Refer to our Sunday Experience pages to find different prayers to pray as a family sometime during the week as well as setting up a prayer space and other activities as a family.
For the Learn do the following:
1. Watch Video at the top of the page. (if you want more resources, or are interested in learning more about the topic click on the Extra tab).
2. Click on the appropriate grade for your child.
3. Read the "relates to..." section at the beginning. This is helpful to understand what to convey to your child is important about this lesson. It will help make the lesson both an intellectual and a lived lesson.
4. Read through and familiarize yourself with the sample script.
5. Teach your child the lesson, either using your own words or the sample script.
6. Either discuss the questions with your child (best option), or have your child write out answers to the questions.
7. Have your child do the activities and/or do the activities with them.
8. If working with a parish return the appropriate material in the way they have requested.
All Content for "The Way", Learn, is original content and copyright of the Diocese of Kalamazoo and may not be copied, reproduced, or used without prior written consent of the Diocese of Kalamazoo. © 2020 Diocese of Kalamazoo
Relates to Jesus: The sacrifice of Jesus is the central part of worship in heaven. At Mass we are brought to that event. Jesus is deserving of our worship and we go to Mass to praise and worship Him not necessarily to get something.
Relates to my Faith: God has asked that we keep a day holy for the Lord each week. Worshipping God not he day of the resurrection is part of our weekly faith routine that assists us in putting God into proper priority. The seasons of the year help us to enter into better relationship with God.
Sample Script:
Do you have a favorite time of the year? Maybe it’s your birthday, your favorite holiday, or your favorite season like winter, spring, summer, or fall. What about a favorite day of the week? Friday’s are always great days because it’s the end of the week when we get a break from work and school! There are many great reasons to celebrate different times of the year or days of the week! We can celebrate because we’re remembering something special, like your birthday, or there is a big change happening like a new season, or because we get a break to do fun things. The Catholic Church also has different times during the year and the week that we celebrate.
Every day the Church comes together to celebrate the holy Mass. We don’t get to go every single day, but we always make sure to go every Sunday, because Sunday is a special day that we always celebrate! Sunday is called “the Lord’s day.” In the story of how God created the world in the bible, we are taught that God created the world and worked for 6 days and then on the 7th day, God rested and enjoyed the beautiful world He had made. That’s why on Sunday, Catholics take the day to rest and follow God’s example. The best way we can rest with God and thank Him for everything He has done for us in our lives is by going to Mass.
Another reason Catholics go to Mass on Sunday is because that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead! This makes Sunday a very important day because that’s the day Jesus made it possible for us to go to Heaven to be with Him! Just like birthdays and holidays celebrate really important days, Jesus rising from the dead is the most important thing to happen ever. Because this day is so important, Catholics honor the Lord’s day by going to Mass and celebrating the awesome gift Jesus gave us when He rose from the dead!
When we get to go to Mass on Sunday, you will probably notice that there are two parts. The first part is when we take time to listen to readings from the Bible. This part is called “the Liturgy of the Word”, because we are listening to the Word of God! The Word of God is a special way we get to meet Jesus. When we listen to these special words, we take Jesus into our heart. They teach us how to be more like Him!
The second part is when the bread and wine are brought up to the altar and we prepare to receive Holy Communion! This part is called “the Liturgy of the Eucharist.” This is when Jesus comes to be with us and becomes bread and wine! When this happens, we are able to receive Jesus not just with our minds or hearts, but with our body! In Holy Communion you get to be closer to Jesus than at any other time! It’s a very special time that makes the Mass so important, because just like eating good food helps you to become big and strong, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion makes your soul big and strong! Jesus is able to help you to be more like Him and receive special gifts.
Each time we go to Mass, there are different readings. Each Sunday we get to listen to the next big part of the awesome true story that takes us through the whole Bible! Whenever a big change is going to happen in the story, the Church tells us by introducing a new “season.” You know how when there are big changes in the weather, we have new seasons. When it gets really cold, that’s when we say it’s winter! When the flowers start to come out, we say, it’s spring! When it gets really hot, we say, it’s summer! When it starts getting chilly and the leaves change color we say, it’s fall! In the life of the Church we have five different seasons. They are called, Advent, Christmas, Ordinary time, Lent, and then Easter. Advent is when we are getting ready for Christmas. During this season, the priests wear the color purple. Christmas time is when the Church celebrates the birth of Jesus! During this season, the priests wear white or gold colors. Ordinary time helps us to learn about the life of Jesus so we can be more like Him! During ordinary time the priests wear green. Lent is a special time of preparing to celebrate Easter. Just like Advent, the priests wear purple for Lent too! Easter is the most important season. The Church calls it “the feast of feasts.” This is when we celebrate Jesus winning the battle against death and rising out of His tomb. During this important season, the priests wear white or gold like they do during Christmas!
The Church gets to celebrate awesome things every day. Especially on Sundays on during the special seasons of the year. Just like the different seasons of the weather help to teach us things like what do wear when we go outside, the different seasons of the Church help to guide us in our lives as Christians! They help to teach us how to better follow Jesus.
Questions:
What are the two reasons we go to Mass on Sundays?
What are the two parts of the Mass?
