Lessons in English
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Focus:
Jesus feeds the crowds with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
Materials Needed:
- Bible
- Candle
- Paper and pens or pencils
- A food to share – making sure that everyone will get a taste, but not a large amount
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 by showing the food you brought. Tell your family that you brought something to share with everyone today.
Ask:
- Do you think there is enough for everyone?
- How can we make sure that there is enough for everyone?
Divide the snack evenly between all family members and have them enjoy it.
Ask:
- Are you still hungry? Do you want more?
- If you had been out playing all day, would it have been enough?
- What if there were 5,000 men here with us (and that doesn’t count the women and children that are with them)? Would we have enough?
- What if we had seven of the food? Would we have enough?
In today’s gospel Jesus is with his apostles and more than 5,000 other people! The people want to be with Jesus, but they were getting hungry. Listen carefully to how Jesus feeds them.
Music;
Choose one of the music suggestions below. Sing together as a family.
Make the Sign of the Cross.
Sunday Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
Together read the Sunday Gospel. http://usccb.org/bible/readings/080220.cfm
Feel free to use your family bible or children’s bible. Be creative. Read it in parts. Act out the story.
Discussion:
- What was Jesus doing at the beginning of the Gospel? (Praying on a boat, mourning his friend John the Baptist)
- What happened when he got off the boat? (He saw the crowd, felt pity for them, cured the sick)
- What did the apostles tell Jesus to do with the crowd? (To send them away so they could go eat)
- What was Jesus’s response? (The apostles should share their food)
- How much food did they have? (5 loaves, 2 fish) Was it enough to feed everyone?
- What did Jesus do? (Performed a miracle – multiplied the loaves and fishes)
- Was there enough? (Yes, more than enough. There were leftovers)
- Jesus is teaching us through this action:
- When we share with one another, Jesus can take what we offer and make it even better
- Jesus feeds us. This is Eucharist. We all share the one body and one blood of Christ and we are nourished spiritually. We are then to take that nourishment and be Jesus’s body in the 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:
- Feed the hungry – Find out what your local food shelf needs and go shopping at the grocery store for those items. Drop them off at the food shelf.
- Learn about hunger in our country and in our world:
Through the feeding story, Jesus has told us that there is enough food for everyone, but we don’t always share well. What are some steps you can take as a family to help combat poverty and hunger?
- Read the other versions of the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. How are they the same? How are they different?
- Matthew 15:32-38
- Mark 6:31-44
- Mark 8:1-10
- Luke 9:10-17
- John 6:1-15
Music Suggestions:
Gathering: Table of Plenty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okAMb_ra8Uw
Psalm Response: Psalm 145: The Hand of the Lord Feeds Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUg_ChCGAFE
Presentation of the Gifts: Come to the Water/I Will Run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5047C0Lulc
Communion: Behold the Lamb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4fHiL_j8Lg
Hymn of Praise: Rain Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmOswvlS6CQ
Other Web Resources:
Loyola Press:
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:
https://www.catholicmom.com/sunday-mass-activities
USCCB:
https://catholicdotbible.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/ot-18.pdf
Strong Catholic Faith:
http://www.catholicfamilyfaith.org/breaking-open-the-word—augustseptember—cycle-a.html
Pop-Up Catechesis:
https://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/tag/pop-up-catechesis/
