Greetings and Opening Prayer
First: talk to the children about the text called It was too late to help, which is based on the original story that can be found here taken from the site www.momento.com.br.
It is interesting to adapt the story by adding the name of your local cinema, making sure that the story gets closer to the children’s reality.
Second: talk to the children about the story.
* Why did Marcus give up on helping the man on that cold night?
* Remember that many times we feel touched as soon as see someone who needs our help, but we end up getting involved with other things and letting the opportunity to practice goodness slip through our hands. We need to remember we will be held responsible for every opportunity to do goodness we don’t follow it through.
* Have you ever stopped to think about charity? What is charity? It’s love in action.
* Who can practice charity? EVERYONE.
* What time, when and where should we practice charity? Every time this opportunity is presented to us.
* Who is first person that benefits from practicing goodness? The one who practices charity.
Third: talk to the children about the text called The return of goodness, based on a true story that was published at the magazine Seara Espírita nr. 98, called A strange way of Goodness to return. It’s important that the Spiritist volunteer tells the children the story is based on real facts. It could be interesting to tell children any other story based on real facts from your region/country which also relates the effect of goodness practiced.
Fourth: Tell the children that every goodness practiced returns to the person who practiced it or to someone very close to him, with whom he has links of affection. This will happen sooner or later, according to the law of cause and effect.
Fifth: Ask the children to mention examples of situations where charity can be practiced. Talk to the children about doing charity in a proper way: those who remove the buttons from a coat or the shoelaces from trainers before giving it to someone is not being charitable. If you donate any clothes, please make sure they are clean and in a good condition.
We should always donate clothes and shoes to others in the state we would like to receive them: clean and in a good state. We would also like to be treated with respect and dignity, if we put ourselves in the place of the person who is being helped.
Resources for the Spiritist Volunteer – Types of charity:
Material: Donations of non-perishable or perishable food, clothing, money, medication and so on.
Mental: prayers, vibrations, sincere forgiveness of somebody else’s offences and one’s own mistakes, loving and caring feelings a person wishes to one another.
Verbal: using words to express love, to console one another; soft speaking, using our inner voice.
Passive: silencing before an offence, receptive listening when somebody has an outburst.
Non-verbal: Looking after our attitude; our manners by hugging, smiling, making eye contact, shaking hands.
Mediumship: by taking part in mediumship sessions, listening up and helping out the discarnate.
Sixth: suggested activities.
Activity 1
Answer sheet activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3 - we suggest the Spiritist volunteer distributes the cryptogram so the children can find the phrase. This phrase could also be analysed and understood by the entire group later on.
Answer sheet activity 3.
Resources for the Spiritist volunteer
Closing Prayer
Suggested Class suitable for: 2nd (9 to 10 years old) and 3rd cycles (11 to 12 years old).
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
