Neighborhood Kickball Game
Organize a neighborhood kickball game in your backyard. This old-time favorite is a great game for kids of all ages. The rules for kickball are similar to baseball, except instead of hitting the ball, you have to kick it.
Children's Prayer for Parents
Children are invited to pray this prayer or a prayer in their own words over their parents.
Dear Lord,
Fill our parents with your choicest blessings;
enrich their souls with your holy grace;
grant that they may faithfully and constantly guard that likeness to your union with your Church,
which you did imprint upon them on their wedding day.
Fill them with your spirit of holy fear, which is the beginning of wisdom;
inspire them to impart it to their children.
May they ever walk in the way of your commandments,
and may we, their children, be their joy on earth
and their crown of glory in heaven.
Finally, Lord God, grant that both our father and mother
may attain to extreme old age
and enjoy continuous health in mind and body.
May they give you abundant thanks
because you have bestowed upon them the great gift of parenthood. Amen.
Most churches have a gold and white flag of Vatican City on their grounds. The white band of the flag contains the papal coat of arms, which contains the keys of Peter and the papal tiara. These keys represent the keys to the kingdom of heaven mentioned in today’s Gospel. See if you can find the Vatican City flag in your church.
As a family, make a list of people you know who stopped going to church
or have never attended church. Each day this week, pray for these people by
name so that they may be converted to Christ.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi. This was the site of pagan worship to the Greek god Pan. To the pagan mind, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld; they literally believed that these were the gates of hell. Jesus brought his disciples to this distant area to emphasize this point: the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church!
© Copyright 2026 Archdiocese of Detroit. All rights reserved. Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition © 1970, 1986, 1997, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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