Sunday, July 31, 2016

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time


Images

Being ready


Points to note

The fuller version can be a little doom-laden.  Hence, the shorter version of the reading is used. 

A parable brings home to us a truth by relating it to our daily living.  An emphasis on waiting for the Second Coming can be personalised into waiting at home for a relative.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready,
because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain to the children that Jesus has just been talking about trusting God for all our daily needs.  Remember last week's reading tells us not to put our trust in earthly things.  Now, Jesus wants us to use that trust to wait for him.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And also with you.


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

(Lk 12: 32-48)
Jesus said to his disciples, “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit.  Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.  Those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes will be well rewarded.  I tell you, he will put on an apron, sit them at the table and be a waiter to them.  It may be at midnight when he comes, or even later but those servants if he finds them ready will be well rewarded.  You may be quite sure of this, that if someone had known at when the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house.  You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue


Do you have a favourite uncle or relative or friend who lives far away?  Do they come over to visit you to stay with you?  Do you do anything to prepare for their visit?  What?

Make this a long drawn out preparation.  The longer the preparation for this favourite uncle, the longer should be our preparations for the coming of Jesus. 

Do we belong to another family?  Who is our big brother in this family?

If Jesus is to come again, what kind of preparation will we be making?

There will be two kinds of preparations to talk about.  At a communal level, we could be preparing for his Coming like we prepare for big feastdays.  This will, of course, be the biggest feastday of them all.  But this, of course, will imply we have sufficient notice. Link this with the preparations that the family makes before the relative turns up.

At a personal level, internal cleansing and good works will help us prepare to accept Jesus.  Link this with the baths Mom makes us take before a visit.

Now take this concept a step further.  What if the uncle said he is coming next week but not sure of the exact day.  He could be Monday, or Tuesday or Wednesday …  .  So, how do we prepare for his arrival.  Do we need to keep making sure that the house is constantly clean and tidy.  And there is always a warm meal waiting.

Explain Jesus’ coming is a bit like that.  We know he is coming but do not know when.  We need to be ready if he just turns up tomorrow.  Discuss how the children can make sure that they are always ready for Jesus to turn up.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time



Images

Treasures in heaven


Points to note

We live in a materialistic world and our children are a sad reflection of ourselves.  Before we get carried away with this cliché, we must remember that children are basically not materialistic.  Therefore it needs prompt action to steer any discussions on materialism in the right direction.

While children are not materialistic by nature (we just make them like us), they have prized possessions: a well worn out teddy bear for instance.  There are girls I know who keep them well into their twenties.  It will be good to discuss whether they are willing to sacrifice that teddy bear for instance.

A few points about being materialistic.  Jesus never said that money is evil.  He said the love of money is the root of all evils.  Jesus never said the poor are blessed or rich people cannot go to heaven.  It is the poor in spirit who are blessed and it is just that little bit harder for the rich to get to heaven (eye of the needle?).  What he meant was that if you are poor but you love money, you won’t be among the blessed but if you are rich but was never that interested in money, you should be ok.

As they say, there are two types of people in the world, people who are rich and people who wants to be rich.  Basically, it implies that the base motivation of people remains the love of money.  We Christians would like to think there is a third category: people who follow Jesus.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Your word is truth, O lord,
consecrate us to the truth.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain to the children what a parable is.  It may not be a story that actually happened, but it does contain a truth nevertheless.  Truth doesn’t mean the same thing as factual evidence.  Truth is reality.  And parables often tell a little something about what we really are like.  Jesus used parables to explain the Truth.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And also with you.

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

(Lk 12:13-21)
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.”  “My friend,” he replied, “who appointed me to judge your claims?”  Then he said to them, “Beware, and be on guard against greed of any kind, because what a man owns will not make his life safe, even when he has more than he needs.”

