Bringing Home the Gospel: A Weekly Journal for Catholic Parents--The Year of Luke

For the past few Sundays, I have been using this wonderful tool to help me make the most of my hearing of the Sunday gospel. Dunlap's book is a journal of sorts, helping parents to take the readings of Cycle C and relate lessons learned in the gospels to living out our role as parents. Each week, there is a scriptural citation, a reflection on the gospel passage, a family response passage with a suggested topic of discussion or activity, a personal response section with room to write your own reflections and a prompting question, and a section for recording memories from the past week and hopes for the upcoming week. Every week, we arrive at Mass early to allow my husband and son who play guitar at mass to tune and warm up with the other musicians. During this quiet time, I have the opportunity to read and reflect on the Gospel passage. Dunlap's book is another great tool for helping me to learn as a wife and mother how Jesus' teachings in the gospel can make a difference in my life as I love and serve my family.

This review refers to Bringing Home the Gospel of Mark,Cycle B 2008-2009 This is the third weekly journal for Catholic parents from Judith Dunlap, a catechist, mother, and grandmother. It is based on the Sunday readings for Cycle B (2008-2009) and follows the same format as her books for Cycle A and C. In all three, Dunlap's goal is to help parents maintain spiritually healthy and balanced families. She introduces the text with tips on using and adapting the book for individual families. Each weekly session consists of a brief synopsis of the Sunday gospel, citation from the Bible, reflection, discussion question, and space for writing three personal responses. The first is related to the scripture; the others look back on the past week and ahead to the next. As the following examples show, this is a straightforward resource that offers a lectionary-based structure for family spiritual growth with a minimum of outside preparation. The reflection for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jesus' call to the blind Bartimaeus, explores ways we might actively listen for the Lord's call. Dunlap defines meditation, vocal prayer, contemplative prayer, and Lectio Divina. The family responds by praying together using Lectio and sharing comments on the experience. Family members then reread the Bartimaeus story individually and consider how they would react if someone said Jesus wanted to speak to them. The Great Commandment is the topic for the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time. Dunlap reflects on ways in which we can grow in love of God through prayer, study, and sharing with others. The key, she writes, "is to be open to discovering who God is over and over again in our lifetime." The family responds by drawing pictures of God and discussing them together. Individually, members consider how God fits into their everyday life.