Primary Session
Matthew 6:24-34
Opening Prayer
Let us pray.
Thank you, God, for showing us how much you love us.
Help us to grow closer to you each day.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
Opening Life Reflection
The theme for today is God’s love for us. Provide magazine clippings of families and friends showing love for each other. To begin, invite the children to examine the pictures and discuss what they show about God. Provide blank sheets of paper and glue for each child, and invite the children to make collages to show how they imagine God. Discuss:
• What is God like?
• How do you learn about God?
• What helps you to understand how much God loves you?
Allow time for discussion. Our families and friends help to show us how much God loves us. Yet, God loves us more then we can ever imagine.
Listening to the Word of God
In today’s Gospel listen to Jesus explain that God the Father knows all of our needs, and we can depend on God.
Read Matthew 6:26, 31-34
Allow for silence.
Scripture Discussion Starters
• What does Jesus tell us about God’s creation?
• Why does Jesus say that we should not worry?
• What will happen if we depend on God’s love for us?
Scripture Background
Provide 2-3 minutes of background information on the Gospel using the Catechist Background section.
In today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus preaches calm assurance in God’s loving care for us. He assures us that our worrying about tomorrow will not provide for our future. God will provide for the future that is of greatest importance for those who trust in his care.
Scripture often describes God’s love like that or even greater than the love of a parent for his or her child. Because of love for us, God chooses to care for each and every one of us. We experience God’s love for us when we place our complete trust in him.
Questions for Deeper Reflection
• What happens during the springtime when grass is no longer brown but turns green?
• How do you show that you trust someone who loves you?
• Why is trusting God important?
Doctrinal Discussion Starters
God’s Love for Us
God is so much greater than we can ever imagine. However we can know God. We have been blessed with an experience of God in creation, throughout salvation history, and finally in Jesus Christ, sent to save us because of God’s great love for us.
Scripture describes God as loving and faithful. The images in Scripture that describe this loving God include “spouse,” “father,” and “mother.”
In the New Testament Jesus refers to God as our heavenly “Father.” Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as to their loving Father (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:3). The image of a close and trustworthy friend is also used in the New Testament to describe the love of God for us. “I have called you friends,” Jesus says to his disciples (John. 15:15.).
God loves and cares deeply for each of us. We are greatly blessed. We can love one another because God has first loved us.
• How is God like a mother?
• How is God like a father?
• How is God like a friend?
Call Us Today!