Family Faith CircleWeek Sixteen – Breakout

Theme: Signs of God’s Love

Host Family will lead opening prayer and introduce their family members. (Give a little detail about each person such as where they go to school, etc.)

Faith Filled People to choose from (and why are they important to you and/or your family?): Blesseds Louis and Selie Martin

The Pope

Saint Teresa of Avila

Today’s Readings from Lectionary: Read or summarize today’s readings to prepare for church or unpack for those that attended 8:30 mass.

Song led by Jennifer St. Jacques

Host Family Activity

Video’s to choose from that go with the theme of the lesson:

Does and Don’ts of Corporal Acts of Mercy (5:02 minutes) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDZA1CEMxqo

Yours are the Hands (2:11 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaFk7nlPmMU

Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (8:42 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaDnIz1KNn4

Breakout: Choose one activity on topic and discussion for group. Topics suggested are from Be My Disciples.

Pre-K, 1 – Action Items: Bible to read aloud. IPAD or laptop to watch video. Print off sheet below. What are signs of God’s Love? Matthew 14:15-16, 19-20 (Loaves and Fishes) Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCJoz5qDHY8 List off ways to serve. Prayer is one we can do everyday. Review and pass out the attached sheet “Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer”

Grades 3,4, 5 – Action Items: Bible to read aloud. Items (gallon size plastic bags and items listed below) or items needed for Epsom Salt Foot Soak. Signs of God’s Love – Jesus washed the feet of his Apostles. Read outloud John 13:4-5, 15 "Serve to Love, Love to Serve" Jesus wanted to show the disciples how much he loved them, so he gave them an example of how they (and we) should treat one another. We should always look for opportunities to serve others. What are some? (List on board.) Make one of the following.

Make Epsom Salts for Foot Soak

Explain that each child will make some Epsom salts to use to soak their feet. Place some of the salt in a Ziploc bag. Let them choose which scent they would like to add—add a few drops. Close the bag tightly and roll the salts around to mix the scent in with the salts. Leave the bags tightly closed. Make sure the students do not taste the salt (it can act as a laxative) or the scent. Encourage them to think about the Bible story and what Jesus did for them as they are soaking their feet. Or they could prepare a foot soak for someone in their family and tell them the Bible story.

Or collect items for Room In the Inn (chapstick, tissues, hand wipes, tooth brushes, sunscreen, tooth paste) and put into bags for our guests.

Or create Blessing Bags and keep in your cars.

Here are some of the items that work well in a blessing bag:

granola bars

cereal bars

snack crackers/cheese

peanut butter

beef jerky

raisins

peanuts

applesauce cup

fruit cups

Capri suns/juice boxes

trail mix

gum

hard candy

mints

bottled water

hot cocoa mix

pop-top meat or sausages

hand sanitizer

baby wipes

toothbrush

toothpaste

wash cloth

hand towel

soap

comb

nail clippers

deodorant

socks

sun screen

foot powder

flip flops (depending on the

region)

gloves (depending on the

region)

chapstick

lotion

travel-sized tissues

We plan on giving most of our bags to the Community Missions ministry

of our church but will keep some in our cars. If we spot someone who

might have a need, I plan to ask, “Excuse me, but do you know someone

who might be able to use this?” It gives them the opportunity to decline

or accept while giving me an escape hatch if I have made a mistake and

the person is not homeless. In some cases, a homeless person might

ask you for something you that you do not want to give. In that case,

you can politely reply, “I’m sorry but this is all I have to offer today.”

Always be confident and firm.

Slightly off-topic: I never give money to someone on the street. I might

give them a gift card to a restaurant but I will not give them money.

From http://www.meetpenny.com/2011/11/serve-one-another-in-love-

homeless-blessing-bags/

Grades 6 & 7 – Our Call to Holiness Action Items: IPad to watch video on Holiness. Bibles to read scripture. Print out of Holiness sheet below. Make color copies in RE Office. Read passages below. Ask different people to read the scripture portions.

Watch the video on Youtube about Holiness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vn5UvsHvM (about 6 minutes)

We are called to be Saints. Our life’s job description is to share in God’s holiness. God created us to be holy as he is holy. He created us to know him, to love him, to serve him, and to live with him forever in eternal happiness. God’s command to the Israelites is a command to all his people:

“For I, the lord, am you God; and you shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy . . . Since I, the Lord, brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might be your God, you shall be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44-46

The ability and freedom to live a holy life is a gift from God. He not only invites us to live a life in communion with him, but also gives us the powers to live that life. God gives us the Theological Virtues, which help us to live as his children. The Theological Virtues enable us to grow stronger in holiness, the life of God within us. They are those strengths that begin in God and direct us toward holiness. There are three Theological Virtues: Faith, hope and charity. You may recall that Saint Paul concludes his great hymn to love with this memorable verse.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13

These virtues are gifts from God. The more we choose to live according to these virtues, the more we grow in holiness.

