Chapter 5: On the Mountain-A Model for Inspiration

1.  Have you read Chapter IV: The Laity in Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church?  How are we called to glorify God and share in His creative nature?

2.  Where is your favorite place to encounter Christ?

3.  What visual remembrances of your relationship with the Lord do you cherish?

4.  How are you preparing your child(ren) to go into the world and make disciples for the Lord?

5.  Do you reflect upon the spiritual significance of your role as wife and mother?  How do you emphasize this facet in light of the "details of our lives" that threaten to overwhelm?

Action point-For each child in your household, write out a list of characteristics (personality traits, skills, interests, etc.) that you believe God can use for his purposes.  Referring to the list you just made, write a letter to each child expressing what you see in him or her and affirming that God has a special place for that child in his kingdom purposes.  Whether you share the letter with your child now or save it for a future time depends on your circumstances.  Don't forget to commit this list to the Lord in prayer and specifically ask him for help in inspiring that child to use his or her gifts to help bring about God's kingdom.

Chapter 4: The Grace of Forgiveness in Action

1.  Share a teachable moment you have had with your child(ren) regarding sin.

2.  What role does/should guilt play in our parenting?

3.  The last night Jesus had with his disciples, he called them "little children" (John 13:33).  Does this tell you anything about his attitude toward these grown men who were his most devoted followers?  Read John 14:1 [Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.] and see what his continued response was to Peter after he had confronted him with the fact that he would deny Christ.  How does this show the loving grace that Jesus extended to his disciples?  How does he want you to extend it to your children?

4.  The Bible makes it clear that we are to discipline and correct our children when they do wrong.  How do you do this faithfully while still giving them the gift of grace?

5.  What discipline techniques do you find most effective?

Action Point-Make forgiveness an explicit part of your corrective interactions this week.

Chapter 3: The Grace of Encouraging Words

1.  Do you deliberately use "words of life" (encouraging and affirming words) with your child(ren)?  with yourself?  with those outside your home?

2.  The Boys Town Model of Parenting suggests that we strive for a 5:1 ratio of positive/corrective interactions with our child(ren).  Where do you fall most days?  Do you see trends (times, situations, physical stresses) that increase the negative interactions?  Can you take steps to change these circumstances and/or readjust your expectations?

3.  How can we give words of instruction and training without nagging, criticism or reprimands?

4.  Read Romans 2:4 [Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?]  According to this verse, what leads us to repent?  How specifically does God what you to extend his grace to your children so that his kindness, through you, will lead them to repentance?

Action Point-Take time this week to express your appreciation to those around you and to God.

Chapter 2: The Grace of Time Together

1.  How/when do you make time to be a loving presence for your child(ren)?

2.  How do you and your child(ren) interact differently when you use a servant-leadership style of parenting versus commands/threats/guilt/manipulation?

3.  How do you discipline with love in your home?

4.  Write down what tends to irritate you about each of your children and sometimes keeps you from showing God's gracious love.  Pray for each child he has given you and make a plan for how you will respond more graciously to him or her, especially in those irritating situations.

Chapter 1: Out of the Boat-A Model

Part 1 Preface: The Gift of Grace and Chapter 1: Out of the Boat-A Model for Grace (pages 21-29)

Blue text question taken from the text's "For Study and Discussion"

Biblical quotations from Revised Standard Version Bible

1.  How can you help yourself and your child(ren) from falling into Satan's trap of negative thinking as Peter did at the beginning of the chapter?  Do you see a correlation between negativity and the inability to recognize Christ's presence?  How do you refocus that relationship?

2.  Read Mark 14:66-72

[66] And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the maids of the high priest came; [67] and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus." [68] But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean." And he went out into the gateway. [69] And the maid saw him, and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." [70] But again he denied it. And after a little while again the bystanders said to Peter, "Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean." [71] But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know this man of whom you speak." [72] And immediately the cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.

and then 1 Peter 4:8 [Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins]. 

Knowing that Christ gave Peter grace after he failed so miserably, how would he have you extend this kind of grace to your own child(ren)?  What would this look like in your daily interactions?

3.  How do you help your child(ren) receive grace?  give grace?

4.  What concrete step can you take this week to highlight grace in your home?

Introduction: The Ministry of Motherhood

In The Ministry of Motherhood, Sally Clarkson addresses how mothers can effectively reach the precious lives entrusted to their care by looking to the life and ministry of Jesus. She examines the relationship between Jesus and his disciples, and incorporates a plan for influencing children for Christ using the acronym GIFTS grace, inspiration, faith, training and service. It is an uncomplicated, yet strategic, plan for passing on crucial gifts to your children. In the dailyness of providing for your children’s physical, emotional and social needs, GIFTS provides a way to insure that vital opportunities for spiritual nurture and training are not lost in the shuffle.

Read more at her website www.wholeheart.org

Fishers of Men

As a wrap-up to Fulton Sheen's book on the priesthood, A Priest Is Not His Own, we watched a video made for theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Vocations and Priestly Formation by Grassroots Films.  The goal of the 18 minute video, Fishers of Men, is to give people a look in on the life of a Roman Catholic Priest and invite young men to open their hearts to the call.
1.  How can we challenge our children to be something remarkable?
2.  What image(s) most struck you?  Why?
3.  What influence did Pope John Paul II have on your formation?
4.  How can we, as mothers, encourage and support our children’s vocations?