What are the five seasons of the Church?
What are the colors for each season?
What is the most important season of the Church?
Activities:
The next time you and your child go to Mass, point out the two different parts of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Remind him or her why they’re both important!
Work on making a “Liturgical Calendar” with your child. This can be done with color coated markings or with pictures on a homemade calendar or any blank calendar. Have your child keep this in their room and try to keep track of what season we’re in and which one is coming up next!
Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, we know there is a trinity because of Jesus’ revelation. This shows us that God must be love (that is what binds the trinity) and reveals all of Jesus’s actions within a familial relationship of God.
Relates to my Faith: There is only one God, we do not worship multiple gods, or seek God as a genie, but go to the one who created all things and shows us what love is.
Sample Script:
You know how there are five different seasons in the year for the Church? There’s Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, and Easter. Each year we go through the same five seasons which helps us to learn about the entire life of Jesus! In Advent, we focus on the time leading up to Jesus’ birth, which we celebrate during Christmas time! This is one of the most amazing events in all of human history! God loves you so much and He wanted to be as close to you as possible. He also wanted to save all of us from our sins. Because of His great love for us, God decided to become a human being! He became human to show us how much He cares and so He could die on the cross for us to set us free from sin. Christmas time is when we remember the awesome gift of Jesus being born.
Ordinary time helps us to learn about the rest of Jesus’ life. It goes over what Jesus did when He started teaching and inspires us to be more like him. Lent is the time when we get ready to celebrate Easter. We spend 40 days making sacrifices to remember the sacrifices Jesus made for us and so we can more easily let go of our sins. During Lent we learn about how Jesus died for us on the cross so that we could be saved. Easter is the most amazing and important time of the whole year! During Easter we celebrate how Jesus triumphed over death and rose from the dead! Easter is the source of Christian joy and peace, because when Jesus rose, He opened the way into Heaven so we can be with Him forever after we die. There is no gift more amazing than what Jesus gives us on Easter!
The liturgical year covers the whole life of Jesus from His birth, His life, to His death, and resurrection. Even though it’s very important to go to Mass to learn about all these amazing things, we also need to put them into practice at home. Christian families get to go to Mass together, learn about Jesus’ life in the reading of Scripture, and then receive Jesus’ body and blood in the Eucharist so we can be more like Him. Then they get to go into the world and their homes and live out the teaches along with their new strength from the Sacrament!
One way that families participate in the liturgical life of the Church includes fasting during lent and making small sacrifices. They can also light advent wreaths to prepare for Jesus’ coming during Christmas. Some families put up manger scenes around Christmas to remind them of Jesus’ humble birth. It’s always good to spend time with friends and family during these seasons so we can celebrate together and help each other to grow. During the whole year, it’s also good to look for acts of service or little ways that family members can live the message of the Gospel we hear about in Church. Some families volunteer at soup kitchens, or sponsor children in foreign countries who can’t afford to go to school.
The best way for a family to live the liturgical life of the Church is by making sure they are loving and caring for one another. This is so important because the life of Jesus isn’t meant just to be learnt about. We are supposed to follow Him and try to live the same way that He did. We can only do this when we put it into practice and try to love the people around us like Jesus did. Living out the message of Jesus will help us to better understand the mysteries of His life, death, and resurrection.
Questions:
What is significant about each of the five Church seasons?
What are some ways that families can live out the Liturgical year?
What is the best way for the family to live out the Liturgical year?
What does it tell you when the priest wears green at mass?
What does the Liturgical year cover?
Activities:
Think about your favorite Church season. What do you like so much about it? Talk with your parent about what you already do to live out the season? What other small thing can you do to help live it out?
Work on making a “Liturgical Calendar” with your child. This can be done with color coated markings or with pictures on a homemade calendar or any blank calendar. Include one or two things that your family does to live out the season on the calendar. Have your child keep this in their room and try to keep track of what season we’re in and which one is coming up next!
Think about how the things you do with your family during the year help you to understand the life of Jesus better.
Relates to Jesus: Jesus desires to be involved in each moment of our life as our Lord and Savior. No matter the situation, He loves us and wants to walk with us throughout our life that He redeemed for us.
Relates to my Faith: The Catholic Church offers a multitude of sacramentals and practices that assist in keeping us in contact with God and His Holy Spirit.
Sample Script:
As we go to Mass throughout the year and learn about Jesus’ life, we get to walk with Jesus on His journey, and He gets to walk with us on ours. The liturgical year guides us along the entire life of Christ, reminding us to keep Him at the center of our lives and that there is no part of human life that Jesus does not want to make holy in you! As we walk this journey with Jesus, sometimes we need little exercises or practices to help us understand Jesus’ life better and to love Him more. Our Church has great practices called “devotionals.” Devotionals are not something you have to do, but they are little practices that might help you on your way to holiness! Many of these devotionals fit right into the liturgical year. They help us to enter into these different times better.
One example of a devotional is during the season of Lent, specifically on the first day of the season which is called Ash Wednesday. This day is mean to remind us that we are not perfect, that we are sinners, and that we all die someday. Because of these truths, we need the grace of Jesus which He won for us on the cross! To help us remember these things, on Ash Wednesday the priest will mark people’s forehead with ashes in the shape of the cross. These markings are not necessary to receive, but many people like to receive them so they can better remember why we are entering into the season of Lent. It helps them to take the season seriously and guide our hearts and minds to reflection.