Then he told them a parable:  “There was a rich man who had a good harvest from his land.  He thought to himself, ‘What am I to do?  I have not enough room in my barns to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I will do:  I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grains and my goods in them.  Then, I will say to my soul:  ‘My soul, you have plenty of good things and you can eat, drink and have a good time for many years to come.  So take things easy,’  But God said to him, ‘Fool!  This very night I will ask for your soul back.  And these good things of yours, whose will it be then?’  So it is when a man store up treasures for himself on earth instead of making himself rich in the God’s eyes.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue

If you are going to go away and live somewhere else for quite a long time, what would you take with you?

Why?

If you were told that there isn’t enough space in the car and you would have to leave something behind, what would you leave behind?

The rich man in the parable was going to go away to live somewhere else that night, but he didn’t know it.  He thought he could take his riches with him wherever he was going.  Could he?

Explain that when we go to live with God, we take none of our favourite toys or treasured possessions with us.

What did the rich man do with all his wealth?   To have a good life.

How can we make sure that we can have a good life in heaven?  Discuss how Jesus has promised that all who believe in him and love and do good will deserve to be with him in paradise.  That is the way a Christian pile up treasures in heaven. 

Discuss greed.  That is what the rich man had lots of.  For a Christian, greed will just reduce his treasures in heaven.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time



Images

Asking God


Points to note

This of course is the reading on the common prayer of the entire Christian Church.  We will not be dwelling on the Lord’s Prayer though.  This has been dealt with in Year A, where Matthew’s version of the prayer was discussed.  Of the two versions, Matthew’s is the one closer to the one we use today.

In the passage, Jesus teaches us the importance of persistence in prayers and gives us two little points to encourage us along.  The first is the parable of the persistent man.  The second is the very graphic depiction of the love of the Father.  A thorough discussion of one or the other may be sufficient to bring the point of persistence across.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
The word was made flesh and lived among us;
To all who did accept him
He gave power to become the children of God.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain to the children that Jesus has just left the house of his friends, Mary and Martha. He was somewhere praying when the disciples saw him and wanted to learn to pray like him.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord
(Lk 11: 1-13)
Once Jesus was praying somewhere, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray.”  He said to them, “When you pray say this prayer:

‘Father, may your name be holy,
your kingdom come;
give us each day our daily bread’
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive anyone who has done us wrong,
And do not put us to the test.’”

He also said to them, “Imagine that you have a friend and go to him in the middle of the night and say, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves of bread because another friend of mine has just arrived at my house on his travels and I have nothing to offer him’; and the man answers from inside the house, ‘Don’t bother me.  The door is locked now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you.’  I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to you because of your friendship, if you keep knocking, it will be enough to make him get up and give you all he wants.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.  What father will hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?  Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg?  If human fathers know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue

Do we pray?  When?  What prayers do you know?

What is a prayer? 

A conversation with God. Just like talking to a friend, we talk to God in our prayers.  Therefore, just like a conversation with a friend that can happen any time, a prayer can also happen at any time.  But just like we prefer to talk to our friends without anybody interfering, it is advisable to pray in a quiet place.  That is why Luke tells us often that Jesus was at a lonely place to pray by himself, as in the passage.

What types of prayers do you know?  

There are basically four types:
(i)         an exaltation, or a praise pray;.
(ii)        a penitential prayer, or a sorry prayer;
(iii)       a petitional prayer, or an asking prayer;
(iv)       a thanksgiving prayer, or a thank you prayer.
Discuss examples of each of the four types.

Discuss what happens in a petitional prayer.  Go through the stages of a petitional prayer.  First, we have to decide what we want to ask for.  Whatever we request must not be impossible.  What is more important, it must be something we need and is good for us.  Notice that in the reading, Jesus talks about ‘human fathers know how to give your children what is good’.  That is why in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for our daily bread, and not more.  Petitions made out of malice, greed or anger will not work.

