Family Home Lesson

October 2012 Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Family Lesson: Let’s Learn Together Gather the family together at your table and light the candle to remember the presence of Jesus. Make the Sign of the Cross. Prayer Loving Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, You have made our family special and unique and I give you thanks and praise for them. Help us to discern our life’s vocation by growing in knowledge and wisdom through daily prayer and reflection. Open our hearts to your word that we may know the sound of your voice in a world filled with distractions. May we hear your call to live lives of Christian service, whether as priests, religious, married or single. If you are calling us to a life of Church ministry, we ask that your call be steady and irresistible. Give us generous hearts that are pure and holy, open and ready for whenever your call comes upon us, Lord. Mother Mary, may your tender care keep our family safe, especially as we discern our vocations in life. Loving God, what I ask for my family, I ask for all families: help them to know Your Presence in their lives for You are God for ever and ever. Amen. Discernment through Prayer & Obedience The quest for discovering God’s call for our life should be paramount. Nothing is more important. A person’s earthly fulfillment and ultimate happiness greatly depend on properly discerning God’s will, especially of the particular vocation a man or woman may choose.

To discern God’s call, we enter into His holy presence through prayer. Motivated by Grace – His divine assistance – He reveals to us our true vocation.

[read aloud from Sacred Scripture]

Sacred Scripture And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Saint Paul’s prayer to the people of Philippi stresses the importance of discernment in their daily lives. He wants nothing more than for them to obtain a spiritual understanding that is pure and holy, and without judgment. For through prayer and discernment God bestows His Grace upon us all.

Grace – The free and underserved gift that God gives us to respond to our vocation to become his adopted children. As sanctifying grace, God shares his divine life and friendship with us in a habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that enables the soul to live with God, to act by his love. As actual grace, God gives us the help to conform our lives to his will. Sacramental grace and special graces (charisms, the grace of one’s state of life) are gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us live out our Christian vocation. CCC Glossary, 881

Materials you will need

• candle • family Bible • Catechism of the Catholic

Church • crayons or markers • pen or pencil • large bowl • rock • sponge

SAINTS PETER & PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH

Our Christian vocation as priest, religious, married or single requires grace from God to perform the needed lifestyle. We need this grace to live out God’s will for our lives.

As Saint Paul teaches, prayer is key to discernment. Through prayer we can recognize if our motivation for holiness comes by ourselves alone, or from God through grace. [read aloud from the Catechism of the Catholic Church]

Catechism of the Catholic Church 2690 The Holy Spirit gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer.

2685 The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the “domestic church” where God’s children learn to pray “as the Church” and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily prayer is the first witness of the Church’s living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.

Through prayer and the sacramental life, we begin to take on the habits needed to form our vocation. Living in the daily habits of prayer and reflection aids us in discerning God’s call for our lives.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1657 The home is the first school of Christian life and “a school for human enrichment.” Here one leans endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life. (quote cf. Gaudium et spes, Vatican II 1965)

Saint Anselm said, “Faith seeks understanding.” By nature, we desire to know the One in whom we put our faith, and understand what He has revealed to us; and a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly setting afire by love.

Sacred Scripture “May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones.” Ephesians 1:18

This grace, which opens the ‘eyes of our hearts’ demands obedience if we are to understand God’s will for our life. In Latin, Ob-audire is translated as “hear or listen to.” When we discern our vocation we freely submit to the word that has been heard. This truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, who is the most perfect embodiment of obedience, to intercede for us as we pray for greater understanding and wisdom for our lives. Together, Pray the Hail Mary

Let’s Review! • Discernment happens through regular prayer. • St. Paul asks us to discern our vocation. • The family can help us discern our vocation. • As we are called to the priesthood, religious life, marriage or single life, we must remain

obedient to the will of Our Heavenly Father.

Family Discussion & Activity: Let’s Make it Real All – How do we discern? What are some specific ways each of us can discern our life’s vocation? Discuss among the family. A: We discern through prayer. The four steps to discerning God’s call: pray, listen, hear, and act. Pray for wisdom, listen for his voice, hear his call, and act joyfully upon his will. Praying the Rosary, reading Sacred Scripture, and studying the faith are just some of the many ways we can discern our true vocation. Any form of prayer and devotion will work, especially through holy intercession of the saints. Grades K-2 – Color the picture of the child praying. Each time we pray we come before Jesus to ask him for help. What do you need help with? Pray to Jesus each day that he shows you the way.

Grades 3-5 – Soak it in. Fill the bowl with water. Place the raisin or small pebble gently into the bowl. Notice that it sinks to the bottom. This shows how someone with a hardened heart (pebble) cannot hear the Word of God (water). Next place the sponge into the water. Notice how the sponge floats and immediately soaks up the water. The sponge represents someone who has their heart open to discern God’s call (water). How can you be more open to hearing God’s Word for your life? Discuss with your parents. Grades 6-8 – Draw four columns on a sheet of paper. Mark each with the terms: Pray, Listen, Hear, and Act. Under each column write how you can pray to God, listen for his Word, Hear his call, and act upon his will. Do you have an important decision to make this year? What extra curricular activities will you participate in? Who might your friends be? Write your answers in each column. Then keep this chart for when you have to make these tough decisions. It will help you to discern God’s will.

Grades 9-12 – Using the four steps outlined in the Family Discussion answer, discuss with your parents how you can apply these to your life. What does it mean to listen to and hear God’s call? Have you thought about your vocation? Are you called to the priesthood or religious life? Marriage or single life? Talk about the different vocations with your parents, then formulate a plan for how and when you will pray each day, and what you will do upon hearing God’s call for your life.

Family Prayer: Let’s Get Ready for Sunday We are now in the twenty-seventh week of ordinary time. Read the Gospel for the coming Sunday from Mark 10:17-30. As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother."

He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

Prayer Heavenly Father, you made each of us unique. Through the waters of baptism you called us by name to be holy. Show us our vocation for our lives, whether marriage, single life, priesthood or religious life. Lead us. Guide us. Give us a listening heart. Open to hearing what you’re asking of us, and ready to joyfully respond. Give us a heart on fire with love for you, and for those whom you wish us to serve. We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and forever. Amen.

Month Overview Oct 3 – Family Gathering: Discernment Oct 10 – Home Lesson: Discernment through Prayer & Obedience Oct 17 – Religious Education Oct 24 – Religious Education Next month we will delve more deeply into Prayer as it relates to our vocation.

Questions or Comments about this Lesson?

If your family is having difficulties with this lesson, or you have suggestions that would make these lessons come alive in your home, please contact our Director of Religious Education:

Ryan Dent (605) 224-8867 rdent@parishmail.com Discussion questions taken from The Apostolate’s Family Catechism, Apostolate for Family Consecration, and Compendium, Catechism of the Catholic Church, USCCB.

(Coloring page for Grades K-2)