Focus:

Jesus plants his word in our hearts and we have to tend it and help it grow.

Materials Needed:

• Bible
• Candle
• Flower pots or cups
• Seeds
• Water
• Soil
• A flower pot or cup with rocks in it

Create a special table or sacred space in your home you can where you focus during prayer and your in-home Sunday celebration.  Here is a video on how to do so: https://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/2020/04/pop-up-catechesis-creating-a-prayer-space-in-your-home/ 

Light a candle. Call your family to prayer.

Opening Activity:

Begin today’s session by having each family member plant seeds in small containers.  https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/how-to-plant-seeds-for-an-easy-kids-gardening-activity/

As you do the planting, ask your family members:

• What do seeds need to grow? (soil, light, water, fertilizer, attention)
• Take the container with the rocks and put a seed or two in it.
  • Ask: Do you think these seeds will grow well? Why or why not?
  • Can’t we just use any kind of ground to grow things?
  • Leave the container for a few days and check back on it to bring the Gospel back during the week
• What will happen if we do not take care of the soil that the seed is in? (The seed won’t grow)

After everyone has finished planting, place the cups or pots where they will be taken care of.

Tell the family members that in today’s Gospel Jesus will teach us about our faith using a parable.  A parable is a story that teaches us something about God and our faith.  The story we will read is about the Sower and the Seed.  Listen carefully to the words of Jesus.

Music:

Choose one of the music suggestions below.  Sing together as a family.

Make the Sign of the Cross.

Sunday Gospel:  Matthew 13:1-23 (Long Form) or Matthew 13:1-9 (Short Form)

Together read the Sunday Gospel. http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071220.cfm

Feel free to use your family bible or children’s bible.  Be creative.  Read it in parts.  Act out the story. Here is an animated version of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7bvF5Ucrk

Discussion:

• Who do you think the sower is in the story? (Jesus)
• What do you think the seed might be? (God’s word)
• What do you think the soil might be? (Us, our hearts, our listening skills, our openness to the teachings of Jesus, our souls)
• Jesus is telling us today that he is trying to plant his teachings in us so that we go out into the world and bring his Good News to it. But if we are not taking care of our hearts or our faith life, the seeds may not grow.
• What are ways we may be like the rocky soil?
• What are ways that we can be the fertile soil?
• If we take care of our faith life and do good things to make it grow, just like we care for our seeds that we planted, it will produce a big crop of love and goodness in our world.

Apostles Creed:

Together pray:

I believe in God the Father almighty Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

Music:

Choose another song to sing together.

Universal Prayers:

As a family, offer prayers for our Church, our world, your local communities, and your families.

The Lord’s Prayer

Together pray the words that our Savior gave us:

Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Conclude with the Sign of the Cross.

Music:

Choose another song to sing together.

Family Activity Suggestions:

• Spend some time in a garden today, your own, or maybe a neighbor’s (be sure to ask permission) or find a public garden in your area. https://mngardens.horticulture.umn.edu/  Appreciate the beauty of God’s creation when it is well cared for. Notice the different kinds of soil, plants, and seeds that are there.
• Create a seed mosaic (https://www.firstpalette.com/craft/seed-mosaic.html). Relate it to today’s Gospel by use the seeds to spell out “God’s Word” as a reminder of what Jesus plants in our hearts.
• Make a dirt cake: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/dirt-cake/

Music Suggestions:

Gathering: Canticle of the Sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaFZAUyXuQU

Psalm Response: Psalm 65: The Seed That Falls on Good Ground

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfjcbRFwls

Presentation of the Gifts: I Will Rejoice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCvXl2n_8Ks

Communion: Pescador de Hombres/Lord, You Have Come

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AebxlieI2Dg

Hymn of Praise: Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLp85eLlaIM

Other Web Resources:

Loyola Press:

https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/liturgical-year/sunday-connection/15th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-sunday-connection/

The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) (official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and part of Caritas International):

https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy

Catholic Mom:

http://catholicmom.com/kids/catholic-gospel-coloring-worksheets-sunday-mass/

USCCB:

https://catholicdotbible.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/ot-15.pdf

Strong Catholic Faith:

http://www.catholicfamilyfaith.org/breaking-open-the-word—junejuly—cycle-a.html

Pop-Up Catechesis:

https://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/tag/pop-up-catechesis/