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Pope Francis has designated the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Sunday of the Word of God. While every Sunday is a day to focus on God’s Word as proclaimed at Mass, we make special emphasis on God’s Word this Sunday. We encourage catechists, Catholic school teachers, and parents to consider ways to celebrate the Word of God in a special way in honor of this observance. The Catholic Bishops in the United States (USCCB) provide a variety of resources for Sunday of the Word of God. Pflaum also offers our new Bible Enthronement Prayer and Bible Blessing Prayer Service for use in classrooms and homes.
Every week in the GROW newsletter, you will find helpful tips for teaching your Gospel Weeklies lesson, a reflection on the Sunday Gospel, and links to many online resources.
Videos of the Sunday Gospel (Luke 1:1–4, 4:14–21)
Use these videos as you discuss the Sunday Gospel. Please preview all videos you plan to share with your class:
Gospel Readings for Kids
Holy Heroes
Seeds
Lesson Theme: Jesus brings us God’s Good News.
For this lesson, you will need crayons and a Church Year calendar. For the first activity in this lesson, we suggest that you tell good news about each child, so the rest of the class can guess who the child is. Make sure you think in advance about what to say about each one of your students. It doesn’t have to be anything deep—it could be something about the child’s personality, something funny he or she has done/said in class, or you could just describe him or her.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Weekly Gospel Videos and Coloring Pages
Bible Bag Gospel Lesson with Mrs. Cole
Promise
Lesson Theme: Jesus brings us God’s Good News.
Gather needed supplies for this class session in advance. You will need pennies, game markers, crayons, pencils, a Church Year calendar, cardstock, scissors, glue, a hole punch, silver glitter or foil, fishing line, star patterns or stencil, and copies of the story coloring page for “Patrick’s Neighborhood.” You may also wish to use a world map, globe, or map of the Middle East to point out Nazareth as the town in which Jesus grew up.
Note that in this lesson, the children will learn two uses for the word church. In the Gospel Weeklies, we use the word church (lowercase c) to refer to a building and Church (uppercase C) to refer to the People of God who gather to worship God in a church building.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Extending Activities
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Lesson Assessment
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Weekly Gospel Videos and Coloring Pages
Bible Bag Gospel Lesson with Mrs. Cole
Good News
Lesson Theme: Jesus is Good News.
Gather games markers, pencils or crayons, and a Church Year calendar in advance of your class session.
In this lesson, the children read a story about Sister Thea Bowman, a modern-day example of a Black Catholic who shared the Good News all through her life. Sister Thea, whose given name was Bertha and family nickname was Birdie, is on the official path to sainthood. She died on March 30, 1990, at age 52 following a battle with cancer.
In 2018, this vibrant and courageous woman was declared a Servant of God. This term is used for candidates for sainthood whose cause has officially started but is still being investigated. Read more about Sister Thea’s life and cause for canonization here.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Lesson Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Sister Thea: Her Own Story
What Are the Parts of the Mass?
Venture
Lesson Theme: Jesus fulfills prophecies.
This Sunday is also known as Sunday of the Word of God. It was initiated by Pope Francis in 2019 and first observed in 2020. It is devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the Word of God. Make sure to devote time to the reading of the Sunday Gospel as well as the feature article about the Gospel of Luke in this week’s Venture lesson. Ask the children about the stories that are told most often by family members. Why are these stories so important? As members of the family of God, we gather each week at Mass to hear the stories given to us in Sacred Scripture.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Lesson Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
The Summons
Saint Luke
Visions
Lesson Theme: Jesus is the Good News.
This Sunday is also known as Sunday of the Word of God. It was initiated by Pope Francis in 2019 and first observed in 2020. It is devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the Word of God. Make sure to devote time to the reading of the Sunday Gospel as well as the feature article about the Gospel of Luke in this week’s Visions lesson. You will need to gather a few extra items this week: simple props to create a television show set (microphone and chairs) and materials to write to seminarians (stamps, writing paper, envelopes).
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Lesson Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Saint Luke
Catholic Students Become Pen Pals with Seminarians
Image credit: Corinne SIMON/CIRIC
Good to see this.