Sunday, September 18, 2016

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time



Images

Identifying with people who suffer


Points to note

This is a difficult reading to do.  The story is a very dark one with very graphic illustrations that may sometimes scare children.  We will have to do it with moderation of the less palatable scenes for the children.

Then there are the concepts that we want to get across.  It is easy to say that the rich will suffer in the afterlife while the poor will enjoy an easier afterlife but this is not the intended message.  As we have seen in last week’s reading, being rich in itself is not going to get you into hell but making a master out of money will.  This week’s reading takes it one step further: being indifferent to those who are suffering will also get you into hell rather fast.

Another image to avoid is that we can get into heaven by suffering in this life.  The Beatitudes make it clear that we can get into heaven by suffering only if we are suffering for Jesus.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!



Gospel
The Lord be with you.
All:   And with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Lk 16: 19-31)
Jesus said to the Pharisees. “There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently everyday.  And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.  Dogs even came and licked his sores.  Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to heaven.  The rich man also died and was buried.

“In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus at his side.  So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in pain in these flames.’  ‘My son,’ Abraham replied, ‘remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus.  Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony.  But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been set up to stop anyone who wants to, from crossing from our side to yours, and to stop anyone from crossing from your side to ours.’

The rich man replied, ‘Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.’  ‘They have Moses and the prophets,’ said Abraham, ‘let them listen to them.’  ‘Ah no, father Abraham,‘ said the rich man, ‘but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.’  Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’ “

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Dialogue

Go back into the story and discuss Lazarus’ condition.  Just beware not to turn off any child but the objective is to identify what suffering is.  Some children may have very simplistic or self-centred views about suffering but be gentle with them. 

Can we see who in the world are suffering today?  There are sufferings at various levels.  People who are destitute or fleeing from war may be suffering like Lazarus.  But there are also people who suffer because they have lost loved ones in accidents and the like.  And the old lady on welfare next door getting upset because she has lost her purse is also suffering.  Or the friend in school who just got taunted online.

What should we do with the people who are suffering?  Ignore them?  Explain that this was what got the rich man into hell.  Be sensitive with the word ‘hell’ as some parents have taught their children that it is a swear word: it is not the word but the context in which you say it that makes it a swear word.

List all the good things we could do including material help, emotional support, praying for them, etc.  You may want to discuss with the older ones that if you do these things because you think that it will get you to heaven, you probably won’t get there.  You have to do these things with sincerity, because you want to do them, not because it is a chore you have to do to get you to heaven.

Discuss why Lazarus got to heaven.  Was it because he suffered?  Was it because he was poor?  Or was it that he was so destitute that he had no friends and no other help to turn to that he could only turn to God and became God’s friend.  God love people like that.  Remember that no man can serve two masters.  God wants us to rely on him and him alone and nothing else.


Social justice

This is an important part of being Catholic and a key lesson in the faith of the Church.  In my experience, almost all facilitators for children’s Liturgy of the Word and most of the children attending are in the middle class, though I know there are many who are not.  And yet the Church of Jesus is called to be the Church of the Poor.  We need to reconcile the material wealth of the Church and of Catholics worldwide to the mission to and of the poor to which we are called.

If I ask children whether they are poor, there is usually a slight hesitation before some muttering of no – “I am not sure but, yeah, I guess I am not”.  If I then ask them whether they are rich, there will be an instant no – “No way I am rich.”  When I tell them that 99% of the world’s children consider them as rich and dream being like them, you see their eyes widen in disbelief.

Yet, this is true and we need to explain to the children where the poor among us are.  There are rubbish heaps in some countries that do not smell because all the food have been picked clean, with nothing left to rot – and the task of picking these rubbish often falls to children.  While child labour has declined world wide, there are still some 160 million child labourers, half of them involved in hazardous work.

I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet
- an  old Persian saying

I have no truck with those who say that we should not frighten the children with such facts.  Poverty and suffering are real and we should not desensitize children to it, more so when it is our Christian anointing as king that calls us to serve the poor.

Pope Francis took on the name of St Francis of Assisi, the son of a rich cloth merchant who gave away everything he had to love Jesus in the poor.  He calls us to minister to the poor among us, and where possible, face to face as St Francis did with lepers.

Talk to the children how we can minister to the poor.  It is more than just giving them money that we have left over.  What do we give if it was Jesus in front of us?  If Jesus was that tramp who turned up at our table in the restaurant?

