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Kim Scott is Director of Family Faith Formation at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach, California. - WATCH VIDEO
Kids’ Bulletin
Click on image to go to this week's THE KID'S BULLETIN.
Word Search
Click on image to download Word Search activity handout. CATHOLIC MOM is a ministry of Holy Cross Family Ministries offering children's handouts of Gospel Reading, a coloring page, lesson plans, Mass Worksheets for ages 7-10 and 11-14, Word Search, and Crossword puzzle.
Worksheet
The S.D.C., a Catholic Society in the UK, provides worksheets for use in Sunday Liturgy groups for children.
Crossword
Click image below to view all handouts from Sermons4Kids
Catholic Kids
Kids Homilies: Plans and Promises
Every Wednesday Isabella D’Angelo releases a new video on her YouTube channel “Catholic Kids Media” that illustrates the meaning of the readings along with a reflection. The 21-year-old Catholic evangelist understands the importance of adhering to truth and faith, especially when addressing young impressionable children. She said her goal is to help children understand that Jesus is a real person with unique character traits, with whom they can have a real relationship. READ MORE
Primary Grades
A Rainbow Promise
Intermediate
God's Covenant with Noah and Humanity
Junior High
A Rainbow Promise | The Action Bible Read Aloud
High School
The Greatest Story Ever Told: Satan trying to tempt Jesus
Click on image above to play video.
Holy Heroes
Role Play
Each week the Holy Heroes perform some kind of script, either through role playing, coloring, or puppets, etc. Watch the video with your students and then have them perform their own skits. GO TO LESSONWord Sunday
Care for others
Catechists may adapt these stories to use as skits for their students (i.e. class reads story out loud, and then have a group of students act the story out afterwards using their own words based on what they can remember).
The story to the first reading tries to bring some context of Noah's experience to God's promise.In the story for the gospel, Jenny was scared of the dark, until her brother helped her overcome that fear. Jesus went into the desert to calm his concerns and prepare for the job his Father gave him to do. READ STORIES
SOURCE: Larry Broding at Word-Sunday.com (Copyright 1999-2017).
Church Skits
Noah
Catechists may adapt this skits to match the needs and age level of students (i.e. use only a small portion of the skit).Here is a preview:
Each week Kristin Schmidt offers two videos on the upcoming Sunday readings. You will find one of them here. To view the other, and to access lesson plans and activities, go to Ministry-To-Children website. Click on image above to play video.
Ministry-To-Children
Our Sunday Visitor
Family Activites
- Talk about ways family members can become more like Jesus during the season of Lent. Create a family prayer space in your home. Read from the gospels each day. Have each family member choose a Lenten practice and write it on a piece of paper. The papers can be folded and placed in the prayer space as a reminder.
- In Baptism, we turn away from sin and selfishness to live in love according to God's plan. Recall with your child the story of his or her Baptism. Share family photos.
- Christians make a new beginning in Baptism. Discuss these questions: What new beginnings could our family make this year? In order to make these new beginnings, what will we have to do?
- Whenever the family gathers to pray this week, pray for those who are preparing for Baptism or full membership in the Catholic Church and for their sponsors.
SOURCE: Our Sunday Visitor
Classroom Activities
RCL Benzinger
Primary Grades
Drawing Activity: To begin, invite the children to trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Explain that by our baptism we belong to God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Provide blank sheets of paper and crayons. Invite the children to draw the sign of the cross.
READ MOREIntermediate Grades
Brainstorming : To begin, draw the outline of a rainbow on a large sheet of poster paper. Brainstorm with the children where they find signs of new life and God’s unending love. Write down their responses within the lines of the rainbow.
READ MOREJunior High
Discussion: To begin, invite the young people to stand together and form a circle. Explain that a circle can represent the unending love that God has for us. Have the young people reflect on how they can be messengers of God’s love during the season of Lent. Invite each person to share his or her response with the large group as you go around the circle.
READ MORESOURCE: RCL Benziger
Loyola Press
Jesus fasts for 40 days in the desert and is tempted
Reflection Questions for Grades 1-3, 4-6, and 7-8 which help connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.Below you will find only the beginning part of each grade level's "Sunday Connection" activity. Follow link above to view entire lessons.
CAFOD
Jesus goes out into the desert
Jesus goes out into the desert for 40 days. He had hardly any food to eat or water to drink. The UK is often very rainy. What do you think it would be like to live in a very dry land? How do you think Jesus felt while he was in the desert?
Water is one of the most precious and important things in the world. We know it is important because we use it so much. Can you think of some of the different ways we use water every day?
How do you get water when you need it? Do you or your grown-ups just turn on the tap?
Imagine what it would be like if you turned on the tap and no water came out. What would you do?
Abdul lives in Ethiopia, in one of the hottest places in the world. There is no clean safe water near his house. Abdul’s cousin, who is called Abdella, has to walk two five-hour journeys every day to fetch water for his family to wash with and to drink.
Share our Lent film with the children to find out more about Abdul and his cousin Abdella’s walk for water. Available at cafod.org.uk/primary/lent
Lent lasts for 40 days, just like Jesus’ time in the desert. This Lent, let’s remember in our prayers all the people in the world like Abdul and Abdella who do not have clean water to drink.
And let’s do what we can to reach out and help, as we grow in our faith this Lent and try to live as God calls us to.
Intercessions: You may want to ask the children to offer their own prayers or
you can use the suggestions below.
As we try to be closer to God this Lent, we pray together:
We pray for world leaders: that they may work together to make sure all people have the things that they need – clean safe water, food and somewhere to live. Lord, in your mercy...
