I belong to a family, and in my family I am helped to grow and feel happy.

Let’s think …

List the name of everyone in your family:

My family love and care for me.

Let’s write…

Write one way each member of your family shows that you really matter and that they care for you:

I care for the members of my family too. I show care when I:

• help unpack the shopping;
• do the dishes;
• remember to feed and look after our pet;
• help tidy the house.

Let’s think…

How do you show that you care for each member of your family?

If you were asked, ‘What do you like best about your family?’ what would you say?

The thing I like best about my family is …

Families also care about people who belong to other families.

I remember once when our next-door neighbours were going away and Mum and Dad said we were going to water this garden, collect their mail and look after their dog. They said this was one way of shaing that we cared about the people next door because they were part of our street.

Let’s think …

Name some ways in which your family show they care for others who are not part of the family:

• Tell a story about a time when your family showed that they cared about someone in need.
• How do you feel when you see your family caring for others like this?

In our families, we can show people that we care about them by the way we treat one another and the way we treat our friends and neigbours.

Religion makes a different to the way in which we treat people too. For as Christians, when we show we care for others we are showing people what God is like.

People can meet God through me. When I show I care, I am ‘witnessing’ about God. Jesus shows us he cares about people, and he witnesses about God too.

Jesus showed people God’s goodness in the world by the way he cared for others. One of the ways Jesus showed he cared was by standing up for people, even when they were unfairly treated or hurt.

We read about the things Jesus did in the Bible. In the Gospel of Luke, we read about a time Jesus healed a man suffering with leprosy.

A leper is someone who has the disease leprosy, which reduces your ability to feel pain. Then you can sustain really bad injuries without noticing, because there is no pain to warn you. Because of that, people with leprosy often have really bad skin.

When we use the word leper nowadays, we sometimes mean someone who is unfairly treated or kept out of the group. This is what happened to people in Jesus’ time who suffered from leprosy. They were separated from the community and greatly feared because people thought they were contagious.

Let’s think …

Watch the video of Jesus healing the leper, and then answer these questions.

How did Jesus heal the man?

How do you think the man might have felt when he asked Jesus to help him?

Why do you think Jesus healed the sick man?

How do you think some of the people in Jesus’ world would have felt about what Jesus did?

Jesus became popular with some of the most important people of his time because he was showing others the way God cares for people and the world. Some of the people in Jesus’ time were upset to think that God would love a person like a leper.

Sometimes showing that you care can be hard. It can mean acting in a way that others think is funny or wrong.

Like your family and like Jesus, you can show God’s care for the world.

As members of the Church family, we can show other’s God love.

Part of being a member of this Church community means that we care for others in our world – we can show others God’s love.

We first joined Jesus’ family, the Church family, when we were baptised. Catholics usually have their children baptised as babies. If you were baptised as a baby, your parents and godparents spoke for you and said that they wanted you to become a member of the Church family.

In our Church family, there are important moment when God meets us. These moments for special signs of God’s meeting us are called Sacraments. There are three sacraments which make us special members of God’s family. These sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. The are called Sacraments of Initiation.

You are preparing to make your Confirmation. When we make our Confirmation, the promises that our parents and godparents (sponsors) made on our behalf at Baptism are deepened, and now we speak for ourselves in front of our families and friends. We say that we want to be members of the Church family and live as Christians and show the world that we care.

These promises of Baptism, believing in Jesus and being part of the Church family, will be deepened in me when I am confirmed.

Let’s think …

Ask your parents and godparents to tell a story about the day you were baptised.

I was baptised on … at … My parents and godparents are … This one story about that day:

What does it mean to care for the world?

Think for a moment about someone you like. What do you like about this person? How does the person you like show care for others?

I like my older brother. He’s so kind. Sometimes when it is hot he picks me up from school so that I don’t have to walk home in the heat.

There is a girl in my class that I like. One day when I was being picked on by a girl in Year 6 she stood up for me. Then she let me share her new coloured pencils in the afternoon.

In my street there is a family who I think care for the world. When my grandmother was sick they brought food over for us because Dad was away.

Let’s draw…

Draw your own story about someone you know who cares for others and the world:

When we decide to follow Jesus and be part of the Church family, we are saying that Jesus makes a difference to the way we live. We are saying we want to be like Jesus and care for others the way he did.

When we are conformed, we invite someone to be our sponsor. A sponsor is someone who we think shows the qualities and gifts of a caring person in the world and shows what it means to be a Catholic. Choosing a Confirmation sponsor is a personal decision and this person is usually someone important to us.

You might think about choosing your godparents, who were with you when you were baptised, a relative, someone from the parish you know well, a close friend whom you admire.

During the ceremony, your sponsor will be with you when you are anointed.

When we were baptised, our parents chose a name for us. When we are confirmed, it’s our turn to choose a name.

Sometimes, people prefer to be confirmed with their baptismal name. This is a reminder of the close link that Confirmation has with Baptism.

Sometimes people choose the name of a Saint who they think was a great witness to being Christian in the world. Your Confirmation Saint will help and support you from Heaven, just as your Sponsor will help and support you on earth.