Catholic Family Meeting {13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B}

Alright, so you may have noticed I haven't posted a Catholic Family Meeting for a few weeks.  Or you may not have noticed.  Haha.  But things have been really busy around here, and obviously blogging for a hobby is not high on the priority list.  Our family is actually attempting to simplify our family meeting a little, after listening to Matthew Kelly's Raising Amazing Children and generally feeling like we are tight on time.  

We are opting for a less formal version with many of the same parts, but less technology (ie. slideshow) and structure.  

So what are we doing?

We set aside about 30 minutes one night during the week, preferably at the beginning of the week.  We open with a prayer.  Then we read the upcoming Sunday gospel (just like we've been doing).  But, as Kelly suggests, we ask each person in the family to share a word or phrase that stood out to him or her.  Then we read it again, and discuss again.  This makes for a more kid-driven discussion of the gospel and gently forces each person to be engaged.  If we want to go further with the "meeting", like a fun activity or something we can, but we don't have to, which is kind of liberating.  At the end, we finish with prayer.  

Now we still use some internet resources for our meeting or to plan feast days during the week, so the following may be helpful this week:

Readings for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Connection - Background on the readings

June Liturgical Calendar

10 June Activities for Catholic Families