Secondly, we have to ask.  God has promised to listen.  Thirdly, we have to be persistent.  In all these, try and use examples from home.  We do ask Mom or Dad when we want something.  And similar to a petitional prayer, what we ask our parents must be reasonable.  When we ask, they will listen. But sometimes, we have to ask more than once.  We often have to bug our parents, don’t we?

St Luke tells us that Jesus prays often.  How often do you pray?

Go through the instances of prayers in our daily lives: Grace before and after meal, morning and nightly prayers, etc



Secondly, we have to ask.  God has promised to listen.  Thirdly, we have to be persistent.  In all these, try and use examples from home.  We do ask Mom or Dad when we want something.  And similar to a petitional prayer, what we ask our parents must be reasonable.  When we ask, they will listen. But sometimes, we have to ask more than once.  We often have to bug our parents, don’t we?

St Luke tells us that Jesus prays often.  How often do you pray?

Go through the instances of prayers in our daily lives: Grace before and after meal, morning and nightly prayers, etc

Saturday, July 9, 2016

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time



Images

Listening to Jesus


Points to note

A balancing act is required in this passage.  Mary and Martha represent two opposing contrasts.  It could be a delicate situation not to emphasise one to the exclusion of the other.  Some children may seize on the opportunity to de-emphasise the aspect of serving.

We could make this session quite fun for the children if we encourage them to talk about the sounds that they like to hear.  The message is quite simple: we have to listen to Jesus and after listening, it makes us do certain things.  Focus on those certain things.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!

Gospel
The feast of St Mary is on 22 July, with the feast of her sister following exactly one week later on 29 July.  Even if the feast days do not coincide with the Sunday, they will be very close.  The reading is about these two sisters.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord
(Lk 10: 38-42)
Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking.  Now Martha who was busy with all the cooking said, “Lord, why do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the cooking all by myself?  Please tell her to help me.”  But the Lord answered: “Martha, Martha,” he said, “you worry about so many things, and yet only one is important.  It is Mary who has chosen the better one; it is not to be taken from her.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue

Sounds.  Is there any sound that you like?  One of my favourites is “Dinner is ready!”. 

Is there a difference between sounds and noises? 

Some sounds are special as they tell us certain things.  Name some.

Lead it to examples such as telephone ringing - it tells us that someone wants to speak to us; doorbell - someone is at the door; ambulance siren - someone needs to get to hospital.

Some sounds are even more special.  They not only tell us something, they also make us do something.  Name some.

Telephone ringing - makes us pick up the phone; doorbell - makes us answer the door; ambulance siren - makes Mom or Dad pull the car to the side of the road (Do we really do that in Malaysia?).

We can only answer the phone, the door, etc., though, only if we are listening.  Discuss difference between hearing and listening.

How we can tell if somebody is listening to us?

Basically, it has no effect on them.  They don’t do what we tell them to do, for example.

Do we listen at mass?  Is it important to listen at mass?  What are the sounds we hear at mass.

I love this story.  The priest was about to end his weekly mass at a convent of old nuns, when he realised that he has just forgotten an important announcement.  So instead of saying, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”, he told them “I will not be coming for mass the next week due to another engagement.”  An old deaf nun heard him say something but, not listening well, she thought the priest was ending the mass the normal way and so she responded ............... The importance of listening at mass!!

Just like those special sounds that are special, what we hear at mass are special because they not only tell us something, they make us do something.

Discuss what the sounds we hear at mass tell us - the individual sound tells us about when to kneel, etc.; take communion; the readings tell us about God and his love.  They also make sure that we go out and love God and our neighbours (remember who is a neighbour, cf. Sunday15) when mass is finished.

Will it be much use if we were to learn so much about God and not do anything about it?

