Office of Marriage & Family Life

Take time to read and reflect on the Scriptures for this Sunday.

Don’t have access to a Bible?

Visit www.usccb.org/bible/readings or download an app such as Laudate or iBreviary to access the Mass readings.
 

Ezekiel 22:20-26

The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51

I love you Lord, my strength.

1 Thessalonians 1:5C-10

From you the word of God has sounded forth.

Matthew 22:34-40

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Five steps for teaching our children to love their neighbor (and their brothers and sisters!)

• Ask them if they 1) love their brother or sister, or 2) their brother or sister drives them crazy, or 3) both. If they are an only child, you can ask them about how they feel about a close friend or even you as a parent. Let them answer whichever way they prefer. Their answer may depend upon what is happening that day.

• Tell them about how you loved your brother or sister even though they made you mad sometimes. Stories about our own relationships with our siblings can really validate our children and encourage them to keep loving each other. 

• Tell them that loving another person is wanting and choosing what’s best for the other. Let them know that this isn’t always easy to do. It’s okay if we make mistakes sometimes, as long as we always try our best.

• Ask them how they think God feels about how we treat those close to us. You can try sharing with them how you feel about the way they treat their siblings, and then see if they can imagine God feeling the same way. After all, God is our Father!

• Tell them about a time you noticed them doing something loving for their siblings, even when they might not have felt like it. This provides a chance for you to celebrate them, and encourages your children to think of themselves as someone who can love even when they don’t feel like it. 

Sailors learn that they can’t control which way the wind is blowing.

Instead, they adjust their sails to take advantage of the wind when it’s blowing the right way, or to prevent it from blowing them off course when it’s blowing the wrong way. 

Our emotions can be like the wind. Sometimes they push us in the right direction. Sometimes they don’t. 

Our faith teaches us that, even when our emotions make it hard for us to do the loving thing for our neighbor, we can still choose to do the good for them. We can choose to be kind to our sister even though she did something that upset us. We can choose to do a chore for our family even though we wanted to relax or play instead. We can choose to speak up for our friend when our other friends are making fun of him. 

It pleases God when we do the loving thing for our neighbor even when we might not feel like it. It also helps us grow to be more like his son Jesus.