Lesson 4: Creator of Heaven and Earth part 1

God created all things – visible and invisible. The most important creatures God made are human beings and angels.

**** Read Lesson 4 Creation and Angels in the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism book #2 *****

Let’s start in the beginning of the Bible from the Book of Genesis. We will read the story of creation. If you have a children’s Bible that will be a good choice for the younger ages to use.

For the younger children have them watch this sweet video about Creation: How did God create the world? Older children will enjoy this interactive drawing video appealing: 7 Days of Creation with John Bergsma’s Bible Basics for Catholics as part of an assignment they can follow along drawing their own 7 Days of Creation. If they do so, attach this drawing inside your notebook. If you have time this is a great idea for keeping to the lesson: go outside and set up a Days of Creation Hopscotch game. It is important to explain to our children our role in Catholic Stewardship. We have been given the duty to be responsible caretakers of the earth and the environment. We should continually look for ways to preserve God’s physical creation for future generations. When living out the spiritual virtues and practical fruits of Catholic stewardship the commitment is expressed through the responsibilities: Time, Talent, Treasure. These core duties are often called the 3 T’s. We are called to use God’s gifts with each other to build a community worthy of God’s plan for us. In our time on Earth we should look to use the 3 Ts in our life. When we model these Three Ts for our children we are building a legacy of faith that will last for generations.

Time: Balancing daily life, prayer, rest, family, and service, dedicating the first fruits of one’s schedule to God and neighbor.

Talent: Identifying, nurturing, and volunteering personal abilities and skills to support the parish community, the vulnerable, and the common good.

Treasure: Managing material possessions and financial resources generously and sacrificially, supporting the mission of the Church and caring for the poor.

Watch this What is Stewardship? video.

For more detail you can read The Three Ts of Stewardship

For the next part of the lesson we will learn about angels. Before man was created, God created the heavens and filled them with pure spirits we call angels. What is the difference between Humans and Angels?

What are spirits? A being that has understanding and free will without a body that will never die.

FREE WILL a person’s choice to do good or bad. This makes it possible for humans to love as God loves.

Angels are servants and messengers for God. They choose to love and obey God in Heaven. Devils are angels who choose not to love and obey God. We call the FALLEN ANGELS because of their rebellion God cast them into Hell.

What do we mean by OBEY?

In Latin obey comes from obedire which means “listen to” and is used to mean “pay attention to”

In faith OBEY is to submit freely to the word(s) of God that have been heard or read. *we obey rules given to us by persons of authority over us*

Think of some people who have authority over you in your daily life. Who are they? Make your list below: 1. 2. 3. 4. …..

For little kids watch: What are angels? from S.D. Cason.

6th grade and older watch: Angels from Catholic Central and What are the 9 Choirs of Angels? from St. Joseph Studios.

This week we learning about Padre Pio because his feast day is September 23. St. Pio of Pietrelcina was an Italian friar of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was a priest, stigmatist and mystic. He is the only priest in Catholic history to bear on his body the Stigmata, the five wounds of the Crucified Jesus Christ. He bore these wounds for 50 years! A few days before his death on Sept. 23, 1968 all of his Stigmata wounds disappeared. He was canonized in 2002 by Saint Pope John-Paul II.

Many saints are good examples for models of virtues. The Model of the *Theological Virtue of Hope is St. Padre Pio. His simple and consistent words against worry encourage us to keep hope at all times : 

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”

Padre Pio

Assignment: Read three articles by Fr. William Saunders together with your children or have them read them independently: All About Angels, Choirs of Angels, and Archangels and Guardian Angels.

In your notebook answer the following:

1.) What did you find the most interesting from reading these articles? Write 3 things you learned, one from each article. For younger kids ask them to tell you what they found interesting.

2.) All ages: Color the guardian angel and cut it out and glue inside your notebook. Their Feast Day is on October 2.

3.) List the 9 Choirs of Angels on the same page as your Guardian Angel cutout. Turn this into copy work for younger kids.

4.) All ages: Using your imagination draw an angel from one of the 9 Choirs. If you need ideas see the tabbed pages in the following book: Arts a Visual Encyclopedia or go to the National Gallery of Art website and search “angels” to see some artwork for inspiration. Attach your drawing to a page inside your notebook.

*Theological Virtues

Faith: we believe firmly all the truths Jesus Christ has revealed to us and which He teaches through His church. John 17:3

Hope: we expect from God with firm confidence His promises and grace of the Holy Spirit in this world and eternal happiness in Heaven. Mark 10:27

Charity: we love God above all things and our neighbor as oneself for the love of God. Matthew 22:27

*** FFF week 4 September 22, 2026*****