Through Another Lens: Reflections on the Gospels Year A

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Our faith in Jesus leads us to believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus, given to us so that we may have eternal life. Conclude in prayer together that we will grow in our understanding and faith in the Eucharist. Young people often have a great curiosity about matters of faith. We can help them understand that there are many things that we may never know, but that God has shared with us everything that we need to know to have faith in Jesus.

To know a few facts about a person does not necessarily mean that we know that person well. If someone knew you only as a member of your family, what might they know about you? Accept all reasonable answers. Would knowing that you go to a particular school add any additional information?


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Would this be enough to know you well? What information does the crowd know about Jesus? Is this enough to know Jesus well? What does Jesus say a person must do to know him well? Jesus says that those who listen to God will know that Jesus came from God. This is important for us to understand because there are many details about Jesus' life that we don't know. But knowing these details would not tell us what we need to know about Jesus. Scripture teaches us to have faith that Jesus is God's Son who brings us salvation.

We also have the gift that Jesus gave us in the Eucharist. We grow closer to Jesus when we celebrate the Eucharist. Conclude in prayer together that we will grow in our understanding and faith in Jesus through our celebration of the Eucharist. Pray together the Act of Faith. Jesus is the bread of life. He gives us his Body and Blood as bread so that we may have eternal life. When we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, our lives begin to reflect the reality that our communion with Jesus prepares in us.

Our Eucharist leads us to live as people of the promise, confident that we will one day share the fullness of life with God. As you gather as a family, talk about our hope that one day we will share eternal life with God in heaven. This hope can transform the way we live our daily lives, calling us to be people of hope and expectation.


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    • Observe that Jesus taught us that those who listen to God know that Jesus has been sent by God for the life of the world. Jesus fulfills this promise to us through his passion, death, and Resurrection. He gives us the gift of himself in the Eucharist, which is his Body and Blood, given so that we may have eternal life. Looking to purchase for your parish or school? Contact your Consultant or Customer Service.

    Making the Connection Grades 1, 2, and 3 Young children are literal thinkers, but they are eager to learn the language of our faith. Materials Needed A slide projector and a slide Screen or blank wall on which to project the image Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings Set up the slide projector. These kinds of daily choices were now my reality. Having time to read, discuss, reflect, and sometimes even pray felt like a luxury.

    In my conversations with other mothers, the issue of personal worth and value often arises. In our former lives, we were used to judging our worth by certain measures of success such as public approval or recognition. As someone who craves social interaction to stay sharpened, I found the environment of the home isolating: I was isolated from the things that formerly stimulated my growth personally, spiritually, and intellectually.

    The scope of my social circles and influence was narrowing.

    Through Another Lens: Reflections on the Gospels Year A - download pdf or read online

    The measures of success that I formerly looked to were stripped away. In the rare times when no demands were being made of me usually at 4 a. I thought about God and what he was doing in my life. I started to realize what informed my definition of success. I started to recognize that over the years I developed a distorted notion of success that stemmed from an incorrect vision of how God viewed me.

    I found my value through what others thought of me and my security in my position among my peers. If I was doing better than my peers, I felt secure. If I was not achieving as much or more than them, I felt a failure. And based on my current stage of life in comparison to my close friends, all of whom were still unmarried and progressing in their professional careers in law, medicine and finance, I was not living up to par. For so long I resisted conforming to conventional female roles. But here I was, on maternity leave, a stay-at-home wife and mother, changing diapers and cooking meals—what was I doing with my life?

    Why did I have this deep-rooted belief that the roles of wife and mother were inferior? Certainly a woman's value should not be measured by her fulfillment of domestic responsibility. But by minimizing my unique role in the home I was perpetuating the exact attitude feminism speaks against that devalue women. Not only that, I was devaluing the God-given womanly qualities that complement and serve family in a significant way.

