catholic family faith

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 2, 2008

BEFORE MASS

Take 30 seconds:  What blinds you from seeing the good in others?

Scripture Readings:  1 Samuel 16:1b,6-7,10-13a; Psalm 23:1-6; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

Family Perspective:  Through our baptism, God calls us to live in the light of Christ.  Christ’s light illuminates the good around us.  Sometimes we are blind to that good.  Allowing Christ’s light to fill us and open our eyes helps us to see the good around us, in people and in all of God’s creation.

AFTER MASS

Chat:

Adults:  What is God calling you to do to share the light of Christ with your family, your workplace, your neighborhood?

Youth/Children:  What can you do to help others “see” Christ’s light and love?

Family Response:  Gather together and light a candle.  Have family members share how they see Christ’s light – Christ’s love and goodness – shining in each other.

Pray:  Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we may see God’s goodness in everyone and everything that surrounds us.  Amen.

The Media Smart Family

Movies, television, radio, I-pods & MP3's...media permeates our culture and influences our children.  Check out this article by Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP, for some basic principles that will help navigate the world of media.

Download mediasmartfamily.pdf (310.5K)

Family Movie Night

Movies have a way of drawing people together.  When families view a good movie together, it opens the door to fun as well as some good conversation.  With the Oscars coming up on February 24th, movies are in the news.  I ran across two lists of "Top Tens" recently.  The first is the "Top Ten Family Movies" on FamilyEducation.com (http://fun.familyeducation.com/slideshow/movie/56452.html) and the second is "The Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2007" on Christianity Today.com (http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/tenredeemingfilmsof2007.html).  These lists give some ideas for viewing.  Browsing through your local video store also provides great ideas for movie viewing.  Remember, movie viewing is subjective, and not all movies are produced with the family in mind.  The movies you choose should fit the ages of your family members and your family's personality. 

So choose a movie, pop some popcorn, curl up on the couch and enjoy!

Prayers Every Catholic Child Should Know

Catholics are people of community.  We consider ourselves the Body of Christ.  This means that we do many things collectively, such as Mass.  One of the activities that we do collectively is pray.  There are prayers that we pray together each week in the Eucharistic liturgy and prayers that we pray together as Catholic family.  As a catechetical leader, I am often asked, "What prayers should my child know?"  There are many sources for Catholic prayers, including prayer books and websites.  See the attached PDF document for some prayers that are often prayed in Catholic community.

Download catholicprayerschildren.pdf (44.1K)