For Adults / Youth: Cabin Fever Faith, Social Distance and God!
Reflection / Discussion Questions
- In what ways does the created world lead you to believe in the existence of God?
- Fr. LeRoy talks about the relationship between faith and doubt: our doubts can sometimes act as conduits to find faith. Do you agree? Where has this been true in your life?
- God does not social distance himself from us, but sent Jesus right into our reality so that we could experience a living encounter with him. How can we have eyes to see and ears to hear the signs God is giving us to spur on our faith during this time? In what ways can you make yourself open to an encounter with the risen Lord today?
Parent Video
Key Points
- How are you doing? Remember, you’re allowed to not be the best at everything right now and always. All we can do is our best. If that means that your kids eat mac and cheese several days in a row or that you bounce a baby while on a Zoom meeting for work, that’s okay! God doesn’t take away our difficult times, but because of our faith, we know that we are not alone, even when life is difficult.
- Our household has settled into a pattern of regular activities during this covid containment. Maybe this is true for you too. Looking toward the future, it’s going to be hard to return to our regular lives. Time will be separated as before covid and after covid. Recognize the way that change can be difficult, no matter what that change is.
- Some households will return to life in the community at later dates than others. Let’s prepare ourselves to be patent with ourselves and the people around us as we each need to discern the right exposure for our families.
- Watch Jeff Gaffigan’s “Kids, quarantine and sanity are not compatible” video, and feel better.
Family Greeting
Video Summary
- Take a minute to check in with each other. 1) Go around the circle. Each person chooses a number to represent how they are doing, 10 being the best, and 1 being the worst. Just say the numbers. 2) Go around the circle again repeating your number and why you chose it in 1-2 sentences.
- The Prayer of the Goat! 🙂
- We’re still in the Easter Season!
- Last week at Mass we would have heard the story of doubting Thomas. Sometimes Thomas gets a bad rap because he wants proof of Jesus’ resurrection, but most of us are like Thomas in some way. We have a difficult time believing in anything that we can not prove for ourselves.
- God knows that human beings need evidence to understand and believe, so there are many ways God sends signs to us to help us believe in him and in the truth of his love for us.
- We learn about God’s love when we are loved by others. We can believe that Jesus rose from the dead because of the way that Jesus speaks to us in prayer. We can recognize that God wanted us to see goodness in the world in the way that we notice beauty in nature, art, and music.
- The Easter Season is the perfect time to celebrate what’s right in the world!
Sharing a Song
Our theme song! Hey, I miss my helpers! Record yourself singing and doing the actions and send your recording, or a link to your YouTube video to me!
Refrain: Fully Rely on God! Fully Rely on God! F – R – O – G faithfully. Fully Rely on God!
Verse: Open my eyes that I might see you, open my ears to hear your voice. Open my heart that I may come to know, the way, the truth and the life!
Family Video
Today’s family video is Easter trivia! Make teams or work together as one team. How many can you get right?
Content Review
Did you know all of the answers to the trivia questions? Which ones did you get wrong? Go back in the video to find the ones you got wrong and google the answers. Discuss what you thought the answers were compared to the correct answers. Optional: hand out a prize for the team or the person who had the most right answers!
Family Activities
Spring Scavenger Hunt
Celebrate what’s right in the world by going into nature to observe creation! Directions and a free printable here!
Sharing Goodness: Rock Decorating
Needed: Rocks of varying sizes and shapes. Markers (sharpies work well!) or Paints (acrylic works best).
- Choose how you will decorate your rocks. Maybe you want to put positive sayings on your rocks, or maybe you want to decorate your rocks like animals or… Pokemon! Choose something that you think another person would like.
- Draw or paint on your rocks.
- Go put your rocks somewhere another person might find them, to bring some cheer to their day!
- Post your public pictures on social media with the #taocatholic tag to share them with the rest of us, or send your pictures to Lisa!
For Families with Teens: Ted Talk
Take notes as you watch, to remind yourself of the images you are seeing and the phrases you are hearing.
Questions for Discussion
- What images did you see in this video? What did you hear DeWitt say?
- What surprised you about this video? What seemed like something you already knew?
- What part of DeWitt’s message connects with your life today?
- What is your “juice camera”? What motivates you to see goodness in the world?
- Thinking about this video and your role as a Christian, what do you think God is calling you to do right now?
Online Catholic Youth Group
Project YM live allows teens to log in for games, teachings and music from top Catholic Youth speakers across the country. Sessions go live from 7-8pm on Wednesday nights. More information here.
Supplemental Materials: Children’s Liturgy of the Word
Gospel Background and home lessons at Loyola Sunday Connection
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics — Link to lesson of the week.
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