This Sunday is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, but many parishes (including mine) also celebrate the Ascension, which is 40 days into Easter.

Jesus ends His work on earth to take His place at the right hand of the Father.  Beforehand, He tells His disciples

He does not leave them to do His work on their own, as it says in Mark 16:20, "But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs".  

We too are not alone.  We do not have to do God's will all by ourselves.  Jesus is in heaven helping us.  All we have to do is to ask and be open to His grace.

When I am attentive to my relationship with Jesus, I am best able to do His work and live out His will.  

I hope to continue to grow in this area in my own life and pass this on to my children. 

 
Click here for the Our Catholic Family Meeting slideshow document.

Catholic Family Meeting {Prep for Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B}

This week we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Easter.  I really love how the Easter season coincides with the renewal of spring.  And what a perfect time to discuss this week's gospel reading (John 15:1-8), where Jesus instructs His disciples at the Last Supper:  

How true this is too.  There are so many examples in my life of how I was unable to "bear fruit" (solve a problem or achieve a desired result) simply because I remained in myself instead of Christ.  For most of my life, when difficulties arose, I simply turned inward to see if I could solve it, assuming that I should be able to figure out things on my own.  I was pretty smart and capable, I thought.  How proud I was.  In hindsight, I could have saved myself much difficulty throughout life by abiding in Christ.  Keeping Him close, as He keeps me close to Him.  

I realize now that the only way that anything I do or say can bear good fruit is by abiding in Christ.  

It is something I have to remind myself of daily:  To put Him first in my life.

Click here to view Our Catholic Family Meeting slideshow document

Catholic Family Meeting {Prep for Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B}

If you didn't see it last week, I shared about the new and improved Catholic Family Meeting slideshows and how our family meets.  

This Fourth Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday because the gospel reading always comes from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John on, you guessed it...the Good Shepherd.  

This year, Cycle B, the reading focuses on Jesus telling that He is the Good Shepherd, who "lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).  It is definitely worth reading up on the background of this gospel and how provocative of a statement it was.

As I read John 10:11-18 I thought of how thankful I am that Jesus is our Shepherd.  That He knows us, He laid down His life for us, and that He continues to speak to us.  He is the perfect example of selfless love.  We are also blessed as Catholics to have the shepherding of Pope Francis and the Catholic Church, that unites as one flock.  

On the other hand, there are many "shepherds" in our popular culture who are leading us and our children away from God.  I think it's imperative that we stay watchful of who we are allowing to shepherd us and whether he is a good shepherd or a "hired man" who "works for pay and has no concern for the sheep" (John 10:12-13).

Check out this week's Catholic Family Meeting slideshow:

To view the actual slideshow click here: Our Catholic Family Meeting {Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B}

Catholic Family Meeting {Prep for Third Sunday of Easter, Cycle B}

So with an updated, simpler blog format, I was motivated to give an updated and simpler look to the Our Catholic Family Meeting slideshows.  As you can probably tell, I'm into burlap, chalkboards, and distressed wood, so yeah....

I also thought it would be a good time to give some more information on how my family uses the slideshows and links to guide our family meetings.

Here's some basic info about our Catholic Family Meeting

What

The creation of the Catholic Family Meeting came out of a desire to set aside one night each week that tied together prayer, scripture, and fun family time.  I also wanted us to be better prepared for Sunday mass by knowing the readings in advance.  I described how I came up with the various parts in my first post about family meetings.  

The reason that I made the Our Catholic Family Meeting slideshow was to have something that I could easily adapt each week and to give a visual for the various things I wanted to include.  

Time

We don't have a set day of the week because the evenings each week can look a little different, but we always aim to do it in the beginning of the week.  I find if we try for later in the week, things get crazier and we run out of time or forget.  So, typically we try to set aside about 30-45 minutes on a Monday or Tuesday evening each week.  And I usually plan them on Monday, so I hope to have them posted on the blog by Tuesday.

