( Grade I- Peace)

Noah and the Ark

Soon there were many people on the earth. They had forgotten all about God. They were very bad. All the people were bad except for Noah. Noah pleased God. Noah tied to live his life in God's way. Noah taught his children to live according to God. He taught them not to lie. He taught them not to cheat. He taught them not to steal. One day God said to Noah, "A huge flood is coming. You must build a big boat, an ark, then bring two of every animal to the ark. Your family and the animals will be safe from the flood" God told Noah how big to make the ark and then Noah and his three sons began working on the ark. Noah built it exactly as God told him. It took many years to build the ark. It was finally finished. Noah put a ramp up to the opened doors He could see that the animals were coming from all over to get on the ark. The elephants stomped up the ramp. The birds flew in the opened doors. The cats quietly leapt. Then the rains came. Noah and his wife, their three children and their wives, got on the ark. They were getting ready for the flood. After the last of the animals had gotten on the ark, God closed the doors and they were safe and warm and dry from the flood.
CRITERIA FOR JUDGING DECLAMATION CONTEST 1. Memorization ------------------- 20% 2. Pronunciation ------------------- 15% 3. Delivery A. Volume ------------------- 10% B. Intonation ------------------- 10% C. Poise -------------------------- 10% 4. Expression ---------------------- 15% 5. Costume / Props --------------- 20%

100%

(Grade II- Joy) Despair of Judas

I will rest here, awhile. His face! His Face! Not comely now. There is no beauty in it. It is scarred into my heart. It is burned into my soul and never will it lift from me until I die. Die? Will death quench the flames which consume me? Traitor, not endless years in hell can even pay the crime of murdering the son of God. And last night, he dealt with me so gently. He washed my feet. He bade me to put my hand into the cup with his, while in my purse there jingled the coins which bought his blood. It was better for that man that he had never been born. Who? Who but I, who but I, I who betrayed him! "What you do, do it quickly." He knew, and kept my sin a secret. "Friend, where unto have you come, Judas, Judas, do you betray the son of God with a kiss?" Friend! Friend! He called me his friend. The man I betrayed called me his friend. How hell must have laughed. Why did not the mountains fall on me? Why did not the earth gape and swallow me up? Why did not the sea overwhelm me? Friend. Ha! Ha! Ha! Friend. Ha! Ha! Ha! The world will know Judas as the friend. The world will point to Judas as a by word, and as a pledge of broken faith! Do you think Judas you can hide from the father of your friend Jesus? Not even in hell can I escape. Not in the grave for the earth will spurn my corpse. Not in the heavens for Jesus the friend is there. What hope for Judas? What hope for Judas? Not even in hell can I escape for he called me devil, and devils cried out: torment us not, Jesus, Judas, faithless friend, devil, one of whom it would have been better not to have been born. There is no hope for you, no hope, no hope CRITERIA FOR JUDGING DECLAMATION CONTEST 3. Memorization ------------------- 20% 4. Pronunciation ------------------- 15% 3. Delivery A. Volume ---------------------- 10% B. Intonation ------------------- 10% C. Poise -------------------------- 10% 4. Expression ---------------------- 15% 6. Costume / Props --------------- 20% 100%

(Grade III- Patience)

And God stepped out in space, and He looked around and said, Im lonely; Ill make me a world. Darkness covered everything, blacker than a hundred midnights down in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled, and the light broke and the darkness rolled up on one side, and the light stood shining on the other, and God said: Thats good! Then God reached out and took the light in His hands, and God rolled the light around in His hands, until he made the sun; and He set that sun a blazing in the heavens, and the light that was left from making the sun God gathered it up in a shining ball and flung it against the darkness, spangling the night with moon and stars. Then down between the darkness and the light he hurled the world, and God said: Thats good! Then God Himself stepped down and the sun was on His right hand, and the moon was on His left; the stars were clustered about His head, and the earth was under His feet, and God walked, and where He trod, His footsteps hollowed the valleys out and bulged the mountains up. Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand over the sea and over the land, and He said, Bring forth! Bring forth! And quicker than God could drop His hand, fishes and fowls and beasts are birds swam the rivers and the seas, and roamed the forests and the woods, and split the air with their wings and God said: Thats good! Then God walked around and God looked around on all that He had made. And He looked at His Sun, and He looked at His moon. And He looked at His little stars. He looked on His world with all its living things, and God said, Im lonely still. Then God sat down on the side of a hill and where He could think; by a deep, wide river He sat down; with His head in His hands, God thought, till He thought: Ill make me a man! Up from the bed of the river God scooped the clay; and by the bank of the river He kneeled Him down; and there the great God Almighty who lit the sun and fixed tin the sky, who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night, who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand; this Great God, like a mommy bending over her baby, kneeling down in the dust, toiling over a lump of clay till He shaped it in His own image; then into it He blew the breath of life and man became a living soul. CRITERIA FOR JUDGING DECLAMATION CONTEST 1. Memorization ----------------- 20% 2. Pronunciation ----------------- 15% 3. Delivery A. Volume ----------------- 10% B. Intonation ------------------ 10% C. Poise ------------------------ 10% 4. Expression --------------------- 15% 5. Costume / Props --------------- 20% 100%

(Grade IV- Kindness)

Wake Up Your god!

