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This Sunday is Respect Life Sunday in the U.S., and the month of October is Respect Life Month. This year’s theme is “Called to Serve Moms in Need.” Learn more about the Church’s nationwide, parish-based effort to prayerfully support pregnant and parenting mothers in need. Take the pledge and download materials to bring Walking with Moms in Need to your parish.
Let us pray:
O Blessed Mother, you received the good news of the incarnation of Christ, your Son, with faith and trust. Grant your protection to all pregnant mothers facing difficulties.
Guide us as we strive to make our parish communities places of welcome and assistance for mothers in need. Help us become instruments of God’s love and compassion.
Mary, Mother of the Church, graciously help us build a culture of life and a civilization of love, together with all people of good will, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life.
Amen.
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 online resources.
Videos of Sunday’s Gospel
Use these videos as you discuss today’s Gospel. Please preview all videos you plan to share with your class:
Sunday Gospel Cartoon Reading and Lesson
Holy Heroes
Gospel Reading and Reflection for Kids
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
Seeds
Lesson Theme: Jesus wants us to grow.
In preparation for this lesson, you will need crayons or colored pencils, scissors, envelopes, a small plastic ball (or a bean bag), and a Church Year calendar.
This lesson helps the children grow in their understanding of the need to share. The children will recognize the sadness of people who are left out. Through a cutting activity, they will identify ways they can share and help others. Make sure you send home in an envelope the cards that the children will cut. Encourage them to show the activity to their parents and siblings.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Lesson Planning Ideas for Grandparents
Extending Activities
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Gospel Reflection and Saint of the Week
Bible Bag Gospel Lesson with Mrs. Cole
Pope: How to pass faith to children
Promise
Lesson Theme: Jesus invites us to trust him.
For this lesson, you will need crayons, scissors, a small box or hat, pencils, small slips of paper that contain the children’s names, a Church Year calendar, colored pencils, story coloring page (one per child), and aide(s) to help with cutting and printing. We suggest that you separate pages 1–2 from 3–4 in advance.
This lesson invites the children to explore what it means to trust someone. In that context, the children learn that we can trust God and God’s promises. You might extend that to include God’s Word (the Bible) as trustworthy. You will introduce them to two saints—Saint Francis of Assisi (feast day 10/4) and Saint Teresa of Calcutta—who trusted Jesus. Trust is a foundational concept for helping the children develop an idea of what faith and belief are. You will introduce them to the term creed as the Word of the Week. The Creed is our profession of faith, a list of those things we believe about God and trust to be true.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Lesson Planning Ideas for Grandparents
Extending Activities
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Gospel Reflection and Saint of the Week
Bible Bag Gospel Lesson with Mrs. Cole
Pope: How to pass faith to children
Good News
Lesson Theme: Jesus invites us to believe and serve.
Gather crayons, pencils, and a Church Year calendar for this lesson.
This lesson ties together important themes of trust, belief, faith, and service. The children will learn about the Creed and the meaning of Amen. They will complete a creed prayer of belief in the Blessed Trinity. Help them to understand that faith is a gift that we nurture in our lives so that our faith will become stronger. Having faith will lead us to helping and serving others as Jesus teaches us to do.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Lesson Planning Ideas for Grandparents
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Video
Apostles’ Creed
Venture
Lesson Theme: What can faith do?
Remind the children to interview someone about their faith and provide time for them to share highlights of these interviews next week. Direct the children to read the Saints feature on the back page—assign it either as homework or suggest it as a pacing activity if they finish another project early. Share with the children that Saint Francis’s feast day is celebrated this Tuesday, October 4. Ask: What other famous Francis do you know? (Pope Francis, who chose this name as a reminder of Saint Francis’s commitment to caring for the poor and for God’s Creation.)
Pope Francis wants us to hear from all Catholics. The Church is midway through a worldwide Synod. Share this explanation of a synod with Venture children and families.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Lesson Planning Ideas for Grandparents
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Object Lesson on Faith
What Is Faith?
Bishop Barron on What Faith Is and What Faith Isn’t
Marks of the Church
Shaping a Nation: Saint Mary MacKillop
Mary MacKillop, the first Australian Saint
Visions
Lesson Theme: What power does faith give?
Remind the young people that Pope Francis chose his papal name—Francis—after Saint Francis of Assisi, whose feast day the Church celebrates this week. Pope Francis, like the saint, cares for people who are poor as well as God’s Creation.
This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that we are called to believe—and to act on those beliefs. Ask the young people to list the ways that they reveal their faith through their actions. The Attitudes feature on page 8 poses a question: How has someone’s faith in you made a difference? Give the young people time to read their peers’ responses and allow them time to share their own responses.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Lesson Planning Ideas for Grandparents
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
Object Lesson on Faith
What Is Faith?
Bishop Barron on What Faith Is and What Faith Isn’t
Project Scripture Teen: Life of Saint Francis of Assisi
“Canticle of the Sun” by Marty Haugen
Image credit: © respectlife.org
Prayer credit: *Cf. Evangelium vitae 105 © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City. Adapted by USCCB with permission.
