Sunday Connection

Gospel Reading
John 17:20-26
Jesus prays for his disciples.

Making the Connection (Grades 1, 2, and 3)

Prayer deepens our relationship with God and brings us to be closer to him. Encourage children to develop a habit of frequent prayer. Explain that God always hears our prayers and that they can use their own words to pray to him whenever they wish.

Materials Needed

• none

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Ask: If you had a friend you didn’t ever talk to, would you be able to be close to that friend? (No.) Say: God invites us to pray to him often. We become closer to God through prayer. We can pray the prayers we learn by heart, but we don’t have to use special words. Whenever and wherever we pray, God listens.
2. Say: Jesus prayed often. In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays for his disciples.
3. Read aloud today’s Gospel, John 17:20–26.
4. Say: Jesus prays that his disciples will know God’s love. He wants them to be united with God and one another. We can pray for Jesus to help us be close to God and to live in harmony with all of God’s people.
5. Invite children to tell you about a time and place where they pray each day or might spend time in prayer.
6. Close by praying: Our Father, help us be united with you and all the People of God through your Son, Jesus Christ. Say: Now pray silently to God in your own words. Tell him anything else you want to share with him. Close by praying together Amen.

Gospel Reading
John 17:20-26
Jesus prays for his disciples.

Making the Connection (Grades 4, 5, and 6)

Older children are beginning to be influenced by peer pressure and the desire to be popular. We can help them through this natural part of adolescent development by teaching them that as Christians we value friendship with God more than being popular in the eyes of the world.

Materials Needed

• None

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Ask: What are some things that young people do to try to be popular with their peers? (wearing particular clothes, imitating certain behaviors, and talking in a particular way) Why do people want to be popular? (Accept all reasonable answers.)

2. Say: Many young people, and even many adults, do things to try to make themselves popular with others. Most people do this because they want to be liked and accepted by a lot of people. In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus prays for his disciples, but he doesn't pray that people will like them. He prays for something more important. Let's listen carefully to see if we can identify what Jesus asks for from God for his disciples.

3. Invite one or more volunteers to read this Sunday's Gospel, John 17:20-26.

4. Ask: What does Jesus pray for when he prays for his disciples? (that they will all be one in him) What does Jesus think is more important than being popular in the eyes of the world? (their unity with one another and with God)

5. Say: Sometimes we may face a choice between something that we know will make us accepted by others and something we know to be right in God's eyes. When faced with such a choice, we can pray to Jesus to help us choose what will keep us united with God and the community of disciples, the Church.

6. Conclude in prayer together that God will continue to protect us from all things that lead us away from God and the Church. Pray together the Lord's Prayer.

Gospel Reading
John 17:20-26
Jesus prays for his disciples.

Making the Connection (Grades 7 and 8)

To believe is to place our trust in someone, to place our life in their hands, and to enter into a relationship with them. When we pray the Creed and say, “I believe,” we are saying that we trust God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we place our lives in his hands.

Materials Needed

• Trivia questions

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Play a version of celebrity tic-tac-toe, similar to the long-running TV game show.

2. Invite two young people to participate as contestants (one as X and the other as O) and nine others to participate as the celebrities.

3. Using celebrity names, create a tic-tac-toe chart on the board, with each celebrity being assigned one of the boxes.

4. Have the contestants take turns selecting a celebrity, who will be asked a trivia question from those you've prepared ahead of time.

5. The celebrity may give a correct answer or may bluff with a wrong one.

6. The contestant must respond with either “I agree” or “I disagree.” If the contestant is correct, he or she wins that square. If the contestant is wrong, the other contestant wins the square.

7. Play until someone wins the tic-tac-toe game. When you are finished, say: We believe in a lot of things that we ourselves don't know for sure. That can be fun when it's a game, but it makes life somewhat of a challenge. In today's Gospel, Jesus prays that we will place our belief in him and that, as a result, we will experience unity with him and with one another.

8. Invite one or more volunteers to read today's Gospel, John 17:20-26.

9. Conclude by praying together the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed.

Gospel Reading
John 17:20-26
Jesus prays for his disciples.

Family Connection

One of the greatest gifts that we are given in our family life is protection from harm. Families work together to keep one another safe in a physical sense. Think of the effort a family makes to “child-proof” their home for infants and toddlers. Families also work to protect each other from emotional harm. For example, we attend to the ways in which family members talk to one another so that we do not hurt one another's feelings by our words. Most importantly, families work together to protect each other from those things that might harm us spiritually. We shield our children from those things in our culture that tempt us away from God. When families work together to strengthen their sense of God and community, we build the spiritual strength to turn from those things that would lead us away from God and the Church. Jesus' prayer for his disciples can also be a prayer for our family life.

Gather as a family and talk about the things that you want most for each other. Talk about the fact that as we work toward these things we also work to protect one another from other things, especially harmful things. What do you want to protect each other from? Observe that in today's Gospel, Jesus shows these same two tendencies as he prays for something he wants for his disciples and prays for their protection as well. Read together this Sunday's Gospel, John 17:20-26. Consider what Jesus wants for his disciples (union with the Father as Jesus is united with the Father). We know that when Jesus prayed for his disciples he was praying for us as well. We pray for these things as well—for example, when we pray the Lord's Prayer. Conclude by praying the Lord's Prayer together.