Another great example of a devotional is the psalms that we receive on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday remembers the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem before He gave Himself up to die. The crowds knew Jesus was sent from God. They were so excited to receive Him into their city that they shouted out “Hosana!” Some of them used their shirts to make a pathway for Jesus. Others did the same thing with palm branches. We remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with palm branches, to remind us that we need to welcome Jesus into our lives and hearts with excitement!
One of the most powerful devotions that our Church has is praying the rosary. The Blessed Mother is a very important person in all of our lives. Because she said yes to God and allowed herself to give birth to Jesus, we are able to be saved from our sins! Since she had such an important and special job, God gave her the gift of being born without any sin. She raised Jesus and loved Him with all her heart. When it was time for Him to go and preach to the people, she followed Him wherever He went and did whatever He asked her to do. Mary is the model of the perfect Christian life. She is closer to Jesus than anyone else.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He gave us His mother as a gift, so that she can take care of us. That is why when we need a teacher to show us how to be like Jesus or when we need help asking Jesus for something, Catholics turn to Mary to ask for her intercession. The rosary is the prayer Mary gave to the Church, so that we can ask for her help and grow in holiness. It doesn’t take long to say, it’s very simple, and allows us to reflect on Jesus’ whole life. It’s a great prayer you can say every day. Mary wants to take care of all her children, including you. She is a great blessing for the whole Church! When we pray the rosary throughout the year, it helps us to reflect on the different parts of Jesus’ ministry, so we can enter into the different celebrations with greater understanding and love of our Lord.
There are many other devotionals that take place throughout the liturgical year and there are many more that you can pray at any time of the year! Some devotionals you can look up are novenas, advent prayers, the blessing of the throats (on St. Blaise’s feast day), the divine mercy chaplet, and litanies. That’s just the tip of the iceberg! You don’t have to worry about knowing or doing all of them. There are simply too many. It’s actually a lot better just to do a few that really helps you to love our Lord more and use them as often as you can. By doing these small little practices, we can participate in the Mass and the liturgical year more easily and with greater love.
Questions:
What is a devotional? How do devotionals help us? Do you have to practice all the devotionals?
Why do we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday?
Why do we receive palm branches on Palm Sunday?
What role does the Blessed Mother play in our lives? Why is she special?
What is so powerful about the rosary?
Activities:
Look up some devotionals that interest you (try for 3). Pick one that you would like to try and commit to it as a family for one week. See how it helps you to participate in the liturgy better.
Pick one night of the week to pray the rosary as a family. If you already pray the rosary together frequently together, offer up this rosary for the person who most needs to fall in love with Our Lady.
Relates to Jesus: Jesus and the followers of Jesus tell the story of the Kingdom of God and they each proclaim this message with their lives.
Relates to my Faith: Memorializing the life of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints connect us to the Divine and set an example for us how to live lives of holiness.
Sample Script:
You know how we have to go to Mass every Sunday. You may already know that there are even some other days that we are required to go to Mass that are not Sundays. These days are called “Holy Days of Obligation.” These days are not meant to be a chore. These Holy Days of Obligation are incredibly important days in the liturgical year. They are so important that the only proper celebration for these days is attendance at the Sacrament of the Mass. Would you ever miss your best friend’s birthday part as long as you were able to go? When someone is special to you and they are celebrating something significant, it’s important that you go to celebrate with them! In the same way, the Church recognizes these days are very important for all of us, and so we come together as a Church family in order to celebrate.
The Church can name different holy days at different times, but right now there are 6 Holy Days of Obligation:
The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8th. This feast commemorates the day when the Blessed Mother was conceived without sin. It’s an important day for the Church, because Mary’s immaculate conception is what allowed Jesus to be born into the world, so we could be saved. Christmas is of course the day when Jesus was born! Even though He is God, He decided to become one of us so He could be close to us and die for us on the cross. We celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
On January 1st we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. This feast reinforces that Jesus is both man and God. Jesus is truly God and Mary is truly His mother. Because of this truth, even though God is timeless and is not “born”, Mary is responsible for God being born on earth as a man. I know that’s a little complicated, so it’s okay if you don’t understand it all right now! You just have to know that Jesus is really God and Mary is really Jesus’ mother.
39 days after we celebrate Easter Sunday, we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. This year the Ascension is celebrated on May 13th. On this day we celebrate Jesus ascending into Heaven to be with the Father. Even though He finished His ministry on earth, He left us the amazing gift of the Church and the Eucharist! This day reminds us to wait for Jesus’ second coming when we will all be with God in Heaven and that we should always spread the good news of the Gospel!
On August 15th the Church celebrate the feast of the Assumption. The Assumption is when Mary followed Jesus by being taken up into Heaven body and soul. Since Mary was born without sin and followed Jesus perfectly, she did not need to suffer death like the rest of mankind. Instead she was rewarded with going straight into Heaven. On November 1st, we celebrate All Saints Day! This is the day we celebrate all the Saints who are in Heaven. That means both the Saints we know who the Church declares and the Saints who we don’t know about who are in Heaven! The Saints inspire us and help us to become Saints one day ourselves.
