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Message: The goal of life is to know, love and serve God, and to be happy with God forever in Heaven.
Prayer: Apostles' Creed
In life, we have many goals. When we were younger our goals may have been to surround ourselves with good friends, get good grades, be the best team player we could be in whatever we participated in, excel at everything we do, and dream about what life as an adult would be like. As an adult, our goals have changed from childhood but some have still stayed the same. We still want to excel at everything we do. We want to love and be loved. These longings are placed in our hearts by God and only God can fulfill them, though we may try to fill these longings with earthly things.
Because God has made us for himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him. –St. Augustine
Our love for our children can serve as an example of God’s perfect love for us. We want only what is best for them and we would do anything for them. As parents, we set rules and expectations to keep them safe and happy (though they may not always think that is our motivation behind them). We want them to get along with their siblings and see their siblings like we see them. Our children’s happiness is what drives the decisions we make. When they make decisions we don’t agree with, even though we are disappointed we don’t love them any less. And no matter where they go in life, we hope they always come home.
God wants us to come home too.
Saint Activities for March
Saint Activities for March
Mar. 3rd: St. Katharine Drexel (Reflect on ways your family can donate to people less fortunate than you.)
Mar. 7th: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity (Reflect on Perpetua's response to her father. "Do you see this vessel - waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?"So also, I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am - a Christian.")
Mar. 8th: St. John of God (Think about your life and the choices you have been making. Reflect on if they are leading you toward your goal to get to heaven or away from your goal.
Mar. 9th: St. Dominic Savio (St. Dominaic Savio is one of the youngest Saints. In fact, some people said he was too young to be given the title of "Saint". The pope said that Dominic should be called a Saint beacuse he loved God so much even when he was so young. Take some time to read about this young world-changer.)
Mar. 17th: St. Patrick (Share Christ's love with soemone who needs it the most today.)
Mar 19th: St. Joseph (Do something special for your dad or father-figure today. Challenge yourself to be like St. Joseph.)
Family Activities for March
Family Activities for March
Lent Challenge Calendar: Decide something special you'll do together each day (prayer, sacrifice, almsgiving, etc.) for Lent.
Sacrament of Reconciliation: Schedule a day you can all go to confession as a family. You can find Father's schedule on the parish website or by calling the parish office.
40 Days - 40 Items: Each day, set aside an item to be donated. At the end of Lent, donate them to someone or some place that needs them.
Crown of Thorns: Make a crown of thorns out of playdough or a grapevine wreath and toothpicks. Every time someone in the family does a good deed, take out one of the thorns. Try to remove all of the thorns by Holy Saturday.
Week 4 Thoughts
Week 4 Thoughts
5 Minutes: Read “Love You Forever” to your children (no matter what age they are) and compare that love of a parent to the love God has for us. If you don’t have the book, there are multiple videos of it on YouTube. Goal: Child will learn more about love and how we can see God’s love all around us.
15 Minutes: Look at the story of the Prodigal Son as a family (Luke 15:11-32). Talk about the perspective of each character and what Jesus was trying to teach us with this story. Goal: Child will learn more about unconditional love and be able to see examples of it in their life.
30 Minutes: As a family, discuss the expectations and rules you have to keep everyone safe and happy and how you came up with those expectations and rules. Take a look at the 10 Commandments and put them in your own words. Have your children think of a situation where they would have to make a decision based on a few of the commandments (choose ones based on their age level). If you have an older child, talk about how decisions they make effect more than just them. Goal: Child will get to know why the 10 Commandments are important and not just a set of rules. They will understand that the choices they make effect themselves and those around them.
Participants will embrace decision making skills and be introduced to what grace means.
Participants will know that they were created for eternity and not just life on this earth.
Participants will begin to see the dignity every person should receive and start to feel a call to justice and mercy for those mistreated.
Participants will see that our life is not just earthly but eternal and will be able to definitively say that there is a heaven (purgatory) and a hell.
Participants will pray for the dead knowing that praying for the souls in purgatory is part of our Catholic tradition and part of each Mass.
Participants will understand God's universal call to a life of holiness and discern how the teachings of the church can help them attain that happiness and holiness.
Participants will understand God's universal call to a life of holiness and realize that their decisions should not be based on the fear of Hell, but out of the love for God.
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