I've found that focusing on the readings early in the week and then referring back to them throughout the week has made a huge difference in understanding the mass for both us adults and for the girls.  Well, Grace (5) anyway.  I have been really impressed by her understanding of bible stories and her ability to remember them and key verses.  Young kids are sponges!  As for Ada (now 3!), she mostly exists in the room during the meeting, reading or quietly (sometimes) playing.

Place

Really, this could take place anywhere that has comfy seating because all we really use is my Chrome book and any books or basic materials that we've chosen from the Family Activities section of the slideshow.  For us, it usually happens in the living room.  

Yup, that's our living room.  Complete with Hello Kitty boombox and baskets of children's books.  This is pretty much exactly what it looked like when we did our family meeting last night.  But with people.  

  

A few key notes about using the slideshow:

1. They are named (from about a month ago on) by the liturgical day and year (Cycle) instead of the date.  This should make it easier to reuse them in the future, since our awesome Catholic Church goes through the entire bible in its three year cycle.  
2. Anything underlined is a hyperlink to a webpage that is either very or moderately helpful.  
3. The Family Activities page lists a variety of activities that are meant to be picked and chosen for what your family is interested in doing.  We never do all the items listed.  My girls always want to watch a video if there is one, and then I usually choose what I think will work best for us.
4. The last page has links for many of the resources used to prepare the prayers, activities, and feast days, so they are great sites to check out.
5. The things on the slideshow are just suggestions that can be used, but there is no set way to do such a "meeting".  At least not that I could find.
6. You will probably want to glance over the readings and background information before your family meeting.  It helps me tremendously to research a bit before our meeting, so that I have adequate knowledge to pass on to my family.  

So here is this week's slideshow:

To view the actual slideshow click here: Our Catholic Family Meeting {Third Sunday of Easter, Cycle B}

I'd love to hear how your family does family meetings.  Let me know in the comments below.  :)

- Jessica

Catholic Family Meeting {Prep for 5th Sunday of Lent - Cycle B}

I cannot believe it is already the 5th Sunday of Lent!  I'm in a need of a little refocusing on my Lenten goals and putting God first, even when (or especially when) things get hectic.  

This week's readings explained very well by Loyola Press' website here, and all three readings are preparing us for Jesus' passion.  The gospel reading will definitely need some explanation for children (and of course, I needed it too!), as Jesus tells His disciples:

Does God really call us to hate our life?  

To children, this will be quite confusing.  What Jesus wants is for us to be detached from the things of this world.  He wants us to have an eternal perspective, and to put our love of God first.  

The awesome thing about this is that as you detach yourself from worldly things and cares, you come to love life even more.  

What a wonderful lesson to teach our children, especially if yours are like mine and have every creature comfort and live a very privileged life.  And I need to relearn this lesson everyday to keep myself from living the way of the world, attached to possessions, comforts, and even people.

Catholic Family Meeting {Prep for 3rd Sunday in Lent - Cycle B}

As you may have noticed in the title, I'm changing up how the family meetings are organized.  Rather than listing the date of the upcoming Sunday, I will put the liturgical day and cycle.  This should make it easier to use these again the future.

This week's gospel reading is the story of Jesus cleansing the temple.  I like this story as it shows a different side of Jesus that many people don't realize exists.  Our culture likes a light, fluffy, hippie Jesus who is fine with anything you do as long as you "love" others or believe in "peace".  Of course Jesus wants us to love others, but loving others includes upholding Truth.  When Jesus saw people disrespecting his Father's home and not following God's commandments, he acted with righteous anger.  He overturned tables and ran the animals out of the temple, all while brandishing a whip. Definitely not "light, fluffy, hippie Jesus".  

During Lent it is especially important to reflect on how we live our lives and whether we are putting God first and living the way He wants.  This reading reminds us to stay focused on God in all we do and to  honor God in our prayer and worship.