We pray for all those who must spend hours each day walking to fetch water, and who dream of a better future. Through God’s grace, may our actions this Lent help to make those dreams a reality. Lord, in your mercy...
We pray for our parish, family and friends: that we may make changes to our lives this Lent that will change the lives of others around the world. Lord, in your mercy...
Closing prayer: Loving God, we hold in our hearts all those who are thirsty in dry lands. Help us to walk alongside them and to share generously as one global family, so we can build a better world. Amen.
Activity suggestions
Invite the children to colour in the illustration.
Encourage the children to join in with CAFOD’s Water Droplet Trail this Lent by filling in a water droplet template and displaying it in their window. As they go on their daily walks or exercise, how many other water droplets can they spot? While they are walking the water droplet trail, they could think about those around the world who do not have enough water. Perhaps they could get sponsored for their walk and give the money to CAFOD? More details of how to get involved: cafod.org.uk/primary/lent
Encourage the children to share all that they have heard and thought about in today’s liturgy with others at home. Each time they turn on the tap or have a drink of water, they could remember Abdul and Abdella and all those who do not have enough water.
DOWNLOAD LESSON (.docx) -SOURCE: Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (UK)
TIME (6:41): A video related to this week's "Book of the Week"
Book of the Week
The Promise
This is a story of how hope and promise can have transformative power despite the bleakness of a given situation. On a mean street in a mean city, a thief tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the thief is surprised when the old woman says you can’t have the bag unless you make a promise in return. The old woman tells the thief that whatever she finds in the bag, she must promise to plant them all. When it turns out that the bag is full of acorns, the young thief embarks on a journey that changes her own life and the life of generations to come. The story could well become a classic for a new generation of people that need to have hope in the fact that, even in what can be an uncertain world, there are those who will keep there promises. It I can easily become a parallel for talking about the most faithful promise keeper—God.
Covenant/Promise
A covenant is a very special kind of contract whereby each individual enters into a promise that is based on love and fidelity in relationship.
First Reading
This passage presents us with the second covenant God makes with humanity, the first being the act of creation itself. This is the first time we hear of the word “covenant,” and there will be many more times as God continues his relationship with us throughout history. This first explicit covenant is with Noah and his sons. God promises to never destroy the world again by a flood and places a rainbow in the sky as a sign and reminder of that covenant. As time goes on, God will make future covenants with other figures, such as Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah. The ultimate covenant between God and all of humanity is made in the person of Jesus Christ.CONTINUE READING
Second Reading
The letter of Saint Peter selected for this Sunday clearly places emphasis on covenant. The covenant of God’s love for His people is manifested in the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The letter proceeds to speak of the Rite of Baptism as an individual’s entry into a covenant with God. This passage and the first reading have become an essential part of the blessing and invocation over the baptismal waters. Covenant language will permeate the invocation and blessing prayers within the Rite of Baptism.CONTINUE READING
Gospel
In today’s gospel passage, we accompany Jesus into the desert. The desert experience illustrates Jesus’ preparation period prior to entering into his public ministry. For Saint Mark, the primary emphasis of Jesus’ ministry is to proclaim and make known the Kingdom of God. The focus is covenant, for Jesus proclaims the Good News that God desires a relationship with us and as such, we are called to respond by entering into a conversation that will move and change our hearts in order to be partners in the covenant with God.CONTINUE READING
SOURCE: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University; "Build. Plant. Grow." = a free faith formation resource which aligns with the Liturgical Year of the Roman Catholic Church. The accompanying video is NOT associated with Markkula Center.
Catholic Kids Bulletin
Teacher and mom, THERESA, creates Kids’ Bulletins, a resource for Catholic kids about the readings for Sunday's Mass every week. More resources from Theresa can be found at Teachers Pay Teachers website. Click on image/text to download entire bulletin for your children.
Sermon Writer
The children's sermon excerpts below are linked to Sermon Writer, which was operated by Niell Donavan, a United Christ clergyman from 1997 until his death in 2020. His wife Dale is graciously keeping his website online FREE, subscription no longer required. As Catholic Catechists, be sure to adapt if necessary before presenting to children.
FOCUS: FIRST READING
Rainbows and Promises
Have you ever made a promise? (Give children a chance to respond.) Did you keep your promise? (Again, give the children the opportunity to respond to your question. Did you know that God made a promise? (Let children respond.) Yes, God did make a promise. Listen: God made his promise long ago. People who lived on the earth were very wicked. They did bad things and they hurt other people. Instead of worshipping God, many people worshipped rocks and pieces of carved wood that they called idols. Most of the people on earth refused to do good things or help others. God decided to destroy everything that was on the earth – all of the animals and people. But God knew that Noah was a good man. He told Noah to build a big boat and gather animals from the earth and take them inside the big boat.
FOCUS: SECOND READING
What Is Your Hope?
Today’s lesson reminds us that others may ask what we believe – what gives us hope and makes us happy. When we talk to others about our belief in God we are instructed to be gentle and show respect. We all have many different ways to look at the truth – even among Christians there will be disagreements and you may hear adults arguing about such things. Be ready to share what you believe with anyone who asks you, but do it with gentleness, love, and respect. Don’t argue. Use only kind, quiet words.
FOCUS: GOSPEL
Correcting Mistakes
Do you ever make mistakes? I sure do. Do you ever make a mistake that hurts someone?We don’t always do the right thing in the right way even though we try. Sometimes, if we are angry or hurt, we do or say things that hurt others. Jesus teaches us how to make things better. Jesus says, “Repent, and believe in the Good News ” (1:15).This word, “repent,” may be new to you. It means that you feel sorry for what you did or said that was hurtful and want to change. How do we do this?
