Family Dance Party
Play some fun music and have a family dance party. Take turns picking songs to play. You can also take turns teaching each other dance moves. Try a line dance or choreograph your own sequence!
Canticle of Zechariah
The Canticle of Zechariah is prayed every morning in the Liturgy of Hours (a prayer of the Church that marks and sanctifies the hours of each day). The Canticle is Zechariah’s prophetic exhortation about the greatness of God in sending his son, John the Baptist, as the forerunner to announce the coming of Christ. There are many words and themes in this canticle prayer that can prepare our hearts and minds for the work of evangelization.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
and from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies, free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, child, shall be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God,
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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.
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.
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!
© 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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