4th Sunday in Advent

Year B

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

A Message of Joy

Points to note

Some say that the waiting time of Advent is a bit like the expectations one encounter at the time of pregnancy, just that it is four weeks rather than nine months.  Today, we hear of the story of how the pregnancy of all pregnancies started.

There have been depictions of the Annunciation by many artists but most are set in a ornate room with tiled floors and paintings on the wall.  One must remember that most of these paintings were commissioned by rich patrons and those paintings on the wall were probably the artist’s advertisement billboards
 

I always, though, imagine the event to take place in a small humble house with mud floors and barren walls.  The virgin is unassumingly dressed in house clothes rather than in an embroidered dress.  Jesus was the message but it was not a message of liberation for the wealthy and powerful but for the poor and the burdened in society.  

  

In this time of celebrations, it has always been customary in the Church to turn her prayers and attention to those who has not been fortunate to revel in festivities that many of us have been used to.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me. Alleluia!

Gospel

This is the final Sunday of Advent, the last before Christmas.  Remind the children that there are four Sundays in Advent and that Christmas is round the corner.  The last of the Advent wreath candles will be lit today.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Lk 1:26-38)

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

What was the story about?  It is a well-known story with which most children with basic catechism should be familiar.  Take them through the story and what happened.  Focus on the message of the angel and that it was a message of joy.  Discuss how they would have felt if they have been told that the Saviour of the World is to be born.  Discuss why.  What does it mean that a Saviour is coming?  Leave it at conceptual level if the children are unable to translate it into real terms.

Imagine the scene.  Ask the children to use their imagination to see how the scene looked like.  Do they imagine a room like the one they have at home?  Discuss the reality of the room that Mary was in – it was the home of a poor carpenter.  Was it a rich man’s house?  Ask the children to describe a poor man’s house.  It will be interesting to see if any of them have ever been in a poor person’s house.

What would the message of the coming of a Saviour mean to poor people?  Explore what poorer people would be expecting from a Saviour.  Would it include freedom from physical hunger as well as spiritual ones?

Explain to the children that we call Christmas the season of peace and goodwill and that it should also include

·     freedom from wars that is faced by many Christians who are fleeing their homes in some countries

·     freedom to pray and celebrate Christmas the way they want to but are stopped by various people & governments

·     freedom from hunger and malnutrition that plagues many people even in rich countries

·     freedom to pursue education and opportunities for life, especially for girls in some places

·     freedom to travel wherever they want to be and be with their loved ones this Christmas

While the children may not be able to do much with the above problems, they would be able to stay with these people in their prayers, just as Jesus will be with them in their longing.

3rd Sunday in Advent

LSW children

Year A

Third Sunday in Advent

Images

Spreading the joyful message

Points to note

This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, or Joyful Sunday. Instead of the purple that has been used in all the previous Sundays, this colour for this Sunday is pink.  This is thus scheduled by the Church as a respite from the more sombre penitence of the long season of reflection.

We move on from last week’s theme of our mission of having been anointed as a prophet to the message of joy that we are to bring to the world.  In this discussion, the joyous nature of the message is more important than the details of the message.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor. Alleluia!

Gospel

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Jn 1:6-8, 19-28)

A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

He came as a witness,

as a witness to speak for the light,

so that everyone might believe through him.

He was not the light,

only a witness to speak for the light.

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said,

‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:

Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?  Get the children to discuss the plans.  Lead the discussions to a sense of anticipation of the event.  Note that preparations, while tiring, can also be fun.  Some people say that the preparation is more fun than the event itself.  I think they could be right.

What is a message?  Discuss the nature of a message.  It

·       Given by a person

·       Comes from a person

·       About something that has happened or about to happen

Discuss who was the one bringing the message in today’s reading – John the Baptist.  Explain who was John the Baptist – a cousin of Jesus, older by just a few months.  He was sometimes called the last of the prophets.

Who did the message come from – from God. Messages carried by prophets all come from God.  That is their job, their role.

