Year B
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Images
Goodbye gifts
Praying for
others
Points to note
This week
follows on from the Ascension. This
Sunday’s session should then take this as the context. Although the priestly prayer of Jesus in this
reading takes place before crucifixion, he nevertheless is praying for the time
that he will be going away. It was his
parting prayer for his friends whom he will have to leave behind when the
Passion commences.
It is easy to
refer the children to the goodbyes they have gone through and concentrate on
how they express these goodbyes.
Gospel
Explain to the children that Ascension Thursday was
celebrated last Thursday. Ascension
Thursday is forty days after Easter.
After Ascension, there are ten more days to Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit sent by God descended on the Apostles.
There were ten days therefore when the disciples were without Jesus and
without the Holy Spirit.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia! Alleluia!
i will not leave
you orphans, says the a Lord;
I will come back
to you and your hearts will be full of joy.
Alleluia!
A
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John
(Jn 17: 11-19)
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:
“Holy Father,
keep those you have given
me true to your name,
so that they may be one
like us.
While I was with them, I
kept those you have given me true to your name.
I have kept watch over
them and not one was lost,
except the one who chose
to be lost,
and this was to fulfil the
scriptures.
But now I am coming to you
and while I am still in this world
I say these things to
share my joy with them to the full.
I passed your word on to
them, and the world hated them,
because they belong to the
world no more than I belong to the world.
I am not asking you to
remove them from the world,
but to protect them from
the evil one.
They do not belong to the
world any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the
truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the
world, and for their sake I consecrate myself
So that they too may be
consecrated in truth.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord
Discussion
Have you ever had a relative or friend who came from
abroad to stay with your family for a while?
Let the children talk about who and what they did while they were
here.
Can you tell us what did you do when they went away? Say goodbye.
Begin to draw them out into the various ways people have a
farewell: perhaps, a dinner, a trip to
somewhere fun, a shopping trip to buy something somebody wanted, etc.
Explain that in the reading, Jesus was going
away. Explain the Ascension and that the
Apostles, who will be left bereft again the second time. (Sometimes, when someone we like goes away
unexpectedly, we get even more upset when they come back and go away again the
second time.). Discuss how the Apostles
felt.
Explain that he was planning to send the Holy Spirit
to be a comforter to Apostles. He told
them that the Holy Spirit will give them strength and courage to carry out his command
for them to go and make disciples of all nations. Discuss how they felt.
Maybe the Apostles were a little disappointed. Jesus’ command to go out and baptise everyone
was a bit of a difficult task and all they got was the promise of the Holy
Spirit, which they probably didn’t know what it was (remember, this was before
they received and knew the Holy Spirit on Pentecost day ten days after the
Ascension). But wasn’t the Holy Spirit
such a great gift that it fulfilled all of Jesus’ promises and more.
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