Each of these feast days are incredibly important for the Church. They help us to commemorate some of the most wonderful days in our Church history and grow in holiness.
Questions:
Why are holy days of obligation important?
What are the six holy days of obligation?
Why is each day important?
The holy days and the liturgical calendar all kind of reflect who's life?
What if a holy day of obligation occurs during the week?
Activities:
Take some time to write down these holy days on your calendar together.
Try to see if you can write out the names of the 6 holy days from memory!
Relates to Jesus: Jesus and the followers of Jesus tell the story of the Kingdom of God and they each proclaim this message with their lives.
Relates to my Faith: Memorializing the life of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints connect us to the Divine and set an example for us how to live lives of holiness.
Sample Script:
Just like the regular calendar year has different seasons and important holidays, the Church celebrates different seasons of the liturgy as well as important holy days. Each year the Church goes through the same five seasons which helps us to learn about the entire life of Jesus from His birth, His death, and His resurrection. We go from Advent, to Christmas, to Ordinary Time, to Lent, and to Easter.
In Advent, we focus on the time leading up to Jesus’ birth, which we celebrate during Christmas time. Christmas time is when we remember the awesome gift of Jesus being born. Ordinary time helps us to learn about the rest of Jesus’ life. It goes over what Jesus did when He started teaching and inspires us to be more like him. Lent is the time when we get ready to celebrate Easter. We spend 40 days making sacrifices to remember the sacrifices Jesus made for us and so we can more easily let go of our sins. Easter is the most important season in the life of the Church. During Easter we celebrate how Jesus triumphed over death and rose from the dead. Easter is the source of Christian joy and peace, because when Jesus rose, He opened the way into Heaven so we can be with Him forever after we die.
Throughout the five seasons, the Church gives us six holy days of obligation to celebrate through attendance at the Mass. These days are obligations for a reason. Attending Mass in general is integral to the Christian life just as much as food is necessary for us to be able to live. These few days are recognized as of particular importance to our Church family, and so we come together to celebrate in the most profound way we can: through the Mass. Would you ever miss your best friend’s birthday part as long as you were able to go? When someone is special to us and they are celebrating something significant, we make it a priority to go to celebrate with them. In the same way, the Church recognizes these days are very important for all of us, and so we come together as a Church family in order to celebrate.
The Church can name different holy days at different times, but right now there are 6 Holy Days of Obligation:
The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8th. This feast commemorates the day when the Blessed Mother was conceived without sin. It’s an important day for the Church, because Mary’s immaculate conception is what allowed Jesus to be born into the world, so we could be saved. Christmas is of course the day when Jesus was born as man. Even though He is God, He decided to humbly become one of us so He could be close to us and sacrifice Himself for us on the cross. We celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
On January 1st we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. This feast reinforces that Jesus is both man and God. Jesus is truly God and Mary is truly His mother. Because of this truth, even though God is timeless and is not “born”, Mary is responsible for God being born on earth as a man. I know that’s a little complicated, so it’s okay if you don’t understand it all right now. You just have to know that Jesus is really God and Mary is really Jesus’ mother.
39 days after we celebrate Easter Sunday, we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. This year the Ascension is celebrated on May 13th. On this day we celebrate Jesus ascending into Heaven to be with the Father. Even though He finished His ministry on earth, He left us the amazing gift of the Church and the Eucharist. This day reminds us to wait for Jesus’ second coming when we will all be with God in Heaven and that we should always spread the good news of the Gospel!
On August 15th the Church celebrate the feast of the Assumption. The Assumption is when Mary followed Jesus by being taken up into Heaven body and soul. Since Mary was born without sin and followed Jesus perfectly, she did not need to suffer death like the rest of mankind. Instead she was rewarded with going straight into Heaven. On November 1st, we celebrate All Saints Day. This is the day we celebrate all the Saints who are in Heaven. That means both the Saints we know who the Church declares and the Saints who we don’t know about who are in Heaven! The Saints inspire us and help us to become Saints one day ourselves.
Each of these feast days are incredibly important for the Church. They help us to commemorate some of the most wonderful days in our Church history and to grow in holiness.
Questions:
What are the five liturgical seasons of the Church?
Why are the Holy Days of Obligation important?
What are the six holy days and what is each of their significance?
What is a key indicator at Mass that tells what liturgical season it is?
What is the difference between the Assumption and the Ascenion?
Activities:
Work on making a “Liturgical Calendar.” This can be done with color coated markings or with pictures on a homemade calendar or any blank calendar. Make sure to include the holy days of obligation.
Discuss with you family ways to recognize the liturgical seasons with more awareness.
Relates to Jesus: Jesus is present in each moment of our life. This reminds us that no matter what we are going through, whether happy or sad or lonely or joyful, Jesus is here to walk with us.
Relates to my Faith: The different liturgical colors we experience in the life of the Church tell us of the life and teaching of Jesus that God gives us for our growth in holiness and right instruction.
