but a something none the less? Was it a season in a sport or a class assignment or “chance” encounter with someone or even being in RS 200 -AP rather than with another teacher on the soph level.  Do I see designs or plans in your life"?  If you do, you can discover important  movements.  Where they lead are discoveries of what we hold  important and what we have grown to believe in. (Write it down!)

The Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh tells Jeremiah the prophet (see above quote) that before he was born, G-d called him by name.  All your life, G-d is calling you by your own name, and God speaks to you through people, events, and the working out of designs and patterns.  A very important part of prayer is sensing, being aware of God is calling you; just how he is speaking to you through events, patterns and people in your life.  If you can see God’s hand in your life, you are on the right track, just like Ignatius Loyola began to see G-d in all things.

What you have begun to enumerate is a philosophy of life, your life.

(Here take another break, maybe put the above away for a while)

You will use some of the items on your list from the questions above to complete this final ‘creative’ project as the beginning and end of your assignment.  I call it:

The Mask Assignments

Your search for a self-concept, a concept that is satisfying to you and one with which you feel most comfortable is a slow, slow process.  It requires reflection and feedback. In other words it takes time.

While doing the research to come up with this concept of self formula, we sometimes wear masks as defenses against what we perceive as negative aspects of ourselves.  What are your defense mechanisms, those things which keep people from really getting to know you?  The question is "Who am I"? 

Rubric for #3 (Creative project)

For this exercise you will need a piece of scratch paper (which you will not hand in, only use it to focus on this assignment)
Using your answers to the questions at the beginning of this assignment (above) and some answers that you may  have thought of but did not write down, come up with one-word descriptors that you can use to identify yourself. Brainstorm. Try and include all the characteristics that describe:

• Your moods and feelings
• Your appearance and physical condition
• Your social traits
• Your talents
• Your intellectual capacity
• Your strong beliefs

Even though the list you created is a partial one, know that if given enough time, the list would include hundreds of descriptive words.  Choose 10 words from your list that best describe you in your opinion (there are no wrong answers).  Rank these words as to their importance, 1 being the most important aspect and  10 being the least important.  Move your list around until you get comfortable with the order.  What did you discover?  Are things getting a wee bit clearer?

It is time, then to create a symbol to represent some of the above items and perhaps how you defend against some of the items.  This symbol is the first mask.

Mask #1 is going to represent the Public Me.  This is the  me  that I show to others.  This is the me that others see.  It may include the Ideal Me, a me which I think I may be or would like to be.

Go to magazines, the newspaper, books and choose pictures, words or artistic designs that best exemplify this Public Me.  Glue them (without explanation) on a sheet of paper 8 1/2 x 11 punch three holes and place it as page 1 in report folder.

Mask#2 is a most difficult of assignments and have some patience with it. This mask will represent the Private Me.  This is the me  that I believe myself to be; beliefs about my talents, social skills, etc.  Perhaps this is the side that no one sees.  To do this difficult task:
take your list of 10 descriptors which you wrote:

• eliminate #10; look at the word, cross it out.  What are you left with? Is it OK? Not OK?  What did you feel when that word was eliminated?
• eliminate #9 (without taking #10 back).  Look at the word you crossed out?  What are you left with?  Is it OK?  Not OK?  What did you feel when that word was eliminated?

As you progress, take special note where you started to feel anger at the assignment.
Continue to eliminate the words one-by-one moving towards #1
When you come to the point when you begin to say to yourself “I can’t remove this, I’ll disappear.”  Remove just one more and stop.

As you did for Mask#1, find pictures, words, designs, etc that best exemplify this Private Me.  Glue them (without explanation) on a sheet of paper 8 1/2 x 11, punch 3 holes and place it as the last page of the report folder.

This only represents how you view yourself today, during this first year of high school and may be changed from time to time as you grow in wisdom.  In many ways you can use this last assignment as well as the entire autobiography as a reference point on your journey to adulthood.

Before you put this assignment together, go back and re-read the Psalm and Quote from Jeremiah at the beginning of this assignment then check to see if you have all of the parts in order for turn in on Thursday December 6

Report Folder (3 tab)

• Mask #1
• - Typed responses to the list of questions (above) Section #1
• - Typed responses (a) Persons; (b) events; (c) movements Section #2
• Mask #2