    The role of wife and mother in our postmodern generation is complicated with women holding important roles both in private and public spheres. Now that my maternity leave is finished and I have returned to work full-time I can understand the tension women experience juggling responsibilities at home and at work. One new and significant way God is at work in my life is teaching me, through the practical life lesson of parenthood, the meaning of the Gospel. Through this process of self-examination God is pointing out my deep-rooted issues of self-centeredness and insecurity.

    Although it's hard to face, I am not left hopeless. God is reminding me of His solution to my sin through the Gospel. I am reminded of what a perfect parent God is by first demonstrating sacrificial and long-suffering love to us through Jesus Christ. Now as a parent I can understand, in my own human way, the depth of compassion and long-suffering God has for humanity. The sacrificial relationship between parent and child was modelled by Jesus Christ when he chose to give up his life on the cross for the salvation of humankind.

    New life begins when one sacrifices oneself to serve another. As in the birth process, new life must emerge out of a path of pain and suffering. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" John This gospel principle of dying to oneself to bring new life is parallelled in parenting. As a parent my daily choices involve dying to myself to put the interests and needs of my child ahead of mine.

    I prioritize my child because I want to see him flourish. On a cosmic scale, Jesus modelled dying to himself in order to bring humanity hope and new life. Re-learning the Gospel through the lens of parenthood has given me insight in times of discouragement and new fruit in my spiritual relationship with God. I have begun to taste the new kind of fruit that God wants to bear in my life. As we die to our old ways God brings us new joy in other areas of our life through our relationship with our son. There are areas in our life that would not have been challenged or cultivated if not for having a child.

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    We've seen that having children has brought depth to our relationships: First, having our son has brought a new dimension to our marriage and helped solidify our marriage commitment. Second, we've also grown in our respect and honour of our parents now that we understand a bit better what they endured.

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    Furthermore, our son has given us an opportunity to connect with our neighbours and cultivate relationships within our community. Similarly, as Christians, we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and that our faith has the power to change all our relationships with others. Use these examples to discuss expectations that people have regarding the behavior of others. Now ask the young people to recall a time when a parent, teacher, or friend seemed surprised by an action that showed their maturity for example, demonstrating a new ability, accepting a new responsibility, or showing independence.

    Why do you think these actions were a surprise to others? Accept all reasonable answers. Acknowledge that as young people grow to maturity, they experience adjustments in their relationships with others as expectations change. Some wonder that he is the same person whom they thought they knew.

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    Some took offense at him. How might you explain this response to Jesus and his teaching? What do some of the people of Nazareth know about Jesus? They know that Jesus is a carpenter, and they know his family. As Christians, we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, and this faith has the power to change all our relationships.

    How does faith in Jesus as the Son of God transform our relationship with God and with one another? Accept all reasonable answers, for example: Jesus saves us from sin and restores our relationship with God. In Christ, we are children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. Conclude in prayer together, asking God to give us faith to know Jesus truly, the Son of God who saves us from sin. Pray together the Act of Faith or the psalm for this Sunday, Psalm Our family plays an important role in shaping us and forming our self-identity. In family life, we find a safe place to discover who we are and who God calls us to be.

    But sometimes the influences from outside our family can make us unrecognizable to those who know us best. These outside influences can lead us away from God, or they can lead us toward a deeper relationship with God. They could know him only as the son of Mary. We hope that through our family life we will be encouraged to filter the many influences on our lives through the lens of faith so that we will become the person that God calls us to be. As you gather as a family, talk about the people and events that are influencing members of your family. Acknowledge that many of these people and events are positive influences, helping us be better people and leading us to a deeper relationship with God.

    Also acknowledge, however, that there are negative influences in our lives that risk pulling us away from God. Observe that Jesus was a person who allowed his relationship with God to be the most important thing in his life. This led many people to have faith in him as the Son of God. However, not everyone could recognize this about Jesus.

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    Conclude by praying together that our families will continue to help us follow God in our lives. Pray together the Prayer for Vocations. Looking to purchase for your parish or school? Contact your Consultant or Customer Service. Making the Connection Grades 1, 2, and 3 Young children develop their self-identity in the context of their family.