God Created You With a Purpose

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "God Created You With a Purpose"

Anna Hines
5 years ago
Views:

January 2019 St. Margaret Mary Religious Education News & Views After creating the world, God called it good. What an understatement! In fact, God s work is incredible!

And he created people, not merely to populate his world, but to have the capacity to know Him and to share his love with others. We ve never needed God s love more.

God Created You With a Purpose POWERSOURCE ASK JESUS: 1. To help your children realize they are wonderfully made in God s image. 2. To remind family members they each have a God-given purpose. 3.

1 January 2019 St. Margaret Mary Religious Education News & Views After creating the world, God called it good. What an understatement! In fact, God s work is incredible! Whether you look at creation up close or from far off, you must admit it s amazing. God created the tiniest bug and the largest planet. And he created people, not merely to populate his world, but to have the capacity to know Him and to share his love with others. We ve never needed God s love more. Although human sinfulness mars his perfect world, God never gives up on us. Instead, he faithfully continues working through his imperfect creations to fulfill a perfect plan. God Created You With a Purpose POWERSOURCE ASK JESUS: 1. To help your children realize they are wonderfully made in God s image. 2. To remind family members they each have a God-given purpose. 3. To reveal His plans for each person, no matter his or her age. Because January is a time for new beginnings, let s go back to the very beginning. Genesis, the Bible s first book, starts with the words In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In fact, God made the entire universe and everything in it. Young children are usually intrigued by the creatures God fashioned to fill the air, water, and land on our planet Earth. Most children s Bibles colorfully depict the variety of marvelous animals God made. Yet it s also important to emphasize God s final creative act: making people in his own image. Humans weren t just God s grand experiment; instead, our Creator has a specific purpose and plan for each of his beloved children. As kids grow, they often wonder, Why am I here? or What am I supposed to do with my life? The main reason God created people is because he wants to have a relationship with us. Our ultimate purpose is to love God and to believe in his Son, Jesus. By growing closer to God through his Word and through prayer, we can begin discovering what specific plans he has in store for our lives. As Ephesians 2:10 says, God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do. (From the BreakThrough Bible for Young Catholics)

January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God a Holy Day of Obligation On January 1st, we honor Mary as the Mother of God and as the Mother of the Church.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TOYS TO OPERATION WRAP and POP TOPS TO BENEFIT RONALD MC DONALD HOUSE CHARITIES!

Due to your generosity, over 150 toys were donated! In addition, we collected pop tops from aluminum cans.

Help Your Kids Understand the January Sunday Gospels January 6, 2019 Matthew 2:1-12 Epiphany of the Lord In today's Gospel, we hear the story of the visit by the three Magi to the Christ child.

2 January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God a Holy Day of Obligation On January 1st, we honor Mary as the Mother of God and as the Mother of the Church. What a wonderful way to begin a new year! Here, at St. Margaret Mary, Mass for the Holy Day will be offered at 10am. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TOYS TO OPERATION WRAP and POP TOPS TO BENEFIT RONALD MC DONALD HOUSE CHARITIES! As you know, the Religious Education Advent Giving Project was to donate toys which were wrapped by our Jr. High students and distributed to needy children in hospitals and shelters in Cook County. Due to your generosity, over 150 toys were donated! In addition, we collected pop tops from aluminum cans. Ronald McDonald House Charities receives payment for the value of the aluminum, plus United Scrap Metal matches the payment with a donation to RMHC. Looks like Pope Francis approves of our efforts! Help Your Kids Understand the January Sunday Gospels January 6, 2019 Matthew 2:1-12 Epiphany of the Lord In today's Gospel, we hear the story of the visit by the three Magi to the Christ child. The Magi came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These are symbols of Christ s royalty, divinity and eventual suffering and death. The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas is thought by some to be rooted in the gift giving of the Magi. January 13, 2019 Luke 3:15-16, The Baptism of the Lord Today, we hear John the Baptist address the confusion of the people who thought that John might be the Messiah. John says that he has baptized with water, but that someone will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit. In Luke s Gospel, Jesus is one of many in a crowd who were baptized. It is only after his baptism, when Jesus was removed from the crowd and is praying to his Father, that the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. January 20, 2019 John 2:1-11 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Today s Gospel describes the beginning of Jesus ministry and his first miracle. John tells us that Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding at Cana, as was Jesus mother, Mary. An awkward situation arises as the host runs out of wine. Mary is aware that Jesus possesses the ability to remedy the problem and speaks to the servant: Do whatever he tells you. Jesus tells the servants to fill six large, stone jars with water. When the headwaiter tastes the contents of the jars, he declares it to be the finest wine. This lavish response to a simple human need is a vision for us of the abundance of God s kingdom. We are confident that God can also transform our simple efforts, helping to bring the Kingdom of God to fulfillment among us. January 27, 2019 Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Today we hear that Jesus was the one sent by God to bring salvation to the world. He will do this by bringing glad tidings to the poor, liberating the captives, recovering sight for the blind, and freeing the oppressed. We are charged with continuing the mission that Jesus began, and he gives us the Holy Spirit, the helper we need to accomplish the task.