What was the message about – the coming of Jesus.  Explain that John the Baptist was sometimes called the forerunner of Jesus.  That he was the one who went ahead of Jesus to tell them of his coming.

Notice that the message of one of expectation.  In those days, the people were oppressed under the rule of the Romans and the cruel King Herod.  There were looking for someone to take away their problems.  Nobody knew who Jesus was but there was something there in what John said that made it worthwhile to look forward to it.  They knew something wonderful was about to happen.

Discuss when someone was going to have a surprise birthday, whether they were told about it or not.  Think of the anticipation and how much they were looking forward to it – wasn’t it fun to look forward to something wonderful.  Explain that for the people who heard John the Baptist, it must have been the same sense of expectation.

Discuss how we could bring the same sense of joyful message to people today.  Remember the message was for the people who were oppressed and needy.

2nd Sunday in Advent

Year B

Second Sunday in Advent

Images

The Mission of John the Baptist is my mission

Points to note

When we were baptised, we were baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.  The name ‘Christ’ means ‘the anointed one’ in the original Greek.  Jesus was anointed as prophet, priest and king.  We too were anointed as prophet, priest and king at our baptism, as our namesake, Christ, was. 

This Sunday, we look into our role as prophet to proclaim the coming of Jesus, as did the last named prophet in the Bible did, John the Baptist.  His role was to proclaim the coming of Christ to the nations, and that too is what we are called to do.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight,

and all mankind shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that this reading is about a prophecy (you may need to explain what a prophecy is) from the Old Testament. 

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mk 1:1-8)

The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;

he will prepare your way.

A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

and so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, ‘Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

How many of us have been baptised?  Explain that all baptised people are anointed, meaning that the priest put oil on our head to bless us.  Anointing is more than a blessing.  It is also a commissioning (you may need to explain this word as well).  People who were anointed in the Bible were also given a mission: the prophets in the Old Testament, King David, Jesus.  Discuss their missions.

For those of us who were baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, we were also anointed as Jesus was: as prophet, priest and king.  So, we were all given the same missions that Jesus was given: as prophet, as priest and as king.  Don’t we all want to be on the same mission as Jesus?

What is the mission as a prophet that Jesus had?  Explain what the prophets of olden days did: they reminded the people of Israel about God especially when the people of Israel were unfaithful to God and turned away from God’s laws. 

The last of the prophets was John the Baptist.  He too reminded people to return to God but there was a slight difference to his message.  Explain that John was the cousin of Jesus, elder by a few months.  The additional message that he had that the prophets of the Old Testament did not was about Jesus’ coming.  Like the heralds in the olden days, blowing their trumpets to announce the coming of the king, John also heralded the coming of Jesus.

So, the mission that we are given together with Jesus as a prophet is going to like that of John the Baptist.  We too are cousins and brothers of Jesus because we all have the same father in heaven, like John the Baptist.  And like John the Baptist, we too are expected to proclaim Jesus to the world and as everyone to return to God.

Discuss how we are to do that.  We can proclaim Jesus through words and through actions.  There are people who go around and preach to people about Jesus.  As children, they will not be ready for that yet as that required a lot of studying about God & the Bible as well as training to be a preacher. 

But, we can also proclaim Jesus in what we do.  By doing everything that God wanted us to do and by showing to people that we do it because of Jesus.  Get the children to give examples of how they were to show Jesus to people by what they do.

It will be good to get the children to be able to commit to doing something to herald Jesus’ coming in this season of Advent. It will be best to be something that they can continue on after Advent as well, and maybe become a life habit.

1st Sunday in Advent

Year B

First Sunday in Advent

Images

Stay awake waiting

Points to note

This is the season of Advent, the season of waiting for the coming of Jesus.  All readings for this season would revolve around the same theme.

As the first Sunday of Advent, you would need to explain the significance of Advent before the reading and as such, the discussions will be a little shortened.

Today’s reading is easy for the children to follow – how many of us have seen children dozing off when trying to stay awake for an event they really wanted to be present for?  This is rich material for discussion but we will need to link it up with waiting for Jesus.