Sample Script:
For each of the five liturgical seasons, the priests wear different colored vestments. Very often the Church is also decorated in different colors to reflect the spirit of the season. The colors help our hearts and minds to enter into a different state of liturgical celebration. Traditionally, the color of Advent and Lent is purple. The color purple represents penance, humility, and a melancholic temperament. Since both Advent and Lent are solemn seasons of preparation, the colors reflect this attitude of humble repenting from our sinfulness and returning to God with even greater love and devotion. The color red is typically worn on certain feast days, usually when we celebrate a martyr. It’s also worn on Good Friday and Pentecost Sunday. Red symbolizes the blood of the martyrs as well as the blood Christ shed for us on the cross. It’s a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the holiness of the men and women who laid down their lives for Him. Red also represents the fire of the Holy Spirit Who inspires us with zeal for our Lord, which is why it is worn on Pentecost Sunday.
Ordinary time is celebrated with the color green. Green represents everlasting life, hope, and the Holy Spirit. Ordinary time is meant to inspire us to grow in holiness throughout the year. It reminds us to look to our heavenly home and rely in the grace of the Holy Spirit to transform us. Christmas and Easter are traditionally celebrated in white or gold colors. The color gold represents the joy of these seasons! White symbolizes light, innocence, purity, joy, triumph, and glory. Christmas and Easter are two pivotal seasons for the Church. By Christ entering the world on Christmas day, He fulfilled God’s promises to the Israelites to save them from their sins and extended the glories of His kingdom to all of humanity. Christmas is a beautiful expression of how much God loves you and me. He loves us enough to become one of us.
Easter is the most important season of the entire year. It’s because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead that we can all hope for eternal life with God in Heaven. It’s the joyful time when we celebrate Christ’s final triumph over sin and death! White and gold are meant to encapsulate these spirits of joy and triumph in our liturgy. One last color you will see in the liturgical year is the color “rose.” This color looks like pink and also represents joy like gold does. It’s more of an anticipation of getting close to the joyful times of Christmas and Easter. The two days in particular when rose is used is Gaudete Sunday which is the third Sunday in Advent when we are one week away from Christmas and Laetare Sunday which is the fourth Sunday of Lent once we are close to Easter.
Just to recap. There are 6 colors: purple for Advent and Lent; red for certain feast days, Good Friday, and Pentecost; green for Ordinary Time; white and gold for Christmas as well as Easter; and lastly rose for Gaudete and Laetare Sunday. These color help to guide us through the seasons of the year and recognize their charisms.
Questions:
Which colors correspond to which liturgical seasons and feasts?
What do each of the color represent?
How do these colors help us to enter into the liturgical life of the Church?
In a liturgical year, does every season appear only once on the liturgical calendar?
Why do we celebrate special days in Mary's life as well as Jesus'?
Activities:
Examine each of the colors and think of an object or event associated with that color that gives it a fitting meaning for each of the seasons. An example could be the evergreen tree for the green vestments during ordinary time. The correlation being that the tree remains green all year round and can therefore represent the everlasting life that ordinary time is meant to remind us of. The idea of this activity is to help you create mental and visual ties between the colors and the seasons with things you relate to.
Put together a very brief presentation as if you were explaining this lesson to someone who knew nothing about Church Tradition, just focusing on the rational behind the colors of each Season.
Relates to Jesus: Jesus modeled perfectly the need to be in strong relationship with God; being God Himself He didn't do things on His own but regularly reached out in prayer for guidance and strengh.
Relates to my Faith: Saints in the tradition of the Church are the holy disciples who show all what a foundation in God means and that when we surrender our life to Him, we are a living witness of the living God to all that we encounter.
Sample Script:
What is most important to you in your life? Maybe your first few thoughts go to your sports, your favorite hobbies, your school, or your friends and family. Looking into how you invest your time is a good indicator of what’s important to you. When you put a lot of time into something, it’s probably because you consider it very important. When we care about something, we put our time and energy into it, because we care about it, perhaps even more than we care about ourselves. We want this endeavor to express a quality that leads to growth and to our personal fulfillment. One example might be a businessman who really cares about his business. He puts time and energy into managing his staff to make sure that they are taken care of and that they work hard so that the business can succeed and can benefit people. If you care about your pet, you make sure to take him out for exercise and that he’s well fed. If you care about your relationship with a friend you make sure that you spend time together, because you enjoy being with this person and you want the relationship to grow. It’s important to set aside time for the things we care about.
Our relationship with God is the most important part of our lives. When we put that first before anything else, God is able to help us put everything into its proper place. When we place God at the center of our lives and hearts, we are able to be the best version of ourselves in everything we do and everything we do has the right direction. Imagine you were going on a big trip but you didn’t know the way or where you were trying to go. You go up to someone and ask “Hey can you help me get where I need to go?” They would probably ask, “Well where do you need to go?” If you’re asking for directions, you probably want to know where you’re going. If you don’t know that, you just end up wandering around without a real aim or purpose. Once we know where we’re going, we can figure out all the other steps. In our case, we are all made for God. God made us out of pure love so that we can be with Him and experience the wonders of His goodness for eternity. Our destination is Heaven. God knows the way, He is the way, and He wants to give us all the help we need to get there. By fostering our relationship with God, He guides us to become the incredible men and women He made us to be, and He guides us to our Heavenly home.
