Initial Prayer
First - Opening:
pass out the handout with the Learning Opportunity#1 to the students.
Click here to print out the Learning Opportunity #1.
Answer: without charity there is no salvation. (The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 15, translated by J.A.Duncan, 1987 from the 3rd French Edition of 1866).
Interact with the Spiritist students about the meaning of each word according to the context they are being used in:
Charity: practicing love as much as we can.
Salvation: progress, spiritual evolvement.
Second:
pass put the handouts with the Learning Opportunity#2. Ask the students to find out the sentences hidden and ask them about the meaning of each sentence.
Click here to print out the Learning Opportunity#2.
1 - Charity is love in action. It can be practiced by all.
Love in action: positive attitudes. How can you be charitable? Give some examples.
Charity can be practised by all: the material charity or all types of charity can be practised by anyone no matter how rich, how poor, what age, state of health, religion, no matter where. ‘…the practice of unlimited charity, since the duties of charity cover all social positions from the most lowly to the most elevated.’ (Chapter 15, page 188. Gospel According to Spiritism, The (translated by J.A. Duncan, 1987).
2 – Charity is indispensable to happiness. ‘Charity and humility...lead to eternal happiness’.2
Indispensable: absolutely necessary or essential.
For us to achieve happiness, we need to be charitable. The more one loves, the happier one will be.
Third:
pass out the handouts with the Learning Opportunity#3 so that the Spiritist students will find out the types of charity in action listed on the sheet. With the help of the students, write them down on a board, giving examples for each type of charity.
Click here to print out the Learning Opportunity#3.
Material charity: donations of non-perishable or perishable food, clothing, money, medication and so on.
Mental charity: prayers, vibrations, sincere forgiveness of somebody else’s offences and one’s own mistakes, loving and caring feelings one wishes to one another.
Verbal charity: using words expressing love, consolating one another, soft speaking, using the inside voice.
Passive charity: silencing before an offence, receptive listening when somebody has an outburst.
Non-verbal charity: looking after our attitude, our manners by hugging, smiling, making eye contact, shaking hands.
Mediumnic charity: by taking part in mediumnic sessions, listening up and helping out the discarnate.
Fourth:
pass out the Learning Opportunity#4 handouts: What can I donate?.
Click here to print out the Learning Opportunity#4.
Theme: attach the following handout to the Spiritist student’s notebook so that their parents and/or relatives can read along.
Charity is the practice of love. The moral charity, according to the teaching of Jesus, is stated in the question 886 of ‘The Spirits’ Book’ as being ‘Benevolence [good will] for everyone, indulgence [tolerance] for the imperfections of others, forgiveness of injuries.’3
Closing prayer
Charity can also be classified into:
Material charity: donations of non-perishable or perishable food, clothing, money, and so on. Fundraising
Mental charity: prayers, vibrations, sincere forgiveness of somebody else’s offences and one’s own mistakes, loving and caring feelings one wishes to one another.
Verbal charity: using words expressing love, consolating one another, soft speaking, using the inside voice
Passive charity: silencing before an offence, receptive listening when somebody has an outburst.
Non-verbal charity: looking after our attitude, our manners by hugging, smiling, making eye contact, shaking hands.
Mediumnic charity: by taking part in mediumnic sessions, listening up and helping out the discarnate.
Level Suggested:
2nd cycle (9 to 10 years old) and 3rd cycle (11 to 12 years old)
1Janet Duncan translates the sentence ‘Fora da Caridade Nao Ha Salvacao’ into ‘Without Charity There is no Salvation” (in‘The Gospel According to Spiritism’). ‘The Gospel Explained by The Spiritist Doctrine’ (published by Allan Kardec Educational Society, 2003) translates ‘Caridade’ into ‘Love’. I maintained the version of J.A. Duncan.
2Chapter 15, page 176. Gospel According to Spiritism, The (translated by J.A. Duncan, 1987).
3In Spirits’ Book, The – translated by Anna Blackwell (1996).
