Lessons in English
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Becoming Eucharist
Mealtime Table Talk for Families
Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. –Acts of the Apostles 2:46-47a
Bring your bible and this print and fold-able ‘table tent’ (or electronic device) to your dinner table with your family to discuss Sunday’s Gospel and how you can be the Body of Christ in the world.
Prayer before meals
Bless us, O Lord,
and these thy gifts which
we are about to receive from thy bounty,
through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
Eat the meal together. Have each family member respond to the following questions:
Where have I given kindness this week?
Where have I received kindness this week?
Together Read and Reflect on Sunday’s Gospel
September 13, 2020, 24thSunday in Ordinary Time: Matthew 18:21-35
Feel free to use your family bible or children’s bible. Be creative. Read it in parts. Act out the story.
- Is it easy to forgive someone who has hurt you? When have you forgiven someone?
- What do you think Jesus means when he says we have to forgive “seventy-seven times?”
- How do you forgive “from your heart?” Is it just with words or are there other actions you have to take? What are they?
Family Action Step
Go out into the world to be the Body of Christ. Choose an action for your family this week that brings Christ to others. Maybe it is an action inspired by your Gospel reflection.
Prayer after Meals
We give you thanks
for all your gifts,
almighty God,
living and reigning
now and for ever.
Amen.
2 COMMENTS
Thank you for your thoughts, Neal!
Family Together is meant to be a year-round resource for families… and individuals… to reflect on the Sunday Readings. It is a tool to assist people in sharing their faith with one another, not a curriculum. During the summer the resources offered activities, additional resource links and music suggestions, but we pared it down for the school year as families became busier. The focus is on keeping our faith in the forefront of those at home through reflections shared during mealtime.
Note that Family Together also hosted a summer Vacation Bible School, a collaborative effort of several directors of religious education. We left the VBS up on Family Together in case families want to use them yet into the fall. This is the type of effort with which I would invite you and your parish to collaborate with us. We would love to work with your parish or ACC to help you do exactly what you are suggesting. Such features could be offered on your parish web site and we could offer links to it, or we could work together to offer some features, if appropriate to our focus, right here on Family Together.
No matter what is developed, we would want Family Together to point back to parish life and be integrated into their faith formation efforts, programs and resources they are familiar with. Let’s begin working on this together! Have your faith formation ministers give us a call at Catholic Education Ministries, and let’s work on a robust online experience that tells well the Story of the Reign of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ! Thanks again for commenting!
I feel that after the read and reflect section there needs to be a answer area or link. An answer on how would the catholic church answer these questions. Some families may have a good discussion but may not be on key with the True teachings of the church. There could be a video of a priest discussing the answers. As a teacher I am planning on using this program but I feel is needs to have more Catholic doctrine. Some things that I feel would really help this program would sacramental discussions. Maybe a reference to a part of the Mass. A discussion on a saint would also keep it interesting. How can we incorporate a little variety of the things that are only offered in the Catholic Church? How do we help families understand why we want to be Catholic and not another denomination?
Thank you and your team for all your hard work during this dark time. Together as a unified church we will bring light into this darkness. May God bless you and guide you in all your efforts.
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