Lunchtime Catechesis: Kindness

Today I will begin a series of occasional blogs called Lunchtime Catechesis. In our homeschool, we eat lunch together and practice our manners, and as we finish up and move on to dessert, we pull out our bibles and catechisms. We say the Blessing after Meals, and then we sing a hymn related to the season.
Some days, I read to them from their catechism and related scriptures or stories. Other days, we read the daily mass readings and discuss, or the life of  a saint. My children are ages 0-6 at this time.
Even though they are on winter break, we persist in daily catechesis.

I am sharing these with you in the hopes of giving you ideas about how easy it is to build catechesis into your day. Catechesis is the ACT OF MAKING DISCIPLES. It is critical. Building this lesson took less than five minutes of my time because I am familiar with scripture, catechism, and using the index in many of our books. Get to know your own resources and you too can put something together easily and quickly... you most certainly do not need to follow this format, but I wanted to share it in case it gives you some ideas.

Today's theme: Kindness. (I adapt these based on what I see my kids needing to work on)

RESOURCES:

The Illustrated Children's Bible
Our Holy Faith Book One
Angel Food for Boys and Girls Vol I

DO:

1. Pray the Blessing After Meals, p 90 in OHF
2. Sing: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
2. Read the Catechism in OHF . p 50 "Jesus and His Helpers."

ASK:

Q: How did the 12 Apostles learn from Jesus?
Q: What did he tell them about prayer? What do we do to make sure we listen to Jesus about prayer?
Q: What did he tell them about how they should act towards one another and the rest of the world?

READ:

Angel Stories p. 63-66 "16. The Saturday Morning Special."

EXPLAIN:

One of the first steps to help us behave kindly towards one another is to remember to forgive one another when we have wronged each other. Let's open up the Bible and see what it says about forgiveness and being kind to one another.

READ:

The Illustrated Children's Bible, p 388: For Those Who have Wronged Us
Ask for narration (ask the child to tell the story back to you)

DISCUSS:

Any questions the children have about forgiveness, kindness, and what He expects from those who lead and those who follow.

PRAY:

-- for the successors of the 12 apostles, especially the Pope, that we might be able to follow their teachings
-- for the ability to forgive each other and be kind
-- for greater proficiency in prayer.