Sacraments lesson planning, part deux

OK, let's start simple and then get specific. What all the outlines have in common is that they cover two topics:

• Sacrament in general
• The seven Sacraments

There are certain common sense subheadings we can put in here, so let's do that:

• Sacrament in general
• The meaning of "sacrament"
  
• The seven Sacraments
• Baptism
• Confirmation
• Eucharist
• Penance
• Anointing of the Sick
• Holy Orders
• Matrimony

Let's take this and collapse the seven sacraments into the subtopics that will be common to all of them.

• Sacrament in general
• The meaning of "sacrament"
  
• The seven Sacraments
• The Sacrament's particular origin in revelation
• Its meaning/purpose
• Its relations to other sacraments
  
• Its ritual and symbols
• Its history
• Significance to daily life
• Practicum
  

All right, now let's expand a bit on Sacrament in general

• Sacrament & Liturgy in general (Judging by the Catechism it seems I can't very well separate these two terms, though they will need to be distinguished.)
  
• Historical development (from mysterion to sacramentum)
• Definition
  
• The Trinity
• The Paschal Mystery
• Grace/Prayer
• Significance for action
  
• The seven Sacraments - for each:
  
• Its meaning/purpose
• Its particular origin in revelation
• Its history
• Its relations to other sacraments
  
• Its ritual and symbols
• Significance to daily life
• Practicum
  

OK, I think I've over-expanded a bit, especially when you consider that the second "part" of the above outline is multplied 7x. Let's pare down some topics here.

• Sacrament & Liturgy in general (Judging by the Catechism, it seems I can't very well separate these two terms, though they will need to be distinguished.)
  
• The origin and meaning of the word, "sacrament"
• Sacrament in Salvation History (incl. Trinity/Paschal Mystery)
  
• Leitourgia: The Participation of People in the Work of God on Their Behalf
• Prayer, Grace, and Salvation
  
• Significance for the Christian
  
• The seven Sacraments - for each:
  
• Its meaning/purpose
• Its particular origin in revelation
• Its history/ritual and symbols
• Significance to daily life/Practicum
• Conclusion - challenges to the sacramental vision (or "Don't let bad ideas limit your spiritual destiny!")
  
• Protestantism and iconoclastic piety
  
• Modernity and nature's glass ceiling
• What they have in common
  
• The analogical imagination
  

The last section is a kind of a "bonus" section; although I don't expect to be able to cover everything that quickly, there's always the off-chance I could wind up with extra time. In any case, my teaching books say to always prepare more material than you need; I am first applying this advice at the annual level.

The order of subjects is, I think, logical. A part of me wishes there were more symmetry between the four points of the first and "second" sections. However, their present order allows me to tie them together quite neatly. When I finish discussing the word "sacrament," this provides a perfect lead-in to differentiating between pagan vs. Christian understandings of the word--hence revelation comes into play. I believe Grace deserves its own section here; it is such a poorly understood topic and so important to sacraments.

In the case of the seven individual sacraments, I felt that starting with a straight-up "here's what it means" would be easiest simply because students are used to that approach. But then I want to take things more "chronologically", moving from the seeds of each sacrament, its fulfillment in Christ, its growth in the Church, and finally its particular fullment in saving you.

Finally, a note on the section on "leitourgia": The second and third sections of the first block form a nice antipode; first we talk about God's side of things (the Paschal Mystery), and then we talk about ours (the liturgy). But even while we talk about "holding up our end of the eschatological bargain", we also negate it at every step. Thus, (and I don't care who hears it), I'll warn my students that the word "liturgy" does NOT mean "the work of the people." Even in its more ancient, secular use, it designated works done on behalf of the people. Enter Grace and Prayer, and I get a perfect opportunity to disabuse any students of the notion that we earn any part of our salvation.