This week’s goal

This week’s goal : Establish the Bible as a book different from every other book. Only the Bible has God as the author.

Sunday, Oc t 11 th, 2015 Begin wi th prayer and th is teach ing: Ok, let’s begin with two questions. First, in your own words, what is the Bible? (pause for answers). Ok, next question: Why are you here? (pause for answers)

Hopefully, over the next few months, the answers to these questions will become clearer. And, hopefully, as you begin to see the deep connection between these two questions (What is the Bible? and Why are you here?), you’re going to experience a growing excitement about the gift of faith.

To begin, however, let’s give the simplest answer to these questions: The Bible is the Word of God, and you’re here to know, love, and serve God. Before we talk about all this, did you know the Bible isn’t the only way God speaks to us?

CREATION

The truth is, EVERYTHING is meant to speak to us about God. Really, everything! We read about this in Romans 1:18-20 (pause here and read these verses together); the

Creation is revealed as the first step Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way: “towards [God’s] covenant, the first and universal witness to God’s all powerful love” (CCC 288). God is talking to us through creation: the beauty of forests and sunsets, the power of wind and waves, fascinating animals, our family and friends. The reason he created everything is to help us see how much he loves us! Why do you think it’s so hard to see this and to hear what he’s saying sometimes? (pause for answers)

SCRIPTURE

But life is hard and sometimes it’s difficult to know what God wants us to do, or even that there is a God who loves us at all. That’s why he gave us the Bible. The Bible is unlike any other book we have because its words are inspired. By “inspired” we mean that God actually guided the human authors in a special way. They wrote freely, but God was working through them and had them write exactly what he wanted. That’s what makes the Bible so different. God is actually the author. Why did he do this? Because he loves us and he wants us to know it. He wants us to know why we’re here and how best to find happiness; not just in this life, but happiness forever in heaven. The Bible really is God speaking directly to us – his children – teaching us and reminding us he loves us.

“If You want it Jesus, so do I.”

The entire Badono family was a shining example of respect, warmth, and unity. Chiara Luce, born in 1971 in Italy, continually impressed all who knew her with a generous, extroverted, and lively personality. Speaking about the Bible, Chiara said: “Just as its easy for me to learn the alphabet so must it also be to live the Gospel.” Her life was full of little acts of love. Though often misunderstood because of her deep faith, Chiara was zealous

to bring Jesus to others, “by the way I listen to them, by the way I dress and, above all, by the way I love them.” On her deathbed, dying of cancer at age 19, her friends said, “Her life was like a magnet drawing us towards her.”

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Act ivi t ies to Enr ich Your Fai th : (Choose at least one or two to use directly following your Sunday teaching, but try to complete all the activities sometime throughout this week).

1. Open it Up! Make sure everyone has his or her own Bible. (Lifeteen has an excellent edition as your child matures in his/her teen years.) Open it up to the table of contents. Find Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, the beginning of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Revelation. Read together the first chapter of the Gospel of John., and talk about what it means that Jesus is the “light.”

2. Pray a Psalm Pray Psalm 139 together. Then, take a few minutes to quietly reflect on it by prayerfully reading it again, silently to yourselves. End this prayer time with a closing prayer thanking God for revealing his love to us through the Bible

3. Enthroning the Bible in the Family Using the “Enthroning the Bible in the Family” printout set aside a special place of honor and veneration for the Bible in your home. (It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just a simple, visible reminder.) Be sure to include a crucifix, a Bible, maybe a candle, or a statue, or a photo of your family.

Quest ions for Discuss ion: (Ask these questions at the end of your Sunday teaching session, then again sometime later or in the middle of the week to reinforce the lesson)

1. Why did God give us the Scriptures? 2. What does the Bible reveal to you about God? 3. What does it mean that God wants to be in a relationship with us? 4. How does the Bible help us to understand God’s love for us? 5. Read the short bio on the front of this page. What impresses you most about the story of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano on

the front of this sheet?

Church Teach ing : YOUCAT: 3-4, 7, 9-10, 12-14

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC): 27-35, 51-53, 65-67 74-95, 101-106

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Enthroning the Bible in the Family

To show that God is at the center of their lives, many families enthrone the Bible, the Word of God, in a visible place in their homes. By placing the Sacred Scriptures in a prominent place decorated with flowers and art, and by gathering at this spot for daily prayer, families show that God is present and active through his Word.

Enthroning the Bible in your home is easy. Simply pick a place where the Bible can be honored. The Bible should be placed where it will be seen regularly, but the location should be apart from the noise and confusion of the family entertainment. Place the Bible, opened to a favorite passage or the readings of the day (these can be found at www.usccb.org/nab), on a table or shelf. Decorate the area around the Bible with a cloth, flowers, and/or a candle—whatever makes sense to you. Use the following ritual prayer when you gather as a family to enthrone the Bible.

