Teacher’s Note: Because of this year’s calendar, the Fourth Sunday of Advent falls on December 22.Therefore, this year, the fourth week of Advent is only two days. You and your students may already be on Christmas vacation. You may complete this lesson (or parts of it) with your students in class and then have them complete the rest at home with their parents over Christmas vacation.

Warm-Up

Ask your students to sing the Christmas carol “Joy to the World” with their families or read the lyrics on Handout A: Joy to the World as a class. Encourage them to sing the carol as a prayer, listening carefully to the words of the song and thinking about why we celebrate the joy of Christmas.

Activity

1. Explain to your students that even though the fourth week of Advent is only five days this year, very soon we will celebrate the birth of Jesus! This begins a new season in the life of the Church: Christmas. The Christmas season lasts until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. During this period of more than two weeks, we celebrate the coming of the Light of the World, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We joyfully reflect on the Good News of Jesus Christ: that our salvation has come.
2. Send home with your students the Handout B: Teaching the Liturgical Year worksheets. Have them complete the following with their families:
   • Gospel Reading: Luke 1:39-45: Read with their families and answer and discuss the focus questions together.
   • Impossible Things: Read about God’s people throughout Salvation History and discuss the reflection questions together.
   • Teaching the Liturgical Year: Christmas Day: Read the Gospel passage, then answer the focus questions.
   • Adoration of the Shepherds: Reflect on the painting together using the conversation questions provided.
   • Adoration of the Shepherds Coloring Page: Encourage your students to display the coloring page at home during the Christmas season as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.
3. Finally, encourage and challenge your students to think of different ways in which they can share the joy of Christ with others during their Christmas vacation. Specifically challenge them to imitate Christ by loving and serving others in concrete ways. Perhaps they can help serve at a soup kitchen with their families or visit a sick family member or friend. Perhaps they can spend
   extra time in prayer for someone who is need of prayer. Encourage them to be creative and think of ways to share the joy of Christmas with others that they might not ordinarily do.

Answer Key

Teaching the Liturgical Year: Fourth Week of Advent

1. Mary was traveling to the hill country of Judah to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel told her that Elizabeth was with child despite her old age and Mary went to be with her.
2. “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." We hear these words again when we pray the Hail Mary prayer.
3. John the Baptist.
4. Elizabeth said this because while her husband Zechariah did not believe what the angel of the Lord told him, Mary did believe.

Teaching the Liturgical Year: Christmas Day

1. He was in the beginning with God and was (is) God.
2. All things, specifically, life.
3. Life, the light of the human race.
4. Jesus is the light of the world, who shined in the darkness of sin. He is fully God, through whom all things were made, and He became man, born as a human infant. He was rejected by His own people and was crucified and died. But, by His Resurrection, He defeated sin and death, and opened the path to Heaven to all who accept Him. His sacrifice made it possible for all men to be sons and daughters of God again.
5. It is on Christmas that we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and His Incarnation, when God Himself entered into human history as Jesus Christ. Throughout His life, Jesus revealed the Father to us and made known His glory. Adoration of the Shepherds

Adoration of the Shepherds

1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and Shepherds.
3. Jesus Himself is the only source of light in the painting. The artist was depicting the Light of the World shining in the darkness and the glory of God (as John speaks of in His Gospel).
4. Mary is looking directly at Jesus, and she is pulling back His blanket to reveal Him to the shepherds. Mary’s role in our faith is always to reveal her Son, Jesus, to us and direct us to Him.
5. Accept reasoned answers.