Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord and the incarnation of the Divine Word. Its principal Gospel Lesson is John 1:1-14, not the account of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem that we hear in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:1-14). During the brief liturgical season of Christmas, we take time to reflect on:
- how Christmas extends well beyond the stories told on Christmas Eve to the mystery of how God came to us to share our life in the person of Jesus of Nazareth
- how God is known in the flesh and blood of real human experience
- how God is not a far away creative power
- how we come to know God more deeply by our relationship with Jesus
- how we are made in the image of God which is where we recognize our true calling and dignity.
|
Scroll down this page to the current Sunday to find resources and suggestions for each week. Since you know your family's needs better than anyone, you will be able to use these resources and suggestions in ways uniquely appropriate to your family.
|
|
Because of COVID restrictions, we were not able to host our usual Christmas pageant this year. But you can watch the pageant from last year here! Click on the video at right.
The children of St. Luke's and their families worked with Mother Mary Kisner to create this virtual pageant in the time of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Merry Christmas!! |
|
The First Sunday after Christmas - December 26
The possibility that God might actually care about our smallest distractions and pain, and walk within us in the most extreme joy and sorrow that life has to offer, seems far more believable when we recall the reality of Jesus' humanity. The Word made flesh. Meat. Carne de Dios. For many Christians the most compelling aspect of the story of Jesus is was that he was fully human. That he walked on our earth, had dirt in his sandals, ate food, went hungry, bled, ran and walked, cried and suffered. Immanuel. God is with us. The fact confronts us that our God really knows how these things feel. Having parents, getting angry, feeling abandoned. All very human experiences.
Readings for this SundayThe readings for The First Sunday after Christmas are:
(Click on the link for the text of each reading from this Sunday.) |
Godly Play online!Enrichment Story
This week our enrichment story deepens our appreciation of the mystery of Christmas. |
|
|
Resource CornerThe video below introduces the sometimes mysterious Gospel of John.
Family Activity
So much of Christmas seems to revolve around family and the importance of family in our religious life. We know that Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness to God enabled them to cooperate in God’s plan for our salvation by accepting the responsibility to raise God’s Son, Jesus. From his parents, Jesus learned how to be a faithful believer in his Jewish tradition. In Luke's gospel, Simeon’s prophecy about Mary’s sorrow alerts us to the importance of a family’s commitment to one another, a commitment that is expressed in both good times and bad. Gather as a family and recall times when your family showed its commitment to one another in good times and in bad. Recall times when your immediate family was supported by members of your extended family. We see in the family of Jesus an example for our own family life. Read together Luke 2:22-40. Joseph and Mary expressed their faithfulness to God through their observance of the Law of Moses. Simeon prophesied the grief that Mary would experience at the foot of Jesus’ cross. One of the blessings of family life is our commitment to one another, sharing good times and supporting one another through difficult times. Conclude in prayer together thanking God for the grace expressed in your family’s commitment to another. Write a prayer together, thanking God for your family life and asking God to strengthen your family’s commitment to one another. Pray this prayer together. |
Activities for Children Click on the file below to download "The Sunday Paper and "The Sunday Paper - Junior" for this week. 
Putting faith into practice (Use examples from everyday life to teach a vital truth about the faith. They don't need to be structured into a lesson plan but are part of how we live out our faith.)
Facebook discussion group
Also available for parents is a special Facebook Group where parents can support one another, ask questions, offer advice, share ideas and insights as we work together to strengthen the faith of our children. For permission to participate in this discussion forum, please contact Mother Mary at youth@stlukeslebanon.org | ||||
The Second sunday after Christmas - January 2
Today's gospel lesson tells us of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt. In this account they become refugees in Egypt as they run from King Herod's threats of death to the child Jesus. Have we ever run away when danger threatens - even into the security and safety of our own homes as in the current pandemic? Sometimes running away is the only solution to preserve life. But God will always being us back like he brought back the exiles from Babylon (first lesson), and the Holy Family from Egypt (gospel lesson) all because we are truly God's children (epistle Lesson).
Readings for this SundayThe readings for The Second Sunday after Christmas are:
(Click on the link for the text of each reading from this Sunday.) Resource CornerAn animated telling of how Jesus got separated from his parents - and what happened afterwards!
Activities for Children
Click on the file below to download The "Sunday Paper" for this week.