Care for our Beautiful Earth Exciting New Efforts to Clean up our Oceans and Coastlines! Take a look around, odds are you're surrounded by plastic.

Yet plastic's blessings are also a curse. That water bottle we use once and throw away will be with us for generations.

garbage dump. But one young Dutchman, Boyan Slat, has invented a device that holds promise for ridding our oceans of trash.

The device has been towed out to an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of five ocean whirlpools where much of the world's plastic accumulates.

While early trials have not been as successful as hoped, engineers are now working toward increasing the speed that the device is towed.

3 Care for our Beautiful Earth Exciting New Efforts to Clean up our Oceans and Coastlines! Take a look around, odds are you're surrounded by plastic. It's in our kitchens and in our bedrooms, it keeps our food fresh and our medicine safe. It is, in many ways, a miracle product, cheap to produce and virtually indestructible. Yet plastic's blessings are also a curse. That water bottle we use once and throw away will be with us for generations. There are campaigns to limit this plastic plague with bans on bags and straws and yet around the world, it continues to pile up, seeping into our rivers and streams and turning our oceans into a vast garbage dump. But one young Dutchman, Boyan Slat, has invented a device that holds promise for ridding our oceans of trash. In an old naval base just outside San Francisco, engineers have spent months assembling his curious contraption. It's just 2000 feet of plastic piping, affixed to a 10-foot nylon screen. The device has been towed out to an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of five ocean whirlpools where much of the world's plastic accumulates. It's designed to use the wind, waves and water currents to skim the plastic, and corral it into an area where it can be removed. While early trials have not been as successful as hoped, engineers are now working toward increasing the speed that the device is towed. The thought is that the device needs to move faster than the current moves the trash in order to capture it. In any case, experts agree that the accumulation of garbage all over our planet requires attention on many levels. Meet Baltimore s Mr. Trash Wheel and Professor Trash Wheel a pair of floating trash interceptors keeping Baltimore's waters clean. These trash wheels can collect as much as 38,000 pounds of debris in a single day. Finally, the clean-up of coastlines, particularly in third world countries, is crucial. The company, 4Ocean, is the brainchild of two surfers who took a surf trip to Bali Indonesia that would inevitably change their lives and the fate of the ocean. Devastated by the amount of plastic in the ocean, they set out to find out why no one was doing anything about it. One afternoon they came across an old fishing village where fishermen were literally pushing their boat through piles of plastic that had washed up on shore. The two surfers realized that the proliferation of plastic threatened both the ocean environment and the fishermen's livelihood. Could the fishermen use their nets, they wondered, to pull the plastic from the ocean? This idea stuck with the 2 surfers and they knew it was time to hit the drawing board. 4Ocean was born. While ocean plastic is a global problem, some areas are more severely impacted than others. After identifying the Haitian coast as a high-impact area, 4Ocean s newest Cleanup Division is headquartered in in Port-au-Prince.