Things to Prepare

• Bible ��• A shelf or table where the Bible will be placed (the shelf may be adorned with a cloth and candles)

Ritual

When possible, the ritual may start outside the main door to the house or outside the main entrance to the room. One member of the family holds the Bible, raised slightly. The father, mother, or other leader begins the celebration with the opening litany:

Leader: Our Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Word of the Father. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Leader: You became one with us to tell of the Father’s love. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Leader: You are the light that shines in the darkness. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Leader: You save us from fear and break the bonds of sin and death. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Leader: You come to guide our steps and lead us to God. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Leader: You are the Word of eternal life. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

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Leader: You fill us with the Holy Spirit. Response: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

As everyone enters the house or room, they may sing a suitable song. Then one of the following Scripture passages is read from the Bible:

Matthew 4:17-23 Mark 4:1-20 Luke 4:14-21 John 1:10-14

Jesus calls and heals through the power of his Word. The Word is like the seed. ��Jesus proclaims the Word in Nazareth. ��Jesus is the Word of God and the light of the world.

After the reading, the leader places the Bible in the place prepared for it. All bow deeply before the enthroned Bible.

Leader:

We have heard your words, Jesus. ��They give us joy and bring light and truth into our lives. ��Your presence gives us peace in our troubled and divided world. ��Let your Word create in our hearts a deep desire for you. ��Be with us in our hearts and homes, in our community and country. Give us your Holy Spirit to help us to understand your Word. ��We enthrone now this Holy Bible in our midst. ��Make your Word the center of our lives. ��May your Word inspire all that we think and say and do. ��May your Word bind us together in unity with each other and with you, today and forever. ��Response: Amen.

All join in saying the Lord’s Prayer. All repeat after the leader:

We promise to respect the Word of God in our midst. We shall read and reflect on it as a family of God. May we draw from it inspiration for our decisions,

strength for our work,

and comfort in suffering. ��Jesus, help us to be faithful to our promise,

you who live forever and ever. Amen.

The celebration concludes with a sign of peace.

Adapted from Enthroning the Bible in the Family, by Pauline Publications Africa. Used with permission. Copyright © 2009, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to duplicate this work without adaptation for non-commercial use.

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This week’s goal : Establish the Bible as a personal resource for hearing the Word of God and finding direction in life.

Sunday, Oc t 18 th, 2015 Begin wi th prayer and this teaching :

If God had a Facebook page or a Twitter account, what do you think he would say to us? Guess what! We can look to Scripture and find out exactly what God wants us to know, today. Scripture is better than a webpage; it’s the revelation of God’s own heart, speaking directly to ours.

SCRIPTURE IS NOT DEAD

It’s true that the Bible is thousands of years old but, remember, it’s not like any other book. This book has God as the Author! And God is alive, right here and now. He actually speaks to us personally through the stories and situations in the Bible. We know what he would say to us in our own life because he knows us –just like he knows the people in the Bible; and he says what he said to them - to us. The Bible is full of people just like us – they may have lived in a different time and place, but they share all the same things that make us human: they desired love, they had dreams, they struggled to do what was right, they were created in the image of God just like us. And they were far from perfect! Moses stuttered, David was an adulterer, Jonah was disobedient, Peter denied Jesus three times, Thomas doubted. The Bible is filled with messages from God: stories in which he speaks to the many different situations we’re all faced with.

Not only do we have Bible stories and parables, but we can look at particular verses as well (ask your child to share his/her favorite Scripture verse, then share your own and why it’s your favorite). When you read Scripture, there are often certain verses that stand out. Sometimes you’ll read the exact same verse at different times in your life and individual words will stick out to you. That’s because God’s Word really is alive, and He knows us well. He knows what we need. (Share an example of a Scripture verse that has jumped out at you and how it related to your life in that moment).

The more we read the Bible, the better we hear God’s voice in our lives The Bible can be overwhelming at first, even confusing; but it gets really exciting as we learn to hear God speaking though those words. Let’s pray for his Spirit to guide us and open the eyes and ears of our souls so that we can hear him; when we do this, when we really pray and listen with faith, the Bible comes alive and gives us the strength and direction we need.




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Act ivi t ies to Enr ich Your Fai th : (Choose at least one or two to use directly following your Sunday teaching, but try to complete all the activities sometime throughout this week)

1. The Sunday Readings Look up the Sunday Mass readings this week and try to see how God might be speaking to the world through them. How might God be using this week’s readings to speak directly into your child’s life? You might want to share your own answer first, in order to get the ball rolling; then, try to help your child see the relevance for his/her own life.