So we know that when something is important to us, we invest more time into it because we care about it, and we know that the goal of our whole life is foster our relationship with God so that we can reach Heaven. We need to make sure that we’re prioritizing our time with God, giving it the importance, it deserves in our lives. That way, all the other elements of our life can fall into place. Jesus knows how hard of a task this is. He experienced all of life’s hardships and struggles when He lived His life on earth. God knows what you need and the desires of your heart more intimately than anyone else, even more than you do. That’s why He made sure we would never have to walk this path alone. He made human beings to be together, to love one another, to work together, to be in community. Jesus established the Church, so that we would have all the teaching, guidance, fellowship, and nourishment that we could ever possibly need. We encounter Jesus in all the Sacraments. Attending these frequently allows us to build a growing relationship with Christ. Just as we frequently nourish ourselves with good food to build up our strength, we frequently partake of the gifts God offers us in the Sacraments so that He can heal our wounds and build up our spiritual strength. The more we visit our friends and relatives and the more we open ourselves up to them, the stronger that relationship becomes. In the same way, attending the Sacraments of the Church fervently and frequently allows us to strengthen our relationship with Christ. That is why the Church directs us to attend Mass at least once a week on Sunday, because the Church knows we need it. Filled with the power of the Sacraments, we seek to love and support each other, in order to lift one another up when we fall down.
The members of the Church take time for personal prayer. Each of us is called to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God made each of us entirely unique and God loves each of us uniquely. Spending time in prayer with God allows us to sort through our lives, to see ourselves as God sees us, to seek His guidance, wisdom, and comfort. Prayer is our constant aid throughout any tribulation or struggle and an ever-open door to give God thanks for His many blessings. We also come together as a community, as a Church family. Just as we are meant to build one another up in our work, we also bolster each other through communal prayer. Even in prayer, we are not meant to be alone. God has given us as a gift to one another. He has given you as a gift to the people around you, and the people around you are meant to be a gift to you. Each member of the Church forms the body of Christ, with Jesus as the head that guides us. We as His hands and feet that do His work in the world. As a Church, we reach out to those in need through works of mercy. We constantly turn to God in prayer to make sure we are on the right path, following His will, and ask for His grace to strengthen us.
These simple acts of great love are what make Christians stand out in the world. We live in the joy of the Good News, knowing that even though we are sinners in need of repentance, God has won the war for us so that we can enter Heaven. We accept His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, so that little by little He can shape us into the Saints we were made to be. All we need to go is keep giving God the time. We need to keep making Him the most important part of our lives, because He is. When we accept the gifts that Jesus has given us through the Church: the Sacraments, the grace of prayer, our brothers and sisters in Christ, we open ourselves to do His work in the world and we find ourselves walking the straight path to Heaven.
Questions:
What is the indicator of what is important in our lives?
Why is it important to know what our destination is?
What is our destination?
How do we reach our destination?
What does the life of the Christian look like?
Activities:
Spend some time taking a look at how you spend your time during the day and during the week. What does this tell you about what you consider important? What areas of your life do you see yourself doing well in your journey with Christ? What are some areas where you need to make more room for Him to join you?
Reflect on how you’ve been participating in the Sacraments and the life of the Church. If you find you’ve been doing well, keep doing what you’re doing and be on the lookout for ways you can grow! If you find you’ve fallen down in some areas, see if you can ask for help to get back up and work on taking little steps to rebuild that area of your relationship with God whether it’s returning to a Sacrament after an absence, making time for personal prayer, or participating actively in communal prayer.
Relates to Jesus: Jesus, in fulfilling the Old Covenant by ushering in the New, based our Mass off of the established practice as found in the beginning books of the Old Testament.
Relates to my Faith: Our liturgical life drives us to seek to see and encounter God in the faces and situations that we experience in our own life. When we see the good, the true, the lovely; we see God present in life.
Sample Script:
In the liturgical life of the Church, how we celebrate the Sacraments and participate in the life of the Church is important. There is a saying in the Church that goes, “the law of prayer is the law of belief” or “lex orandi; lex credendi” in latin! What this means is that the way we pray is meant to reflect what we believe, and it also fuels what we believe. The Catholic Church has strongly believed and taught that human beings are not just spirits or just bodies. We are both body and in spirit in one person. We have both spiritual needs and physical needs. The two of these are able to help one another so that the whole person can grow. That’s why we don’t just sit the entire time at Mass to pray. We are physical beings and our physicality and posture help to inform our spirits when we pray, so we also stand, kneel, speak, sing, in order to involve our whole person in the Mass.
The way we pray is meant to reflect what we believe and fuel what we believe. This principle is why we strive to make our Churches beautiful with stained glass windows, statues, candles, and golden vessels that hold the King of Kings in the Eucharist. These physical elements are meant to reflect the invisible spiritual reality of what is happening when we pray and also fuel our devotion to prayer by conveying that reality. By bowing our heads, we convey our humility and submit our entire selves to God. By placing works of art in the Church, we seek to express the beauty of God.
