Things to talk about:

• Ask each person who would they say knows them the best?
• Why do you think the people in Jesus’ hometown rejected him? How did that make him feel?
• Share a time when you felt rejected. How did you work through it?
• Why do you think Jesus was unable to perform many mighty deeds when he was in his hometown?

Things to do:

• Just like Jesus taught in the synagogue in today’s Gospel, the priest or deacon teaches us during the homily at Mass. Pay attention to the homily and share what you heard on your drive home from Church or at your next family meal.
• Sometimes we can be mean and critical of people in our household. Make a commitment to only say kind and encouraging things to your family members this week.

Closing Prayer… I Believe

Pray together the Nicene Creed, our statement of faith in all that Jesus promises. When we pray these words, we are saying we are not like the people of Jesus’ hometown, but believe he is Jesus, the Son of God.

Name anyone who is need of prayers. Respond, “Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God.”

Amen

Catholic Insights

In this Gospel, the Nazoreans are amazed at the Jesus they thought they knew but really didn’t. Aren’t we sometimes guilty of taking someone we know and love for granted?

Even though the people in Jesus’ hometown had known him since he was a little boy, they just couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. They missed the most important thing about him. He couldn’t do much for them because they had no faith in him.

We are blessed that we know Jesus better than the people in his hometown, because we know that he is the Son of God.

Through Scripture, prayer, study and continuing to learn and service we can know Jesus even better. Amen!

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Did you know?...Christianity began with a small group of disciples that followed Jesus in his earthly life. Today, there are over 2.3 billion Christians in the world (about 1/3 of the world’s population). We still have a lot of work to do to proclaim the Gospel to every creature!