Blessed Mother Archives - Amazing Catechists

Printable Worksheets on the Holy Family #freebie #4KEYS

In December, our thoughts turn to the Holy Family. We celebrate the Marian feasts of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 and Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. And of course, all those Christmas carols — even though they’re a bit out of season — remind us that Baby Jesus’ birthday is coming soon. So it’s entirely appropriate that this twelfth and final downloadable worksheet focuses on the Holy Family. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy or two of our book, The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. And God bless you! TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 12

Turning into a Happier, Holier Family:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Can Show You How

The Holy Family is the best role model that any family could possibly ask for. Our Blessed Mother Mary is a shining example of grace under pressure, faith in the face of uncertainty, and perseverance through the hardest of life’s challenges. St. Joseph is a pre-eminent father figure, protective, strong, and willing to share all with no expectation of return. As individuals we can ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do,” or WWJD? As members of a family we can ask ourselves, “What would the Holy Family do,” or WWHFD?

Manny and Karee describe the Holy Family in Chapter 12 of The Four Keys: “God was the center of their lives — not sex, money, or even work. The Holy Family shows us that marriage is more than just the union of two people. Marriage is the union of two people with God through each other.”

Chapter 12 sums up each of the four essential characteristics of faithful, free, fruitful, and total married love and shows how Mary and Joseph modeled those characteristics throughout their lives. The example of the Holy Family reveals how:

to remain faithful in times of joy and sorrow
to use our freedom wisely to work and serve for others’ sake
to cherish our spouses’ precious bodies, and
to love totally through self-giving parenting and constant prayer

As Manny and Karee say, “God has handed you the keys to everlasting love: how to love faithfully, freely, fruitfully, and totally, both now and forever. Unlock the door and step through.”

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going between yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. Do you see any similarities between your life and the Holy Family’s? What are they?

2. How easy is it to make God the center of your family life? What would make it easier?

3. What pulls you away from God the most?

4. What unites you most as a couple? As a family? How can you become more united?

She is Our Mother, in the Order of Grace

By Elizabeth Tichvon

August 15, 2015 – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Gospel Reading at the Mass during the day)

“And how does this happen to me that the Mother of the Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43)

“With Elizabeth we marvel, ‘And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: ‘Let it be done to me according to your word.’ By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: ‘Thy will be done.’ (Catechism, Para. 2677)”

Can you recall a time when the Mother of our Lord came to you?

For me she came often and by way of my own Mom, who’s always had a remarkable devotion to Our Lady. In fact while growing up, I don’t think a day passed without her proclaiming, “Mother Mary, with your Son, bless us each and every one.” She knew that the demands of raising five children would take the divine help of our Lord, but what she didn’t know was the effect the prayer was having on me, and how her constant reliance upon Mary’s grace would become a stronghold for us both in years to come.

In writing this, I’d spent too much time searching the Catholic websites for the author of that prayer. Finally, I called my Mom to see if it had been written by one of the saints.

“It’s my own prayer,” she shared. “I’ve been saying it as long as I can remember.”

I was surprised and delighted to know that the author of the illustrious prayer was my Mom – a prayer that was answered repeatedly and assisted us in all our needs. Each time the little prayer would pass my Mom’s lips, Mary would show herself a Mother and lead us to her Son. As children, we relied on her deep faith as she abandoned herself to Mary, and we knew for certain our Lord was with us.

Now, the Mother of our Lord visits me regularly through my personal prayers and, without ever having ceased, through the daily, faith-filled petitions of my own devoted Mother.

Mother of Jesus, be a Mother to my Mother. Amen.

Elizabeth Tichvon

http://elizabethtichvon.wordpress.com

God’s Mother, Our Mother

By Elizabeth Tichvon

Too often I need to remind myself that in my struggles I must turn to Jesus first, for He is my greatest consolation.

On this Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, I’m especially reminded of Mary’s suffering as she stood at the Cross of Jesus. How could she give the violence of her sorrow to her dying Son while He endured His own agonizing Passion?

Mary viewed her Son’s suffering with intense grief, yet in it she saw our salvation. Our Lady’s sorrows are embodied in the prediction and fulfillment of today’s Gospels; first, in Simeon’s prophesy of a sword piercing her heart, and second, in Jesus’ words to her and the beloved apostle, John, “Behold your son.” (John 19:26) “Behold your mother.” (John 19:27)

When Jesus gave Mary to John, He gave her to us as well. Now we, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, share God’s Mother as our own – a Mother whose obedient and loving heart was pierced for the deliverance of our souls.

Elizabeth

http://elizabethtichvon.wordpress.com