Hello Families,
Look for our Lenten art project going up in the Gathering Area at church in the next week Everyone did a great job! Please say extra prayers for our Confirmation class as we quickly approach Confirmation on Wednesday March 25\ at 6:30pm Mass at St. Valentine Church. Please save the date for our VBS week, June 22-26, theme and more information to follow.
Lent is a season for repentance. It is a season during which we are called to reflect upon and to live deeply the promises of Baptism. The well and the conversation about water immediately recall for us the Sacrament of Baptism. As the Samaritan woman was converted and sent on a mission because of the conversation about water, we too are converted and sent by our Baptism to preach the good news of Jesus to others. Take this opportunity to reflect upon the importance of Baptism with your family. If you have photos or other mementos of your family’s Baptisms, bring them out and take some time to recall the day of Baptism and its importance to you and your family. Create a prayer table that includes these mementos and a bowl of holy water. After you have spent some time talking about Baptism, invite everyone to listen carefully and prayerfully to today’s Gospel. Read John 4:5-42 together. Ask how Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well is like Baptism. (Jesus knows the woman’s sin and forgives her. The woman comes to know Jesus as the Messiah. The woman invites others to meet Jesus.) Pray a prayer of blessing for each member of the family that God will help each one live the promises of his or her Baptism. Pray together the Lord’s Prayer.
Family Challenge – The Samaritan woman acknowledged her sins before Jesus in today’s Gospel story. Go to confession as a family this week (Remember the Act of Contrition you memorized a few weeks ago!)
Liturgy Link – Find the eighth station of the cross in your church. What is happening in this station?
Partners in Faith,
Phyllis Chudzinski
www.loyolapress.com, www.52sundays.com