Don’t miss this week’s Lesson Plan feature in the Catholic Spirit entitled Feast on Feasts and 36 other ways to make faith a bigger part of your daily life!  It’s two full pages of ideas for bringing the Faith into your family in a fuller way and many of them will fit in to your commitment to Family Formation very nicely.

Follow the liturgical seasons

Being in tune with the Liturgy is a central theme of Family Formation and we encourage families to do so in many ways.  Have you dressed your priest paper doll?  Is your liturgical calendar hanging on your fridge, and did you read what the Paulines are doing this week?  If so, you’ve already adopted this awareness into your family’s faith life.  Good job!  If not, these are all things we work on each year and we’ll be doing so in a special way in 2010-11 as our overall theme is learning more about this topic.

Light a candle

Each time, before you begin your Home Lessons, we encourage you to do something to mark that time as sacred.  Begin with prayer, light a candle, sing a few simple praise songs – all great ways to remind your family that something special is about to happen!

Try Adoration

We are so blessed to have perpetual Eucharistic Adoration available at the Church of Saint Paul, and Family Formation does everything possible to encourage families to take advantage of it!  It’ll be a part of more than one Home and Classroom Lesson this year – I promise (it always is)!   Believing that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist is the foundation of  what makes us Catholic.  Passing on that firm belief to your children will be the anchor that will help keep them Catholic.

Open your Bible

Almost every lesson contains numerous Scripture references, and while they’re usually printed in the lesson for your convenience, we also encourage you and your kids to look them up and read them directly from the source.  It’s great practice and a weekly appointment to becoming more familiar with the Bible.  Also, make sure each of your kids has their own Bible and encourage them to bring it to Mass and to their Family Formation classroom each month.

Attend religious ed.

Of course this is a basic requirement, but it looks a little different when you’re part of Family Formation.  As a family, it’s critical that you set time aside each week to do your Home Lessons.  That’s where all the exciting growth will happen as you build memories, create common experiences, and learn together with your kids!

For the monthly classroom lesson, you actually have a little bit of choice.  Each family has signed up for Monday or Saturday as their regular attendance day, but if you ever happen to know in advance that you can’t make it, just call the office (763-757-1148) and we can schedule you in a substitute class for the alternate day.

The goal is to build a truly Catholic culture in your family and there are lots of other great suggestions in the article.   Hop on over and see just what will fit into your family’s faith life in the upcoming months.