Saturday, September 10, 2016

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time


LSW

children


 
Year C

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time



Images

The seed of our faith


Points to note

The passage comprises two parts.  The first is two verses relating to faith.  The second is a short parable on the servant.  There is a common thread linking these two seemingly unconnected passages.  The link may however, be a little too difficult to grasp.  Unless it is well prepared, it is recommended that the session be limited to the verses on faith.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain how tiny a mustard seed is.  If possible get some form the supermarket and allow each child to hold one in his or her palm while the reading is read.  Do not let them look at the seed when the reading is read if you want the reading to be heard but you may direct them to the mustard seed for a moment when you reach the verse.  Their imagination should be allowed to run riot.  If you give out mustard seeds, try to get them back from the children as it is difficult to vacuum them up from the carpet.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Lk 17: 5-10)
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  The Lord replied, “If your faith is the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“If a master has a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would he say to him when the servant returned from the fields, ‘Come and have your meal immediately?’  Would he not be more likely to say, ‘Get my supper laid; and make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink.  You can eat and drink yourself afterwards’?  Should he be ungrateful to the servant for doing what he was told?  Similarly with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say ‘We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.’”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue


Take a look at the mustard seed.  How big or small is it?  How much bigger is the tree that it will grow into!

Describe the contrast in size between the seeds and the eventual tree.   Allow time for it to sink in.  Discuss what is needed for the seed to grow into the tree.  Emphasise the tender loving care, perhaps the fencing around the young sprout, etc.

Jesus likened our faith to the mustard seed.  When were we given this little seed that we call our faith?  At our baptism. Jesus promised that our faith will grow.  What will be needed for it to grow? Love; learning about God’s word and the Church; prayers; tender loving care from those who care for us and teach us.

In the Old Testament, the gardener who tenders the garden is likened to God.  In much the same way, we can extend this analogy to God being the gardener; we being the seed; the garden being the Church; the fertiliser being the faith education we get; and the water being love.  We can extend the analogy further in that the water that plants get come directly from the sky or is watered with a watering can.  In the same way, we get love directly from God and indirectly from our family and friends whom God asked to carry the love to us.

When seeds grow into trees, the trees could be used for many different uses.  When the seed of our faith grows into a giant grown-up tree of faith, what could our faith be used for?  Discuss acts of faith.  You may wish to discuss the different uses of the trees before launching into the question proper.

You can ask the children what kind of tree do they want to be?  Do they want to be a big leafy tree: so that they can protect people who are weak?  Do they want to be a fruit tree: so that they can nourish people who are more needy?  Do they want to be a pretty flowering tree: so that people can be inspired to see them witnessing in their beautiful faith life?

Jesus promised that if our faith was as small as the mustard seed, we could do miraculous things.  So let us remember to guard this fragile seed of faith of ours, as it will lead us to miracles.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time



Year C

Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time



Image

No one can serve two masters


Points to note

The passage is a shortened version that includes a difficult parable on the crafty servant.  Unless you are well prepared for the very difficult questions that will inevitably arise, it is best to avoid the parable and concentrate on the rump reading.

It is sometimes very easy to caricature children as being too much a slave to televisions, Playstations, etc.  This is too much of a generalisation and it does no credit to children who have other interests.  Therefore, we should be sensitive when exploring the other masters that children may have and we should be prepared to digress into any other areas where children may have obsession.  Or we may need to be ready for children without any pre-conceptions whatsoever.


Liturgy

Gospel
Discuss trust with the children.  Does it ever happen that a parent will trust a child with everything right from the very beginning?  Usually the parent will start with small things and then lead onto bigger ones.  Give them examples like pocket money, or that only older children may ride their bicycles on the road, etc.


The Lord be with you.
All:   And with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord
(Lk 16: 1-13)
Jesus said to his disciples, “Anyone who can be trusted with unimportant things can be trusted with the important ones; anyone who is dishonest with unimportant things can be trusted with the important ones.  If you cannot be trusted with money, who will trust you with true spiritual wealth?  And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will trust you with what is your own?

“No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn.  You cannot be the slave of both God and of money.”

This is the Word of the Lord


Dialogue

What is a master?   Someone who can make us do certain things.

Can only persons be masters?  Can things also be masters?  Explain that sometimes there are things that will make us do work.  Alarm clocks tell us to get up, etc. 

Some things can be very strong masters.  Discuss the television and how some people will watch it without end.  Or where they need to rush home to catch a particular programme.  Here, the television is making us do things and thus, they are our masters.  There are addictive things like gambling and smoking that can become very strong masters.

In this modern age, it is the computer.  I am reminded of the girl who sleeps on the floor of her bedroom as the extension cord of her laptop was too short – she wanted to sleep next to her laptop so that she can get Facebook updates immediately!

