BREAKFAST WITH GOD GUIDE THEME: FORGIVENESS
CONTENTS
Introduction to Breakfast With God 3
Why it Works 4
The Model 5
Gospel Theme: Forgiveness 7
Opening Song/Prayer 8
Johnny Appleseed Prayer
Gospel & Gospel Acclamation 10
Hallelujah Song
Matthew 18: 12-14 Lost Sheep
Gospel Reflection 11
Children’s Book 12
“The Runaway Bunny” by Margaret Wise Brown
The Craft 13
Prayer Intentions 14
Our Father Prayer Sign of Peace
Final Blessing 15
Prayer of Saint Patrick
Closing Song 16
“Joy, Joy, Down in my Heart” by Ernie Rettino
Breakfast With God is a flexible children’s faith formation program that creatively wraps prayer, song, a children’s story and craft, in a Gospel message.
This Breakfast With God Guide offers easy, step-by-step instructions for planning a Breakfast with God lesson in your home, classroom, parish or virtually on ZOOM. Each downloadable Guide focuses on a specific Gospel and Gospel theme.
The selected content and reflections have been produced by Catholic preschool teacher, Anne Krane and Fr. Quang Tran, S.J., hosts of the Breakfast With God Sunday morning program on ZOOM. This shared resource is a partnership between the Church in the 21st Century Center and the Roche Center for Catholic Education at Boston College.
WHY IT WORKS
EFFICIENT
Breakfast With God is turnkey and is perfect for the home, classroom, or parish. The virtual or in-person program can be administered in 30 minutes, or you can pick and choose segments from the overall programming model to fit your needs. (See pages 5 & 6)
HIGH-QUALITY
Breakfast With God is high-quality, interactive, faith-sharing programming for the whole family. Breakfast With God gives children vocabulary, accurate information about Catholicism and the Gospel message using language that is comfortable for them, and gives parents and teachers an example of faithsharing that they can emulate at home or in the classroom.
ACCESSIBLE
Breakfast With God provides an opportunity for children and families to interact. Children actively participate in answering questions, sharing prayer intentions and watching one another learn and make connections. Parents are given unintimidating catechesis that will make it more possible to continue the conversation with their children after the program is over.
COMMUNITY-ORIENTED
One of the central tenets of the Catholic faith is the belief that we are formed by communion and in community with one another. Breakfast With God connects families and classrooms searching for a space to reflect on their faith.
THE MODEL
WELCOME (2 minutes)
The host/s introduce themselves and welcome all participants to Breakfast With God.
OPENING SONG/PRAYER (1 minute)
Start with a “theme song” prayer that centers and refocuses participants on the reason to celebrate God.
GOSPEL PREVIEW (1 minute)
This is a sentence or two to prepare children for the Gospel message.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (1 minute)
Sing a children’s Hallelujah that involves movement and helps children recenter themselves and get ready to hear the Good News.
GOSPEL (2 minutes)
Find a children’s version of the Gospel, but if there is not an appropriate children’s version available, read it directly from the scriptures.
GOSPEL REFLECTION (2–3 minutes)
Reflect on the Gospel in a way that is geared to children.
CHILDREN’S BOOK (2–3 minutes)
Read one short children’s book that connects with the Gospel.
LITERARY CONNECTION (2 minutes)
A simple sentence or two describing how the characters or themes in the book were similar to the messages given to us by Jesus in the Gospel.
CRAFT (1–2 minutes)
A simple craft instruction using things that would be easily found in a home or a classroom.
PRAYER INTENTION (5 minutes)
Have the children get their prayer hands ready, and ask them to share their prayer intentions. After each intention, we “flap” the prayers out into the world with our hands clasped and flapping our elbows up and down.
THE MODEL cont.
OUR FATHER (1
minute)
Close prayer time with the prayer that Jesus taught us.
SIGN OF PEACE (1
minute)
Send peace and love to one another by creating gestures that communicate the message of that week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS (1
minute)
This is an opportunity to announce other events going on in your parish, school, or community.
FINAL BLESSING (1
minute)
Say a prayer to close out your time together. Use a prayer that involves gestures and movement to help make the final blessing memorable.
CLOSING SONG (1
minute)
Children love a sending forth that is upbeat and leaves them feeling energized and ready to move.
GOSPEL THEME: FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is when we show mercy to others who might have wronged us. This is a concept that can be integral in homes and classrooms, and children and adults both understand its importance. Jesus teaches us to forgive as He did, with an open and understanding heart.
OPENING SONG/PRAYER: JOHNNY APPLESEED
Words
and Music
By Kim Gannon and Walter Kent
GOSPEL PREVIEW
I wanted to tell you about a time when my pet bunny was not in his cage. I was so worried about him, he knew better than to leave his cage, and he was all alone somewhere and probably not safe! I was so happy when I found him, and I hope he doesn’t do that again! Today Jesus tells us a story about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, and one of them wandered away, just like my bunny. When the shepherd finds it, he doesn’t get mad at the sheep, he’s just so thankful that the sheep is found. Jesus tells this story to show us how God loves us, if we wander away and make poor choices, God is always looking for us and ready to welcome us back.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION:
Hallelujah- Your Word O Lord, be in my mind, and on my lips and in my heart.
