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In this Sunday’s Gospel, a man that had followed God’s law all his life walked away from Jesus because he could not do the one additional thing Jesus asked him to do: give to the poor. On October 16, we celebrate World Food Day. Let’s take this opportunity to share what we have with those less fortunate. We encourage you to contribute to social service organizations, such as Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, or your local food pantry.
Every week in the GROW newsletter, you will find helpful tips for teaching your Gospel Weeklies lesson, a reflection on the Sunday Gospel, and links to online resources.
Video of Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 10:17–30)
Use these videos as you discuss today’s Gospel. Please preview to make sure the videos are appropriate for your group:
• Holy Heroes (NOTE: This is the correct video for this Sunday.)
• Mark 10:17–31: Who’s Your God?
• The Rich Young Ruler
• Gospel Reading and Reflection for Kids
• Every Day Can Be a Sunday
Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope Resources
• Jubilee 2025 activities, handouts, resources, and more
Seeds
Lesson Theme: Jesus teaches us how to be happy.
For this lesson, you will need crayons, pencils, copies of the story coloring page (one per child), and a Church Year calendar.
This week, the Gospel message is about sharing. For young children, sharing does not come easily. It is important for them to have many experiences of sharing in order to experience the happiness that comes from giving. Make sure you affirm the children when they share with others, not only during this lesson, but anytime you see them exhibiting this behavior in the future.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Extending Activities
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
• Gospel Reflection and Saint of the Week with Miss Heidi
• Kid-Sized Lessons on the Sunday Gospel with Mrs. Cole (Bible Bag)
Promise
Lesson Theme: Jesus asks us to share.
Plan ahead to bring crayons, a poster board, magazines, scissors, glue or tape, and a Church Year calendar to this class session. We suggest that you separate pages 1–2 from 3–4 in advance.
You can extend The Clown’s Candy activity (page 2) by bringing in enough pieces of small candy for each child in your class to receive multiple pieces. Before starting this activity extension, make sure that the number of candies is an exact multiple of the number of children present for this class session. Invite them to figure out how x number of children can share x pieces of candy. Example: Twelve children need to share forty-eight pieces of candy. You may do this several times by varying the number of candies. At the end of the activity or class session, share the candy with the children.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
Extending Activities
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Word of the Week
Seasonal Resources
Videos
• Gospel Reflection and Saint of the Week with Miss Heidi
• Kid-Sized Lessons on the Sunday Gospel with Mrs. Cole (Bible Bag)
Good News
Lesson Theme: Jesus wants us to share our treasures.
When covering the Ten Commandments as presented in the What the Church Believes and Teaches handbook (page 31), the Teaching Guide (page TG1-19) suggests that you assign each pair of students a commandment. Each pair is then to come up with three ways children can keep that commandment. Encourage the children to review the explanation of their commandment on page 31 to help them with this activity. They will find some good ideas there. Discourage them from simply copying the ideas on page 31 for their report to the class. Encourage them to use the explanation and ideas to help them come up with some more ideas of their own.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
• Ten Commandments with Hand Motions
• The Ten Commandments
Venture
Lesson Theme: We follow Jesus by loving God and neighbor.
For this lesson, you will need pencils or pens, notebook paper, dice, game markers, copies of page 8 of the Venture lesson (children will cut off the bottom of page 8 for the game on pages 6–7), one copy of page 51 from the Catechism handbook to post in the classroom, the children’s crosses from the 9/22 lesson, a Bible, and a Liturgical Year calendar.
Jesus isn’t too interested in a person’s material wealth. Helping the poor, the vulnerable, the outsider—these are the things that Jesus values. Consider inviting the children and their families to join you at Sunday Mass. This can be a way to encourage them to follow the Third Commandment and our obligation to keep Sunday holy.
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
• St. Teresa of Avila
• St. Teresa of Avila’s tomb reopened 110 years later
• This Is Discipleship
Visions
Lesson Theme: We follow Jesus by loving God and our neighbor.
For this lesson, you will need pencils or pens, scissors, notebook paper, coins or other game markers, dice, and the video Hannah’s Lunchbox (youtube.com).
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus challenges a rich man to give up what he values so that he is free to follow Jesus as a disciple. Ask the students: What would you do if Jesus asked you to give up your phone? Your favorite video game?
Teaching Guide
Parent Teaching Pages
The Gospel at Home
Weekly Review Template
Online Assessment
Seasonal Resources
Videos
• This Is Discipleship
• Hannah’s Lunchbox
• Hunger: The Biggest Solvable Problem in the World
• Canonization of Oscar Romero
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