MEDIA MADNESS CULTURE & TRENDS MOVIE Title: A Dog s Way Home Genre: Adventure, Family Rating: PG Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos Synopsis: In this movie, based on a novel

Our Take: As with Cameron s book and movie A Dog s Purpose, expect this to tug on your heartstrings. The perilous situations may be tough for some children to watch.

Games, Sites & Apps Super Mario Party This Nintendo Switch game offers the original board-game-style play of Mario Party but with upgraded strategic elements.

4 MEDIA MADNESS CULTURE & TRENDS MOVIE Title: A Dog s Way Home Genre: Adventure, Family Rating: PG Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos Synopsis: In this movie, based on a novel by W. Bruce Cameron, Bella the pitbull travels 400 miles to return to Lucas, her owner. The loyal dog must survive the Colorado wilderness to make it back to her person. Our Take: As with Cameron s book and movie A Dog s Purpose, expect this to tug on your heartstrings. The perilous situations may be tough for some children to watch. Discuss the concepts of being lost and found especially how Jesus searches for us, his lost sheep. Also talk about what it means to have unwavering devotion. Games, Sites & Apps Super Mario Party This Nintendo Switch game offers the original board-game-style play of Mario Party but with upgraded strategic elements. It also has 80 skill-based mini-games and Toad s Rec Room, which lets you pair up two gaming systems. Up to four people can play. Rated E, with mild cartoon violence. Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest This podcast from Pinna, an ad-free app for ages 3-8, features Grimm fairy tales with a twist. A classroom of gradeschoolers tries to predict plot points, reacts to enchanting creatures, and challenges the tales logic. Reviews call the podcast fun, daring, and highly interactive. TV Title: Let s Go, Luna! Network: PBS Kids Synopsis: This new TV series for kids ages 4 to 7 introduces viewers to cultures throughout the world. As three friends (a wombat, a butterfly, and a frog) travel with their parents performance troupe, Luna the Moon helps them learn about each region and its people, food, music, and folktales. Each episode contains two 11-minute stories. Our Take: PBS continues to make education fun and age-appropriate. This series encourages curiosity about our diverse world and teaches basic social-studies concepts. It also shows children the importance of global citizenship and cultural appreciation lessons you can reinforce when you travel as a family, even close to home. Bully Alert Researchers developed this free Android app to combat cyberbullying. The app tracks a child s public Instagram account for signs of bullying and alerts parents within two hours of the onset of any problems. Parental feedback helps the app become personalized over time. Getting Organized Nannies are so 2018! More parents are using family assistants to help with childcare, household duties, driving, and schedule management. Two moms who launched the family-assistant service Nest Easy say meal prep is one of their clients biggest needs. (various websites) Slime Is Here to Stay Love it or hate it, the slime craze is more than a fad. Forecasters say the glue-hungry goop has legs because caregivers seek out tactile, educational activities for kids. (cen.acs.org) QUICK STATS Back-to-School, Winter Edition If you ran out of ideas to keep kids busy over Christmas break, you re not alone. Last year, 58% of parents said they wished summer break were over after 13 days. (businesswire.com) Soup s On Use Care! Almost 10,000 U.S. children receive burns from instant-soup products every year. (aap.org) On the Horizon? Although only about 5% of families own a virtual reality headset, 62% of parents believe VR will prove educational for their kids. (smallbiztrends.com; commonsensemedia.org) This page is designed to help educate parents and isn t meant to endorse any movie, music, or product. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions about what your children watch, read, listen to, and play.

5 January SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 31 New Year s Eve; NO ; All Offices are closed Mary, Mother of God; Holy Day of Obligation; 10am 8 Christmas Break; NO ; Open. 2 9 Open 3 Open st Communion Blessing Rite 5pm Mass st Communion Blessing Rite 8 & 10 am Masses Volunteer Appreciation Dinner Parish Mission Begins NO Parish Mission Day 2 22 NO Parish Mission Day 3 23 NO

God Created You With a Purpose POWERSOURCE. January 2019 ASK JESUS:

January 2019 God Created You With a Purpose POWERSOURCE ASK JESUS: 1. To help your children realize they are wonderfully made in God s image. 2. To remind family members they each have a God-given purpose.