GOSPEL:
Matthew 18: 12-14 Lost Sheep
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
Other Gospels:
• Matthew 5:7
• John 13:34
• Luke 17:3
• Matthew 6:14
• Mark 11:25
• Luke 6:27
• Matthew 18:21-35
• Luke 23
• Luke 15:11-32
• Luke 7:41-42
GOSPEL REFLECTION:
Have you ever picked a fight with a sibling, or made the choice to use mean words with friends? Have you ever gone against what your parents ask you to do? You might have known that it was the wrong thing to do but you did it anyway. These types of mistakes happen. Humans make mistakes sometimes. But the most important thing is to say you’re sorry, and make the right choice the next time.
In all of these stories we hear about Jesus, He is showing us the right things to do. He shows us how to love one another and how to be a good friend. When we make poor choices, it’s like we are wandering away from his Word and the way he wants us to live. But God never gets angry with us,
God is always seeking us out, and leading us back to the right choices. It is so wonderful that God is always there when we are lost, ready to welcome us back with open arms.
How do you think the sheep felt when the shepherd found it and carried it home? He probably was so happy! He probably felt sorry that he had run away, and he wouldn’t want to run away again.
When you make a poor choice and wander away from God, you might feel very sorry about it. But when we realize that God always forgives us, we will be so happy, just like the sheep! It makes us feel so fresh and new to be forgiven, and we have a chance to help others to feel that way too!
Jesus sets out that loving example of how to live, and we should follow in his footsteps. We should be like Jesus and forgive others who might have hurt us when they say they are sorry.
CHILDREN’S BOOK: “THE RUNAWAY BUNNY”
By Margaret Wise Brown
Literary Connection:
I chose this story because that little bunny wandered away from his mother, just like my bunny ran away from me. His mother promised him that she would always be following him- looking out for him and leading him home to be her little bunny again.
My little bunny wandered away too- and he knew that was not the right thing to do. He knew it would be unsafe and he did it anyway. But when I found my bunny, I didn’t yell at him or get him into trouble; I picked him up and gave him a snuggle, because I was so happy he was safely back. I know he won’t make that poor choice again! When we make mistakes, God doesn’t yell at us or get angry- God is just seeking for us to come home and say we are sorry, and that we have learned from our mistakes. God shows us forgiveness, and teaches us how to forgive others and love like Him.
Our mission this week is to ask for forgiveness where we might need it, and to forgive others who are seeking forgiveness from us. When we say we are sorry for our mistakes, and when we forgive others, we are being like Jesus!
Other Books:
• “Love You Forever”- Robert Munch
• “The Giving Tree”- Shel Silverstien
• “We All Need Forgiveness”- Mercer Mayer
• “Matthew and Tilly”- Rebecca C. Jones, Beth Peck
• “The Hardest Word”- Jacqueline Jules
• “Lily’s Plastic Purse”- Kevin Henkes
• “No, David!”- David Shannon
• “It’s Okay to Make Mistakes”- Todd Parr
THE CRAFT:
Today we look for our own runaway bunny, just the way God is alway looking for us. Take a regular white piece of paper and white crayon. Using the white crayon, do your best to draw a little sheep on your white paper. This can be tricky because it is white and it will be hard to see.
When you look at the paper, the sheep is “lost” you can’t see it! But when you get out some water colors, (I like to use green) and paint over the crayon, the picture of the sheep is revealed. Have an adult help you write “God Forgives” on your picture.
Use this craft to remember that even if we wander from God, God is alway looking for us, finding us, and forgiving us. You can place this picture somewhere where it can remind you to ask for forgiveness, and to forgive others, just like Jesus.
One way we can ask for God’s forgiveness is to pray.
PRAYER INTENTIONS
As we get our prayer hands together, pray for anyone who is feeling unwelcome, especially people in new jobs and new schools. Let’s flap our kindest and loving thoughts to them out into the world.
(Have the children share their own prayer intentions. For each prayer intention shared, have the children put their prayer hands together and then flap them up and down and then send them off to God. If you are doing the program through Zoom, children and parents can enter their prayer intentions on chat.)
OUR FATHER
Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
SIGN OF PEACE
Send a peace sign, or a sign language I love you, give a welcoming wave, whatever gesture might serve as a reminder of the mission of the week.
FINAL BLESSING
Prayer of Saint Patrick
God we love you, we know you love us, Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Amen.
(Have the children repeat each line of the prayer.)
CLOSING SONG: “DOWN IN MY HEART”
By Ernie Rettino
