St. Francis de Sales is credited with the statement, “Simply do the next loving thing.” As Valentine’s Day sings its secular tune in the consumer world, catechists have a teaching moment on the topic of love. Love is not about flowers and candy as much as it is a selfless choice to care for and serve another for the sake of love. Jesus shows the way, and the gospels proclaim it. Yet, St. Francis knew that it is all very simple: The formula for loving with success is to respond to the next moment with the heart of Christ. Lent is a time to fine-tune our ability to live that message. These February lessons can be seen through rose-colored glasses. Teach every topic with the end result of underscoring the content with the call to live in love. You will be amazed at the ease of making that connection. After you finish your lesson, go through it one more time and add comments that show how it all falls under the mandate to “love one another as I have loved you.” This exercise can bring the teacher closer to the divine lover who is always ready to share his heart with his students.

It is time in the history of our Church and our country to offer our students a few examples of courage and love. I believe the best teacher is example. As catechists, we can speak of faith, love, trust, fear, conversion, etc. Yet, it is far better to allow our students to see what those abstract things look like when a soul acts on them. Moments of Grace by Al Kresta and Nick Thomm gives us a glimpse of love in action.  We hear inspiring stories of well-known Catholics. These stories can serve as a stepping-stone to class discussions that connect what we learn in a religion class with someone who translates the message into action. For the most part, these are average, contemporary people who choose to lead extraordinary lives of faith. Moments of Grace is for adults and older children who need to witness “what faith looks like with skin” (as a high-school boy said to me recently). This book would be a wonderful RCIA component as well. How better to teach the Catholic faith than to give our newest members life-changing stories?

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that he has been anointed “to bring good news to the poor” (4:16-21). In the story of the last judgment, we are told that we will be judged according to how we respond to the “least” ones (Mt 25.31-46).