2. Let’s Google It! Have your child choose what he/she thinks are the two most important topics that he/she is dealing with right now. Then, have him/her Google the topics (make sure your child types “in Scripture” after the topic in the search bar) and discuss one or two of the verses he/she finds.

3. Personal Journal Reflection Start a “God Journal. Make it nice. Decorate it. And start writing. Begin by asking your child to think about his/her daily life. Ask, “How do you spend your time?” Then, have him/her write down five (5) different ways that he/she can make Scripture a normal part of his/her day.

Quest ions for Discuss ion: (Ask these questions at the end of your Sunday teaching session, then again sometime later in the middle of the week to reinforce the lesson.)

1. What are some of the ways that you personally encounter Scripture in your life already? 2. What do you think was the most important teaching from Scripture in the first activity this week? 3. Why is it so important to look to Scripture when we want to understand more about the things we deal with? 4. Reread the story of Blessed Chiara. What does she mean when she compares the Bible to the alphabet?

Church Teach ing : YOUCAT: 14, 16, 469, 473-474, 491

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC): 103-104, 109-119, 188, 2652-2653

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This week’s goal : Establish the power of quoting Scripture; God speaks to others through us when we share His Word.

Sunday, Oc t 25 th, 2015 Begin wi th prayer and this teach ing:

God is always speaking to us. The Word of God is alive! Hopefully, the Bible isn’t just a dust collector on your shelf. We should be totally familiar with it when we hear it read at Mass on Sundays. But that means we need to be opening it up, listening to it, applying it to our lives, and… even sharing it with others …all the time!

TO LIVE IT YOU GOTTA SHARE IT

This month is about making Scripture a part of our everyday lives. How do we do that? Believe it or not, by sharing it! And sharing doesn’t mean we walk around quoting Bible verses all the time – just living it is sharing it. But sometimes we really should use the Word of God; actually quoting Scripture is a powerful thing. Think about how easy it could be. A friend is struggling with something and you know a great verse that would really help him. You could text it, or tweet it, or tell him in person. Do you know God wants to work though you, and that he really will? Sharing a particular verse that’s meaningful to you may be exactly what someone needs to hear. It's powerful. But, to really share it the way God intends, it needs to be a living part of your life first.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

Listen to this parable (Read aloud Luke 8:4-10). In this parable, Jesus is explaining how faith is spread. There are two reasons why we need to understand this. First, we need to understand how the people and things we surround ourselves with will affect our faith (talk more about this if you can). Secondly, this parable helps us to understand why some people may not respond to faith, and that it shouldn’t stop us from ‘spreading that seed.’

So, first we sow the seed of God’s Word in our own minds and hearts – by reading Scripture. If we do that, it will be easy to share it. We will begin to have the right words in the right situations. And we never know how much it might help someone. Not everyone will be able to receive God’s Word but, for those who do, that seed will grow into something beautiful and their lives will be forever blessed because of it – because of you! Let’s take a minute now to think about specific people in your life who might benefit from God’s Word. (End by saying a prayer together for these people.)




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Act ivi t ies to Enr ich Your Fai th : (Choose at least one or two to use directly following your Sunday teaching, but try to complete all the activities sometime throughout this week.)

1. Let’s Google It! Have your child choose the two most important topics that a friend is dealing with right now. Then, have him/her Google the topics (make sure your child types “in Scripture” after their topic in the search bar) and discuss one or two of the verses he/she finds… and how he/she might share this with the friend.

1. Personal Reflection In his/her God Journal, have your child think about his/her daily life. Ask, “How do you spend your time?” Then, have him/her write down five (5) different ways that he/she might share Scripture with others in a normal day.

2. Family Movie Night! Make some popcorn and watch a faith-filled movie together: “Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea.” Afterward, talk about how God can use the Bible story of Hosea to speak directly to our lives right now; and remind your child that everything in the Bible is like that, alive and applicable today!

Quest ions for Discuss ion: (If possible, ask these questions at the end of your Sunday teaching session, then again later in the week to reinforce the lesson)

1. Has God ever used someone to speak to you? How so? 2. Has God ever used you to speak to someone else? What did that feel like? 3. Sometimes our actions are more important than our words. How can our actions speak to others about God?

(Give me some real examples.) 4. Has God ever “spoken” to someone through you by your actions? Sometimes he does it without us even realizing it, but

can you think of a time when you actually noticed someone feeling closer to God because of you? 5. Did you know that Pope Francis “tweets”? He has millions of followers on Twitter. Often, he tweets Scripture verses.

Have you ever thought about sharing Scripture (and other parts of your faith) through Facebook or Twitter? Why or why not?

6. Reread the story of Blessed Chiara. What do you think about the ways in which she brought Jesus to others?

Church Teach ing : YOUCAT: CCC: 11, 120-125 849-851, 2087

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This week’s goal