Sunday Connection

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus calls the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, to be his disciples.

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

Help younger children understand that like the first disciples, we say yes to Jesus’ invitation to follow him.

Materials Needed

• fish shapes cut out of paper or butcher paper for children to color; crayons or markers

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Give each child a fish shape and crayons or markers. Say: One day, Jesus was walking by the sea when he saw some fishermen. They caught fish by casting large nets into the sea. Let’s spend some time coloring our fish!
2. Give children a few minutes to color, not long enough for them to complete their task. Say: Let’s stop what we’re doing for now! Come follow me. Lead the children over to a spot where you can read today’s Gospel verse.
3. Ask: Was it easy or hard to stop coloring your fish and come sit over here? Why? (Accept all reasonable responses.) Say: Let’s listen to learn what the fishermen did when Jesus asked them to follow him.
4. Read aloud today’s Gospel, Mark 1:14–20.
5. Ask: What did Simon and his brother Andrew do when Jesus said, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”? (They left their fishing nets and followed Jesus.) How about James and John? Did they continue to mend their fishing nets, or did they follow Jesus? (They followed Jesus.)
6. Say: The disciples knew that following Jesus was the most important thing they could do. Jesus calls us to follow him too. Sometimes that means we stop doing something that is less important so that we can do the important things Jesus asks of us. Let’s tell Jesus we will follow him joyfully.
7. Invite them to write a message on the back of the fish telling Jesus they will follow him. Give children time to finish coloring.
8. Close by praying together the Lord’s Prayer.

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus calls the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, to be his disciples.

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

One of the traits we wish to see in young people is a sense of responsibility. We nurture this trait when we personally invite people to help with a task. Jesus established his community of disciples through such personal invitations.

Materials Needed

• None

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Present the following scenario to the group: Imagine that your school principal is looking for volunteers to help clean up the school grounds on an annual community service day. What recommendations might you make about how to recruit people to help with this project? (put up posters around the school building, send flyers home with students, make phone calls to parents, extend invitations to particular individuals) Do you think any of these methods would be more effective than the others? Which one, and why? Allow time to discuss the possibilities, concluding that personal invitations are usually the most effective recruiting method.

2. Say: People are more likely to contribute to a project if they receive personal invitations. This kind of invitation shows that our particular talents are needed. And we all like to feel needed.

3. Say: Jesus seemed to know this about human nature, as we see in today's Gospel.

4. Invite one or more volunteers to read today's Gospel, Mark 1:14-20.

5. Ask: Whom did Jesus call in today's Gospel? (four fishermen: Simon, Andrew, James, and John) What did you notice about the way in which these four people responded to Jesus' call? (They immediately put aside their work to follow Jesus.) Jesus called these four fishermen to be his disciples, and he promised them important work, to be “fishers of men.”

6. Say: Jesus also invites us personally to be his followers. He has important work for us. Our hope and prayer is that we will respond to Jesus as quickly and enthusiastically as these first disciples did.

7. Conclude in prayer together that we will be like the first disciples and answer Jesus' invitation. Pray together the Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester.

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus calls the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, to be his disciples.

Making the Connection (Grades 7 and 8)

As young people choose more of their own activities, we can help them to understand that their choices reflect their priorities. We can encourage them to make living as Jesus’ disciple the top priority of their lives.

Materials Needed

• None

Preparation for Sunday Scripture Readings

1. Ask the young people the meaning of the phrase “drop everything.” (to stop abruptly a current activity in order to do something else; to have a sudden change of plans)

2. Offer examples of situations that might lead someone to “drop everything” and change his or her plans, such as an instant message from a best friend or an impromptu invitation to go to the movies. Ask the young people to name other examples of situations in which they might suddenly change plans.

3. Say: Each of us is involved in many important activities every day. Yet, there are times when we are willing to drop everything and change our plans. Why? (Accept all reasonable answers, such as an opportunity is presented to do something that is more fun or more important.) Our change of plans shows that our priorities have changed as well.

4. Say: In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus’ first disciples suddenly changed their plans when Jesus called them to follow him. Let’s listen carefully to this Gospel.

5. Invite one or more volunteers to read aloud this Sunday’s Gospel, Mark 1:14–20.

6. Ask: What did Jesus say to the fishermen? (“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”) What actions show that Simon, Andrew, James, and John changed their plans to follow Jesus? (They immediately abandoned their fishing nets; James and John left their father sitting in the boat.) What was the top priority in their lives? (following Jesus, being Jesus’ disciple, the Kingdom of God)

7. Say: There must have been something very special about Jesus to make the fishermen change their priorities so quickly. Jesus called to them, and they immediately made the invitation to be his disciple the most important thing in their lives.

8. Say: Jesus also invites us to make living as his disciple the most important thing in our lives. What actions would show that following Jesus is the top priority in our lives? (Accept all reasonable answers, such as going to Mass, praying daily, reading the Bible, working for justice, or being a peacemaker.)

9. Conclude in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit’s help to make living as Jesus’ disciples the first priority of our lives. Pray together the psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 25.

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus calls the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, to be his disciples.

Family Connection

Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus called his first disciples and the immediacy with which these men dropped everything to follow him. We can only begin to imagine what Jesus’ presence must have been like to invoke such a response in these first disciples. While a few of us might relate to such a radical conversion, many of us would find such a sudden change in ourselves or in another person unsettling. There are few things for which we would willingly drop everything. And yet this is the immediacy with which these first disciples responded to Jesus. These first disciples were willing to drop everything in order to make Jesus and the Kingdom of God the most important things in their lives.

Gather as a family and talk about circumstances in which you have had to “drop everything.” (the call to pick up a sick child from school, the cry of a hurt or angry child) How did you feel about having to change your plans in each of these situations? How do we feel when someone asks us to drop everything to help him or her? For many of us, it is not easy to drop everything to respond to the needs of another.

Read today’s Gospel, Mark 1:14–20. Invite your family to imagine what Jesus’ presence and invitation to these first followers must have been like that they responded by leaving their livelihood to become his disciples. How might our life change if we understood the Kingdom of God to be as important and immediate in our lives? Ask God to help you experience the Kingdom of God with such immediacy. Pray together the Lord’s Prayer.