- Be My Disciple, pg. 157, Guide 6

To Grow in Holiness:

God’s gift of holiness is not just for us as individuals. It is not something we keep for ourselves. As God shares his life and love with us, we also share our life and love with others. Our growth in holiness involves the way that we live with other peoples. Holiness is about how we act with others.

Saint Paul teaches:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another . . . And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. Colossians 3:12-14

The Church gives us the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy to guide us in living the life of mercy and compassion that Saint Paul describes. These Works of Mercy are part of the Church’s social teachings – a collection of principles that guide us to moral living as a holy community. Yet the Works of Mercy are not just an idea; they are concrete, practical things that we can do to live the Gospel.

- Be My Disciple, pg. 159, Guide 6

What are your Works of Mercy? Think of times when you were patient, humble, compassionate or gentle. (ex. Loaves & Fishes, Room In the Inn, Christmas Baskets, letting someone else shine on your team, helping a younger person or sibling with patience, tending to a grandparent with compassion.) Review the sheet printed below.

Adults: Read following passage from Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly and discuss.

Growing in Virtue

We live in a fix-it society. Turn on your television on any given day and just surf through the channels. One commercial after another, one infomercial after another, they are all offering to fix something. There is a fix for heartburn and a fix for obesity, a fix for sleeplessness, and a fix for diarrhea. There is a fix for runny noses, ugly noses, and stuffy noses. There is a fix for hair loss and a fix for pimples. There is a fix for debt and a fix for loneliness.

Psychiatrist Gerald May makes the observation that in all kinds of advertising, from the blatant affront of TV commercials to the subtleties of work-of-mouth, nothing can escape the fix. Ad it’s not just that fixes are offered. The message also is that one “ought” to be fixed. That if perchance one should pass a certain fix by, not partake of its wondrous possibility, one really isn’t being very responsible for oneself. There are two problems with all this fixing. First, some of the things that people are trying to fix about us, and we are trying to fix about ourselves, is not broken. They are exactly as they are intended to be. Some of the imperfections that we are obsessed with changing are part of our perfection. Being perfectly yourself means being perfectly imperfect. And second, for everything else that doesn’t fall into the first category, if you look a little more closely you will discover that we are just treating symptoms rather than actually fixing anything at all. If you have heartburn or cannot sleep at night, you should be asking yourself what it is about your lifestyle that is creating the problem.

Our lives genuinely improve only when we grow in virtue. Any other change is simply cosmetic. If we really want to improve ourselves, our lives, and our society, then we need to begin to switch the focus off of money, celebrity, and talent and onto character and virtue. Growing in virtue is the work of our lives. Everything that happens, everything we do is just an opportunity to grow in virtue. When the person in front of you is fumbling through her purse to find the forty-nine cents for the cashier and you are beginning to get restless and frustrated, what’s really happening? It’s just an opportunity for you to grow in patience. Make virtue your goal, and you will find the moments of the day come bearing the gift of opportunity.

Growing in virtue is not easy. It requires real and constant effort. But the beauty of this effort is that if you grow in one virtue, you will automatically grow in every other virtue. If you decide to focus on becoming a more patient person, you will automatically become a kinder person. Kindness and patience are interconnected. It is easier for a patient person to be kind, just as it is easier for a patient person to be generous, because a patient person is not consumed with his or her own gratification. . . . .

You may be wondering where you should begin. The answer is different for every person. You alone must decide. Just pick a virtue: honesty, patience, moderation, kindness, humility, courage, perseverance, compassion, hope,

charity, generosity, wisdom, gentleness . . . . Pick a virtue and ask God to show you ways to develop that virtue in yourself. Focus on this virtue every day. Write it down. Remind yourself each morning. Stop to reflect on your progress at intervals throughout the day and at the end of each day. Reflect on times when you have exercised the virtue and times when you should have but did not. As the days and weeks pass, you will be able to objectively say, “I am becoming a more generous person” or “I am becoming a more honest person.” Then celebrate your progress.

Will anyone try this? Have you tried this before?

Prayer Requests

Host Family will lead Closing Prayer