I once asked some children how long does Advent last and a little girl replied without hesitation “Forever”.  There is a lesson there for all of us.  Whatever we learn and do in Advent is meant for all of us throughout out lives.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy

and give us your saving help.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Discuss with the children about the new season of the Christian calendar that we are entering.  This is available in the end panel of this leaflet & for a more complete explanation, at http://childrenlivingthesundayword.blogspot.com/2013/09/soundbites-about-advent-christmas.html.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mk 13:33-37)

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

Have you ever had to stay up for something?  Maybe, it was to greet someone “Happy Birthday” at the stroke of midnight.  Maybe, it was to watch the World Cup or Olympics in a different time zone in a faraway country.  What did you do to stay awake so that you will not be sleeping at that actual time?   Maybe they had hot chocolate to drink, games to play or things to do.  Maybe they had to sleep earlier in the day so that they will not be sleepy.

What would have happened if instead to staying awake, you were asleep at that actual time? Talk about the disappointment that they feel, and also the disappointment that others will feel.  What about all the effort at staying awake – wouldn’t all that be wasted if we do not stay awake at all despite having tried our best to stay awake?  Discuss if any of the children tried to do anything to undo the fact that they failed to stay awake?  Did any of those efforts work?

Discuss that the season of Advent teaches us about waiting for Jesus.  Discuss how in the same way we stay awake for an event, we also have to be awake spiritually (not necessarily physically) for when Jesus will come.  Discuss what we do to be ready – pray, doing all the good things that Jesus wants us to do.

Discuss also how we would feel if we missed Jesus’ coming.  Would we be able to turn back the clock if we missed it?  No, if we missed it, it is gone and all our efforts will be wasted.  So, we have to stay awake until the very end and let’s not end up with a disappointment.

Do we stop waiting after Advent?  No we continue to make sure that we are prepared if Jesus ever turned up because we can be sure that he will come at a time we do not expect.

BEING IN ADVENT

This is the period of preparation for the arrival of Jesus at Christmas.  The word Advent comes from the Latin for coming.  It means a period of prayer and penitence before we are allowed to celebrate the birth of Christ.   Advent is also the new year for the church calendar and the First Sunday in Advent is our New Year's Day. 

Being a preparation season, the liturgical colour is purple, meaning the priest wears purple vestments at mass - only the stole (piece of cloth around his neck and down his chest), chasuble (the robe on the outside) or any other decor; the basic vestments underneath remain white.  The church may also be decorated with purple flowers, purple buntings and the like.  Purple is deemed the colour of penitence (It is also the colour of mourning - which is why the priest wears purple at funerals). 

There is an exception, though: the colour for the third Sunday of Advent is pink (or rose).  That Sunday is called Gaudate Sunday (Latin for Rejoice): to give us a little break after we pass the mid-point of a penitential season.

It runs for the four Sundays before Christmas day and so the last day is always Christmas eve.  It can be as long as a full four weeks starting from Nov 27 (if Christmas Day is a Sunday) or as short as three weeks and one day starting from Dec 3 (if Christmas Day is a Monday).

The Advent Wreath, with its four candles fixed on a circle of evergreens, has its roots in pagan northern Europe, which the Lutherans first adopted as a Christian symbol.  The circle represents the never-ending cycle of seasons while the evergreens symbolise the persistence of life even during winter.  Christian symbolism differ slightly: the circle represents the the eternity of God while the evergreens tells of Jesus, who death could not conquer.  The four candles are lit one every Sunday, causing all candles to be of different heights by the end of the season.  There are three purple candles and a pink/rose one for the Third Sunday of Advent.  Sometimes, there is a fifth white candle in the middle to symbolise Christ, and is lit on Christmas Day or Christmas eve.

The Advent Calendar that we have today seems to be a combination of two separate customs.  The original advent calendar notes the goals for personal prayer and penitence for the different days in this period of penitence.  This calendar is now merged with the Jesse Tree, named after King David's father and unfortunately a dying custom.  Symbols of saints and Old Testament prophets & patriarchs are hung on the Jesse Tree, one on each day of Advent.