Family Activity
Today's Gospel describes a time of anxiety in the life of Jesus' family. We can imagine their panic and worry as they discovered that Jesus was not with the caravan returning to Nazareth. The Holy Family journeyed with family members and friends because traveling alone was dangerous. When they found Jesus at the Temple, Jesus spoke like a typical adolescent, unsympathetic to his parents' concern. Yet his words teach an important lesson about reducing anxiety in our family life. In essence, Jesus says, “If you had remembered who I am, you would have known where to find me.” In their panic, Mary and Joseph had forgotten what had been told to them before Jesus' birth, that their son was the Son of God. Knowing a person well helps reduce our anxieties for them because we can better predict how they will behave, and we know their capacity to handle the challenges life might present to them. As you gather as a family, have fun playing the game “How well do you know me?” Take turns trying to stump one another by asking family members questions about yourself, such as “What is my favorite memory of a family vacation?” “Given a choice, what dinner menu would I pick?” “If I could travel anywhere in the world, where would I go?” One member of the family might prepare and read the questions aloud as each person writes down the answers. Family members then take turns guessing the answers, playing this game as a quiz show. Observe that one thing about families is that we learn to know each other well. |
Godly Play Online!The Greatest Parable
Part 2 is split into two sections (A & B) so that you can pause in the middle and reflect as indicated.
Part 2 A
Part 2 B
Facebook discussion group
Also available for parents is a special Facebook Group where parents can support one another, ask questions, offer advice, share ideas and insights as we work together to strengthen the faith of our children. For permission to participate in this discussion forum, please contact Mother Mary at youth@stlukeslebanon.org | ||||
For Grades 1, 2, and 3
Younger children generally want to please adults, but they may still need support in following family rules. Help children understand the importance of obeying their parents and other adults who care for them by pointing out that as a child, Jesus honored and obeyed his family.
Materials Needed
Younger children generally want to please adults, but they may still need support in following family rules. Help children understand the importance of obeying their parents and other adults who care for them by pointing out that as a child, Jesus honored and obeyed his family.
Materials Needed
- None
- Share a family rule with the children, such as “In my family, we all take turns setting the table.” Ask: What is a rule in your family? As children answer, help them identify why the rule is important to follow (for example, to stay safe, to be polite or kind, to be helpful, to get plenty of rest). Say: Today we’ll read about the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We normally think about Jesus as a baby or as an adult, but in today’s Gospel, Jesus was 12 years old. He went to the Temple with Mary and Joseph. Listen closely to learn what happened.
- Read today’s Gospel, Luke 2:41–52.
- Say: Jesus is God’s Son, but he was still a child. He needed Mary and Joseph to be safe. He needed to obey them. Sometimes we may not want to obey our family’s rules. We can remember that Jesus obeyed his parents. We can ask him to help us.
- Close in prayer by asking Jesus to help us be children who respect and obey our parents and follow their rules. Pray together the Sign of the Cross.
For Grades 4, 5, and 6
Older children are learning that they have an important role to play in helping make their families strong. We can encourage them to continue to show respect and honor to their parents by following the example of Jesus and asking for Jesus' help in prayer.
Materials Needed
Older children are learning that they have an important role to play in helping make their families strong. We can encourage them to continue to show respect and honor to their parents by following the example of Jesus and asking for Jesus' help in prayer.
Materials Needed
- None
- Say: Today we are going to learn our Sunday Gospel through skits. One group will help us by acting out our Gospel reading. The second group will help us understand what our Gospel means for us today. Divide into two groups for the two skits.
- Invite the first group to come to the front and assign children to the roles of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, family and friends in the caravan, and teachers in the Temple. Invite this group to act out today's Gospel, Luke 2:41-52, as you read it aloud. Allow time for the children to act out their roles and to improvise the conversations that might have taken place. When finished, thank the children who participated in the skit and ask them to return to their seats.
- Say: This Gospel reminds us how important it is that we respect and obey our parents. Jesus respected and obeyed his parents when he returned with them to Jerusalem. This helped make his family strong. When we obey our parents and show our love for them, we help make our families strong.
- Say: Think about some situations in which we need to show honor and respect to our parents. I will ask members of the second group to act out these situations so that we learn better what it means to respect our parents. Invite volunteers to identify situations—a parent asks a child to set the dinner table, a parent tells the children that it is time to clean up their toys, and so on—and assign members of the second group to role-play these situations.