When things become strong masters, it is often very bad because they will make people ignore others.  Do you like talking to someone who won’t take his eyes off the television?  Discuss further examples of how things that become very strong masters can be very destructive.

Who is our true master?  God. Only he can tell us what to do.  Explain that God, as the father in our family, will be upset if we are disobedient and do not do what he asks us to do.  God does not like rivals.

Jesus has been talking about how money can become a rival to God.  Discuss how money can be destructive.  Remember that Jesus never said that money is the root of all evil; it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.  Of course, we can also say that it is not the Playstation that is the root of all evil but rather the love of the Playstation that is the root of all evil.

Someone once said that there are two types of people in the world:  those who are rich and those who want to be rich.  The Christian is called to be neither type.  It does not mean that the Christian can only be poor people.  It merely means that we should be indifferent to wealth.  Whether or not we do have a lot of possessions should not make a difference to what we do.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time


Images

Reconciliation


Points to note

This is actually a very long reading and there are actually three parables in this reading.  I have, however, cut it down to the one we all know best and love.  I have also left out the second part of the parable:  the part about reconciliation with the elder brother.  You could include it in as well if there is something to share on it.  The truth is that this parable is one of the richest in the Bible and that is no cliché.  In this leaflet, we can only provide a glimpse of what we could share.

The idea of reconciliation is sometimes seen as a difficult concept to get across.  Sometimes, we think of the sacrament and all the fear we associated with it when we were young.  Often, it is because we, as adults, find it harder to reconcile with one another and we project on the children our own anxieties about how our egos get bruised and how we will be received when we seek reconciliation.

Children, on the whole, reconcile much more easily than adults and reconciliation is frequent and, often, part of daily lives, even if unknowingly.  Again as always, the trick here is to bring ourselves into the children’s daily lives and draw examples from there.



Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
And he entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain what a Pharisee is.  They are members of a sect within Judaism who believe that salvation lies in being faithful to God and by scrupulously following the Law to the letter and that anyone who does not follow the exact wording of the law is condemned.  A tax collector, on the other hand, is treated as an outcast of society because they work for the Romans, who are foreigners and because they tend to collect more than their due.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord

 (Lk 15:1-32)
The tax collectors and sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained.  “This man,“ they said, “welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  So he spoke this parable to them:

“A man had two sons.  The younger said to his father, ‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.’  So the father divided the property between them.  A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he wasted his money on a life of fun and sin.

“When he had spent it all, that country had a severe famine, and now he felt some hardship over being poor, he hired himself out the one of the local farmers who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.  And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating, but no one offered him anything.  Then he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here I am dying of hunger!  I will leave this place and go to my father and say:  Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.’  So he left the place and went back to his father.

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity.  He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.  Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I no longer deserve to be called your son.’  But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’  And they began to celebrate.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue

Anyone been in a fight at home before?  With whom?  Be ready for a long list of grievances against siblings and about why they fought!!  Just cut it short.  Who gets upset?  The person we fought with.  Do you stay angry forever? No, eventually we make up.  Explain that the word reconciliation means to bring two persons or two things together.  So, when our adversary and we are brought together to make up after a fight, we are said to have been reconciled.  How do we make up after such a fight?


When we fight at home, is it only our brother and sister who got upset?  Who else? Our parents.  How do we make up with our parents after such a fight?  How do we reconcile with our parents?

Explain that so it is with God.  When we fight among ourselves and when we get upset with one another, we also make God unhappy.  That is why the son in the story wanted to say, I have sinned against my father and against God.

That is why we need to reconcile with God.  We need to be brought together with God.  Because before we were reconciled with God, we are far away from him.  Notice how miserable the son was before he returned to the father.  We will be similarly miserable before we reconcile ourselves with God.

Take care that the children do not get the idea that God gets angry with us and keep us far away from him.  The son in the story was kept far away from his father, not because his father threw him out but by his own actions.

Coming back to our parents, when they get angry with us, do they stay angry with us forever?  Is there any way we can help our parents get over their anger?

Likewise with God, He does not stay angry with us for long.  I doubt if there is a time when he is angry with us.  The most touching part of the story for me was when the father asked his servant to get the fattened calf.  I used to wonder much about that line.  I have realised why:  the father has been getting a fattened calf ready for quite some time.  He did not forgive the son when the son came back.  He forgave the son before the son came back.  He must have forgiven the son before the son showed any remorse.  He must have forgiven the son even before ……