Parents’ Supplement to Family Activity Booklet
This is a tool to help prepare parents
to discuss the good news of the gospel with their
children.
Be not afraid!
You are making a meaningful commitment
to sharing the Sunday Gospel readings with the most important people
in your life. If you skip a week, don’t let it derail your
whole Lenten experience. Start anew each week. Be sure to read
the parent guidelines in your Family Activity Booklet.
The Gospel readings are
from Matthew and John.
This Lent the Gospel readings used
by the Church are from the book of Matthew and John. You will
want to read these ahead of sharing with your family. To find
the Gospel reading for week one, which is Matthew 4:1-11, turn to the New
Testament section in your Bible.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the first four books of the New
Testament, or Christian Scriptures, in your Bible. To find
Matthew 4:1-11, go to Book of Matthew,
chapter 4, and read verses 1 through 11. Each week you and
your family will reflect on the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel.
Reflect on the readings
before you meet with your family,
if you
can make the time.
You’ll notice the booklets provide
sharing questions for preschoolers, primary grade children, and preteens.
This presumes your teens are meeting with others using the Small
Group Participant Booklet for Teens. Since there aren’t reflection
questions for adults in this booklet, we have provided a few here
for each week. They are
designed to help you get more out
of the session yourself and better prepare to share with your family.
Week One: The Gospel
of Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus is tempted to deny his identity
and his mission on life. In what ways can I
better live out who God calls me
to be and what he asks of me? Whose opinion do I care about?
When people see me do they know I am a Christian with a mission?
Week Two: The Gospel
of Matthew 17:1-9
In the Gospel God tells Peter, James,
and John to listen to his beloved Son. Who do I listen to?
What times of my day could I take to tune into what Jesus might be
trying to tell me? My children
are my beloved, how can I focus on how God sees me as a beloved child?
Week Three:
The Gospel of John 4:5-1-, 19-26, 39-42
In the Gospel Jesus tells the Samaritan
women she would ask for something even more precious than simple
water if she knew who she was asking. What are the kinds of
things I’ve asked of God? What are gifts you have received from God
that showed their value to you later in life, when you had
more perspective?
Week Four: The Gospel
of John 9:1-41
This week we hear the story of the
blind man healed by Jesus. When I think of what I spend my
time watching, reading, doing, is it helpful, hopeful, pleasant,
productive, loving?
Week Five: The Gospel
of John 11:1-45
We hear of the raising of Lazarus
form the dead, at the request of his sisters, Mary and Martha.
Jesus tells them whoever believes in him, will live and will never die.
As I reflect on his words, how much do I believe them? How
does this change what I believe about physical death? How should
this be of comfort? Is it?
Week Six: The Gospel
of Matthew 27:11-54
The booklet questions focus on the
Gift that Jesus gave us in this Gospel account of this way to the
Cross. It will be important to bring out this aspect of what are
diff cult scenes for kids in the last days of Jesus’ life on earth.
As you focus on Jesus’ death as a gift of life for us, look around
your family and recall all the ways family members sacrifice for
each other or for friends. Help them see that in a Christian
perspective.