The way we pray is meant to reflect what we believe and fuel what we believe. This phrase also informs the great tradition of the Church of venerating holy images of Christ and the Saints. We do not worship these images, because we recognize them for what they are. They are not God, Himself and are not worthy of praise. They do, however, serve to direct our hearts and minds to God. They help us to reflect on Him by giving us striking images that move us to contemplation.
A good example of this that we use in everyday life is the photos we keep of our loved ones! Maybe you have special pictures of someone you care about or photos of fond memories of your friends. These images aren’t the people, themselves. You wouldn’t start talking to a picture as if it were your friend, but the picture would help you to think back on your memories and the people you care about. It might prompt you to call them up or strike up a conversation with them to talk about the times you’ve shared together. The image guides you to strengthen your relationship with the person. The statues and holy images we keep in our Churches and in our homes are meant to do the same thing. They help to guide the God-given gifts of our sight and minds, so that we can better spiritually connect with God and the Saints.
The Church offers many different ways of worship and prayer because we as individuals and as a community have many different needs. There are times when we need to retreat to a place of silence to let our thoughts sit and just listen to what God has to say or to just be with Him without any words at all. For these times, the Church offers Eucharistic adoration, when we adore the Blessed Sacrament that we partake of at Mass, giving Him thanks and praise, ultimately, just spending time with Him. Sometimes we need to speak with God, to move our entire selves in reverence and worship of Him, offering Him our entire selves, receiving Him entirely in return. The Church directs us to the Mass, frequently, because these needs are most urgent and most frequent. Our entire self needs to be renewed and strengthened by God. The Church offers us forgiveness for any and every time that we fall through the Sacrament of Confession. There we encounter the merciful and loving God who wants to welcome us home and give us the grace we need to reject our sins, turning us into the amazing people He made us to be. There are many other great gifts of prayer and worship the Church offers to help sanctify us. The most needed are the Sacraments, but our other devotional practices help to strengthen our love for our Lord and helps us to enter into the Sacraments better. Since the Church knows that our way of prayer reflects and fuels our belief, it offers us beautiful and life-giving prayers so that our belief can shine beautifully and be life giving to ourselves and everyone around us.
Questions:
What does the phrase “lex orandi; lex credendi” mean? Why is it important?
How do some aspects of our prayer convey what we believe? (i.e. kneeling, singing, stained glass windows, etc.).
Why don’t Catholics worship images? What purpose do they serve?
What are some ways the Church directs our prayer to help our belief?
What is liturgical season is more than half than the liturgical year?
Activity:
Make note of how we pray the next time you attend the Mass. Ask yourself why certain elements are there and what they help to convey. Write about the elements that stand out to you and that you find particularly helpful to you.
Think about what needs you may have that the Church can help to supply. Do you not have enough silence in your life? Have you been carrying around guilt about something? Do you feel a lack of community? See what small practices you can take on to help you.
Scripture References: Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20, 24:30-31; John 6: 51-58; 1 Cor 11:24; Ex 12:12-14; 34:18; 34:22-26; Lev 16:29-31; 23:1-44; Dt 16:10-17; Rev 4:8-11; 5:6-14; 7:9-12;
Catechism References: Nos. 1136-1206
Videos: Fr. Mike Schmitz: A Season for Everything Solemnities vs. Feasts vs. Memorials (6 m 8 sec)
Catholic Central--The Liturgical Year Nuts and Bolts Explanation of the Church's Liturgical Year (7 m 15 s)
Extra Narrative (for Deeper Study)
What is the Liturgical Life?
Living a life of faith begins and ends with a close, spritually intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, who "is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, through whom we come reconciled to the Father and in no other way (John 14:6). As we do with any human being with whom we desire a close relationship, communication is a principal element of that relationship, and just as in life, when those who fail to understand that communication is not just one person rambling on talking at the other person without giving the other person a chance to speak and listening in return, the relationship will fail. For a relationship to grow, we must not only share what is in our hearts, but we must listen to the other person in an attutide of sharing. God, then, is not a vending machine in which we put in our coinage (petitions), and he spits out our expectations to answer our prayers in accordance with our will or else we won't even bother with him in the future. Rather, listening to God with an open, humble heart, understanding who we are in relation to Him as the very source and sustainment of our being is a acquired skill in which through shutting off distractions, keeping interior silence (i.e., shutting off constantly running minds at regular intervals throughout the day in order to hear God's voice) and asking the Holy Spirit to teach us to hear the ways in which God speaks to us personally, in the silence of our hearts, in spiritual reading, in his Divine Word (the books of the Bible), in homilies, in the Mass, in formal and informal prayer, contemplation, meditation, and the many ways these lessons have taught us to pray, we will be able to come to know and hear God speaking to us even moment by moment, which should be everyone's goal, because it is everyone's duty!
The principal way in which the Church stays close to Our Lord is through its liturgical calendar. In the liturgical calendar, the Church recalls the life of Christ in an annual cycle, just as God required of the Israelites in the Jewish Law to remember the events of God in their history through its principal feasts in the Old Testament (The Old testament references can be found above under "Scriptural References"). Living in union with Christ's life through the recalling of the events of His life is an excellent means of growing in Christ's love because it draws us into the mystery of his love by helping us to better understand the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus not only desires that we walk the path he walked in his ministry and spiritual life, he declared outright that unless we pick up our cross daily and follow him (i.e. walk his walk, suffer and die with him) we cannot experience his saving resurrection.
