Chapter 16: Training Children for Tribulation

1.  Whose lives have you chosen to be involved with for the sake of Christ?

2.  How does our Catholic recognition of the efficacy of suffering on earth (offering it up) in light of eternity help put struggles into perspective (CCC 2015-2016)?

3.  When has your own trust in God been tested?  What helped you to cling to Him?

4.  Think of some times when you've had the urge to step into a situation that was difficult for your children and "fix" it for them.  What happened?  What are some ways you can train your children to cope with trouble in a godly, mature manner?

Action point-Pray and meditate upon Bl. Mother Teresa's version of the Paradoxical Commandments:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Chapter 15: Training Children to Pray Effectively

1.  How do you teach your children to pray?

2.  What are some of your favorite family prayers/spiritual activities?

3.  How/when do you incorporate prayer into your daily routine?

4.  Share an example of prayer changing your perspective on a situation.

Action Point-
As training in prayer, study the Lord's prayer with your children.  Go through every line and discuss what it means.  Help them memorize it.  Then say the prayer together every morning or every night before you go to bed.  (See Catechism of the Catholic Church 2759-2865, click the purple next arrow to continue the text)

Chapter 14: Training Children to Think

1.  What practical means do you use to help keep your children innocent and pure?

2.  How do you prepare them for/walk them through difficulties?

3.  What role do guardian angels play in the spiritual life of your family?

4.  Hebrews 12:11 basically admits that discipline is not fun; in the short term, it brings sorrow instead of joy.  But what does it say is the long term result of this process of discipline [For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.]?  Can you think of issues with your children where you tend to back off from discipline because the process is so uncomfortable?  List two ways in which you will strengthen your approach to loving discipline this month.  Ask for God's help and perhaps enlist the help of a friend to keep you accountable for this.

Action Point-Read from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25-34 ["Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'  For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.  "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.]  Entrust your worries and those of your children to the Lord.

Chapter 13: Persistent Miracles-a Model for Training

1.  What people, books or other sources have been valuable to your own training?

2.  Which methods of training your children have you found to be effective?

3.  What helps you to persevere in your vocation as mother, especially when your efforts seem futile?

4.  Write down what you think should be the primary goal of our instruction and training.  Then read 1 Tim 1:5 [whereas the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.]  What does this verse say about the goal of our instruction?  How does your stated goal compare with the one that Paul expressed to Timothy?  What changes, if any, do you need to make to your goals and daily responses in the light of this comparison?

Action Point-The book of Proverbs was written to teach young people how to be wise and how to have godly character.  Determine to read from the first four chapters of Proverbs each day for one month to your children.  Ask them to make a list of the wise principles they hear as you go along.  Memorize one verse together each week and say it aloud daily. 

Chapter 12: Faith in the Spirit's Power

1.  How do you sanctify the "mundane moments" of life?

2.  What techniques do you use to avoid getting angry and frustrated every time you feel you can justify it?

3.  Share an example of a time when you made a conscious effort to yield your emotions/actions to the Holy Spirit.

4.  How does recognizing the limitations of your responsibility in the care of your children force you to rely on God?  What practical means help you?

Action Point-According to Ephesians 2:8 [For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God], what does God say is the source of our salvation?  What does faith have to do with this?  Do your children realize that grace is a free gift with no strings attached?  (See CCC 1987-2029 Grace and Justification) Plan out how you can communicate this principle to them.

Chapter 11: Faith in God's Living Word

1.  Share a situation in which God's Word truly spoke to you.

2.  What role do the Scriptures play in your daily life?  In your family?

3.  What is your favorite Bible story/verse?

4.  How do you share God's Word with your children?

5.  As Catholics we read Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church" (CCC 113).  How does that change our experience?

Action Point-Make a list of five things you could do to incorporate God's Word more effectively into your everyday family life.  Pick one item from the list and commit to applying it faithfully for six weeks.

Chapter 10: Faith in a Living God

1.  Do you have a tenacious trust in God?

2.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.  What circumstances has God recently allowed in your own life that call for faith?  In what ways are you modeling faith before the eyes of your children so that they are learning how to have faith in God?

3.  How do you help your child(ren) trust God in the face of obstacles/difficulties?

4.  Which saints does your family have a devotion to?

Action Point-Think of a time in the past when you have had to walk by faith but now look back to see what God has done.  Tell your children about this experience in the form of a bedtime story.  (If you can't think of a time in your own life, look for a children's book about faithful people.  Or tell them the stories of Abraham and Sarah or Joseph in Egypt.)