The people were worshipping Baal. Baal is a false god. Elijah said to the King Ahab, "Bring 450 prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel today. I want to talk to them" Ahab did as Elijah asked. Elijah said to all the people there, " If the Lord is God follow him. If Baal is god then follow him. Today we will have a test. Let the prophets of Baal put some meat on your altar and I will put some meat on y altar. All of you call upon Baal, I alone will call upon the Lord. The god who answers by burning up the meat is the One True God." They all agreed. They liked the test. All the people danced around the altar and shouted, "Baal, hear us!" They shouted louder and louder and still there was no fire. Elijah said, "Maybe your god is sleeping. Dance more and shout louder." The people danced and danced. The people shouted and shouted. They danced and shouted for the whole day. There was no fire. Now it was Elijah's turn. He built an altar out of 12 big stones. He put the meat on it. He asked the people to fill four barrels of water and pour over it. Then he asked them to pour four more barrels of water over it. When they had finished the second time, he said, "Now once more." There was so much water there. It was all over. It filled a trench beside the altar. Everything was just soaked. Elijah prayed, "Lord, let these people know you are God." Suddenly, fire flashed down from heaven. It burned up the meat, the altar, and the 12 stones. It even evaporated the water in the trench. The people bowed down to the Lord and shouted," The Lord is the One True God!"

CRITERIA FOR JUDGING DECLAMATION CONTEST 1. Memorization ----------------- 20% 2. Pronunciation ----------------- 15% 3. Delivery A. Volume ----------------- 10% B. Intonation ------------------ 10% C. Poise ------------------------ 10% 4. Expression --------------------- 15% 5. Costume / Props --------------- 20% 100%

(Grade V- Goodness)

I will Greet this Day With Love in my Heart

And how I will do this? I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit, I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge. And how I will speak? I will speak well of my enemies and they will become friends; I will speak well of my enemies and they will become friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become brothers. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; and never will I scratch for excuses to gossip. When I am tempted to criticize, I will bite on my tongue, when I am move to praise, I will shout from the roofs. And how will I act? I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden. With love, I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate which they have built around their hearts and its place will I build bridges so that my love may enter their souls. I will love my ambitions for they can inspire me! I will love the failures for they can teach me. I will love the kings for they are but human; I will love the meek for they are divine. I will love the rich for they are yet lonely; I will love the poor for they are so many. I will love the young for the faith they hold; I will love the old for the wisdom they share. I will love the beautiful for their eyes of sadness; I will love the ugly for their souls of piece. And how I will confront each whom I meet? In only one way. In silence and to myself, I will address him and say: I love you. Though spoken in silence, these words will shine in my eyes, unwrinkled my brow, bring a smile to my lips, and echo in my voice. And most of all, I will love myself. For when I do, I will zealously inspect all things which enter my body, my mind, my soul, and my heart. Never will I overindulge the request of my flesh, rather, I will cherish my body with cleanliness and moderation. Never will I allow my mind to be attracted to evil and despair, rather, I will uplift it with the knowledge and wisdom of the ages. Never will I allow my soul to become complacent and satisfied, rather, I will feed it with meditation and prayer. Never will I allow my heart to become small and bitter, rather, I will share it and it will grow and warm the earth. I will greet this day with love, and I will succeed. CRITERIA FOR JUDGING DECLAMATION CONTEST 1. Memorization ----------------- 20% 2. Pronunciation ----------------- 15% 3. Delivery A. Volume ----------------- 10% B. Intonation ------------------ 10% C. Poise ------------------------ 10% 4. Expression --------------------- 15% 5. Costume / Props --------------- 20% 100%

Love Always Hurts (Excerpt)

by Mother Teresa It is not enough to say, I love God. But I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you dont love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must willing be able to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me. It hurts Jesus to love us. We have been created in his image for greater things, to love and to be loved. We must put on Christ. as Scripture tell us. And so we have been created to love as he loves us. Jesus makes himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the unwanted one, and he says, You did it to me. On the last day he will say to those on his right, Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me, and He will also say to those on his left, Whatever you neglected to do for the least of these, you neglected to do it for me. When He was dying on the cross, Jesus said, I thirst. Jesus is thirsting for our love, and this is the thirst for everyone, poor and rich alike. We all thirst for the love of others, that they go out of their way to avoid harming us and to do good to us. This is the meaning of true love, to give until it hurts. I can never forget the experience I had in visiting a home where they kept all these old parents of sons and daughters who had just put them into an institution, and maybe, forgotten them. I saw that in that home these old people had everything: good food, comfortable place, television everything. But everyone was looking toward the door. And I did not see a single one with a smile on his face. I turned to Sister and I asked, Why do these people, who have every comfort here why are they all looking toward the door? Why are they not smiling? (I am so used to seeing the smiles on our people. Even the dying ones smile.) And Sister said, This is the way it is, nearly everyday. They are expecting they are hoping that a son or daughter will come to visit them. They are hurt because they are forgotten. See, this neglect to love brings spiritual poverty. Maybe in our family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Are we willing to give until it hurts, in order to be with our families? Or do we put our own interests first? These are the questions we must ask ourselves, especially as we begin this Year of the Family. We must remember that love begins at home, and we must also remember that the future if humanity passes through the family I had the most extraordinary experience of love of neighbor from a Hindu family. A gentlemen came to our house and said, Mother Teresa, there is a family who have not eaten for so long. Do something. So I took some rice and went there immediately. And I saw the children, their eyes shining with hunger (I dont know if you have ever seen hunger, but I have seen it very often.) And the mother of the family took the rice I gave her, and went out. When she came back, I asked her, Where did you go? What did you do? And she gave me a very simple answer. They are hungry also. What struck me was that she knew. And who were they? A Muslim family. And she knew. I didnt bring any more rice that evening, because I wanted them Hindus and Muslims to enjoy the joy of sharing. But there were those children, radiating joy, sharing the joy and peace with their mother because she had the love to give until it hurts. And you see this where love begins: at home in the family. God will never forget us, and there is something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in contact with. Let us make that one point: that no child will be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or killed and thrown away. And give until it hurts with a smile.