The Church Year
As noted above, we call the Church year the Liturgical Year. It is comprised of all the events of Christ's life from the expectation of his birth beginning in the season of Advent to his suffering, death and Resurrection at Easter, through Pentecost (See videos above for a detailed explanation). Furthermore, the Church annually recalls her Saints, in which we celebrate their lives by remembering them in the offering of Mass for them on either the day of their death, or, in some cases, their birthday (such as in the case of John the Baptist for whom we have solemn feasts on both his birthday and the day of his death). Finally, in some cases, the Church recalls special events in her history, such as the dedication of certain major basilicas in Rome, or appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary in older or even recent history which were acknowledged as authentic after exhaustive investigation by Church authorities.
The Lectionary Cycle
To remember her principal feasts and to help keep the faithful attuned to the liturgical cycle of the Church's year, the Church has long established a lectionary cycle of readings. This was an annual one-year cycle for many years, and remains so in many Eastern Catholic rites, until the Second Vatican Council when the Church established a three-year cycle of Sunday readings and a two-year cylce of daily readings (used for daily Mass) for the Roman rite (the main and largest rites of the universal Catholic Church united under the Pope). We call this cycle of readings the Lectionary Cycle. The Sunday cycle of readings are simply labeled years "A", "B", and "C". The updated cycles expose the faithful to a great deal more of the books of the Bible beginning with the Gospels, the New Testament epistles, and finally the Old Testament books than in the previous one-year annual cycle of readings in the Church prior to the Second Vatican Council Each Sunday cycle focuses on a different Gospel. The following explanation of the Lectionary Cycle is extracted from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' webpage explaning it thus: "In Year A, we read mostly from the Gospel of Matthew. In Year B, we read the Gospel of Mark and chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. In Year C, we read the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of John is read during the Easter season in all three years. The first reading, usually from the Old Testament, reflects important themes from the Gospel reading. The second reading is usually from one of the epistles, a letter written to an early church community. These letters are read semi-continuously. Each Sunday, we pick up close to where we left off the Sunday before, though (there are) some passages (that) are never read" (which is another reason why it is good for us to read the Gospels on our own in their totality).
The Two-Year Daily Lectionary Cycle
The explanation continues: "The weekday cycle is divided into two years, Year I and Year II. Year I is read in odd-numbered years (e.g., 2021, 2023, etc.) and Year II is used in even-numbered years (e.g., 2020, 2022, etc.). The Gospels for both years are the same (i.e., it is on a one year cycle). During the year, the Gospels are read semi-continuously, beginning with Mark, then moving on to Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of John is read during the Easter season. For Advent, Christmas, and Lent, readings are chosen that are (both) appropriate (and traditional) to the season. The first reading on weekdays in Year I (are for the most part) taken from the Old (Testament), (while in Year II, the first reading is for the most part taken from) the New Testament. Typically, a single book is read semi-continuously (i.e., some passages are not read) until it is finished and then a new book is started.
The year of the cycle does not change on January 1, but on the First Sunday of Advent (usually late November) which is the beginning of the liturgical year. (The Liturgical year ends on the 34th Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, which is the Solemnity of the Christ the King. This Sunday in most cases falls on the Sunday before the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, while the First Sunday of Advent, therefore, usually falls on the Sunday after Thanksgiving)."
In addition to the Sunday and weekday cycles, the Lectionary provides readings for feasts of the saints, for common celebrations such as Marian feasts, for ritual Masses (weddings, funerals, etc.), for votive Masses, and for various other needs and celebrations. These readings have been selected to reflect the themes of these celebrations."
Daily Mass as a Means of Deepening Spiritual Growth in Christ
The Church encourages all of us to more fully immerse ourselves into the life of Christ by living the liturgical life. The best means of doing so is by attending daily Mass. This opens us to the great privilege of receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion each day. However, our work and daily duties often make such an undertaking difficult if not impossible for many people. Nonetheless, we can overcome this obstacle by at least joining in through Masses offered live online nearly around the clock around the world (See link to online live daily Masses offered here: Daily Mass online) or if we cannot do that (where there's a will there's a way, eh? We can do pretty much anything when we want it badly enough) or at the very least, we can join in the liturgical year by reading and meditating on the daily readings which can be found at the USCCB website here: Sunday and Daily Mass Readings. (Note: While "attending" a live Mass streamed online does fulfill the Sunday or Holy Day obligation by a decree of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops for those who are shut-ins, homebound or those who can in no other way attend in person, it does not fulfill the Sunday or Holy Day obligation of those who are otherwise able to attend in person. Additionally, because one cannot receive Holy Communion when not in physical attendance at Mass, the principal grace of the Mass is missing. Still, a spiritual communion may and should be said at the time of communion while observing a livestreamed Mass online which can put us in close communion with Our Lord). Remember, the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist makes us sharers, that is participants, in the reality of God's divinity. Nothing else on earth makes that possible to the same degree as worthy reception of Holy Communion. This is why Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist. It is a participation in the reality and foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet for which God created us.