Christ the King

Year A

Solemnity of Christ the King

Images

Following Jesus as King

Points to note

There are many aspects to the concept of Christ as King.  We will explore the various aspects in the three times that this feast is celebrated over the cycle.

This year, we deal with the king as a judge in two ways.  The common view is held of judges as those who passes judgements and sentences on the guilty.  Initially, kings would pass judgements personally.  Then gradually as kingdoms get bigger, other able persons were co-opted to assist the king in this role until today, kings no longer personally pass judgements but have professional judges to do so in their name.

But there is another facet to judging. In monarchies until this day, kings (and queens) judges persons who are worthy (normally, they have a panel to assist them in making the selection) and these worthy people get an award or a title (in republics, presidents only hand out awards but not titles).

Today, we explore Jesus’ role as king in both facets of being a judge.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David!

Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain that today is the last Sunday of the Church Year and next week we start the Advent season.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mt 25:31-46)

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

  

‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

  

‘Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

  ‘

And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

Today, we celebrate Jesus as King.  What do kings in olden days do?  (Let’s not look towards the kings of today – most of their work has now been outsourced to others!!).  They may need to refer to the role of lords and kings that they see in movies and TV programmes of olden days.

Of the long lists that emerge, select the role of the judge.  What would you like to do if you were a king judging for one day?  Let the children talk about what they would do to those they don’t like – but spare the gory details.

Would what you do be different if Jesus was doing the judging and you were helping him?  A judge like Jesus has to be fair and a judge only decides based on evidence and not on personal feelings.

Who do Jesus judge?  Lead the children to understand that judging is not only for the guilty but also to reward those who are worthy.

Jesus was judging as a king would.  A judge calls for witnesses to find out what happens because a judge must make a judgement based on evidence.  Would Jesus need witnesses?  No, because Jesus was there when good and bad happened.  All good and bad done to anyone was done to him.  So, he knows what happened without any need for witnesses.

Discuss what this means - that whatever good & bad that was done was done to Jesus.  Have we ever stopped to think about it whenever we do anything good or bad – or hesitated to do anything good or bad.  Maybe, it is something we should do.

There was once a village with three rich brothers.  The first had a huge house with many servants keeping it clean and comfortable.  The second had a huge kitchen with many chefs cooking delicious meals.  The third had a huge workshop with many tailors making beautiful clothes. 

One day, Jesus came to the three brothers in the dream to tell them that he was coming to their village the next day.   When they awoke, the three brothers jump out of bed and ordered their servants to get to work.  The first wanted Jesus to lay his head on the most comfortable bed in the whole country.  The second wanted Jesus to taste the most delicious roast lamb in the whole country. The third wanted Jesus to wear the most beautiful cloak in the whole country.

So, the whole village was hard at work – cleaning, cooking and sewing.  At noontime, an old man, poor, tired with only tied up cloth for shoes came into the village.  He knocked on the door of the first house to ask for some hay to lay his tired head but was turned away by the first brother because his servants were busy preparing the most comfortable bed in the whole country for Jesus.  He then knocked on the door of the second house to ask for some water to quench his thirst but was turned away by the second brother because his servants were busy cooking the most delicious meal in the whole country for Jesus.  He knocked on the door of the third house to ask for some leather to make some sandals for his bleeding feet but was turned away by the third brother because his servants were busy sewing the most beautiful cloak in the whole country for Jesus.

So, the poor old man left the village more tired, hungry and bleeding feet than when he first came.  The village continued to clean, cook and sew until finally the comfortable bed, delicious meal and beautiful cloak for Jesus were all ready but no one came.  That night, the three brothers met Jesus in a dream and they all asked why he didn’t turn up.  Jesus said, “I came and asked for some hay but you didn’t give it to me. I came and asked for some water but you didn’t give it to me. I came and asked for some leather but you didn’t give it to me.”