Sunday, July 3, 2016

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Year C

Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time



Theme

To love God is to love other people as yourself


Points to note

This is one parable that had worked its way so much into the English language.  People refer to the Good Samaritan without knowing who Samaritans are, and often with hazy recollections of the story.  For those familiar with it, it is a parable so rich in lessons for us, and able to sustain us with much spiritual sustenance.  And yet, the basic lesson of the reading is one and simple.  It lies in the last line, ‘go and do the same yourself’.  I am reminded of the story of the priest who was always using the parable in all his homilies.  When asked if he could give a homily on something else, he would reply, “Why? What have you done about that one?”

A common feature when planning a session for such a rich passage is attempting to say too much at one go.  Too often, however, such ‘carpet-bombing’ techniques leave the session poorly focused.  I find it more helpful to concentrate on just one theme and treat it thoroughly.  There are other readings in future weeks, or at worse, further themes could be dealt with in the next cycle.

By the way, Samaritans descended from a small remnant of Jews who were left behind when the Jews were deported to Babylon.  They stayed behind in Palestine and mixed with the local people because there were very few of them.  When the Jews returned from Babylon, they considered the Samaritans impure because they mixed with the local people.  To this day, there are still Samaritans in Israel, who are not considered to be Jews, who held their own Temple sacrifice on Mount Gerizim.


Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!


Gospel

Explain that Jesus was himself on the way to Jerusalem when he told this story.  Now, for the Jews of Jesus’ time, to go from Nazareth to Jerusalem would mean having to pass through the country of a people they didn’t like, the country of Samaria.  The Jews hated the Samaritans.  So, every time someone mentions Samaritans in the story, the Jews expect them to be the baddies.  The children may be able to give contemporary examples themselves.  This story, though, is different.

The Lord be with you.
All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke
All:   Glory to you O Lord
 (Lk 10: 25-37)
There was a lawyer who wanted to question Jesus, stood up and asked him, “Master, what must I do to achieve heavenly life?”  He said to him, “What is in the scriptures?  What do you read there?”  He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and you must love your neighbour as yourself.”  “You have answered right,” said Jesus, “do this and you will get to heaven.”

But the man was anxious and asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”  Jesus told this story, “A man was once on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers; they took all he had, beat him and ran off, leaving him half dead.  Now a priest happening to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  In the same way a deacon who came that way saw him, and passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan traveller who came next was moved with compassion when he saw him.  He went and bandaged his wounds, applied medicine on them.  He then lifted him on to his own horse, carried him to the inn and looked after him.  Next day, he took out some money and handed them to the innkeeper, ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and on the way back I will pay everything that is owed.’  Which of the three, do you think, acted as a neighbour to the man who fell into hands of the robbers?”  “The one who took pity on him,” he replied.  Jesus said to him, “Go, and do the same yourself.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord


Dialogue

Do you like yourself?  If you are someone else, would you like to help yourself?  What would you do?

There are lots of wonderful things that everybody would like done for themselves.  So, we needn’t take it that every child who gives us a long list is being self-centred.  But try and steer the discussion away from being an overlong wish-list.

But you are yourself, not some one else.  All those things that you have mentioned, would you do it for others?

Let’s look at the story that Jesus told.  What would the man who was lying half-dead on the ground wish the priest and deacon to do?  Did they do what he wanted them to do?

Here, it is important to stress that priests and deacons nowadays do not behave like that anymore.  Has anyone ever met a priest or deacon, who have refused to help, anyway?

What would God have like them to do?  By not doing so, did they prove themselves to be God’s friends?  Next, who turned up?  (Yes, the one who everybody thought to be the baddie)  What did the man on the ground think of the Samaritan helping him, him being a Jew?  Did the Samaritan do what everyone expected him to do, ignoring the half-dead man?


It will be interesting to discuss how the Jew would have repaid the kindness of his hated enemy.  If the children are old enough, try placing it in their everyday experience, when someone they expected to have done something nasty to them actually turned out to be very kind.

So, Jesus asked at the end: Which of the three, do you think, acted as a neighbour to the man who fell into hands of the robbers?  Which of the three did what God wanted them to do?  Which of the three turned out to be God’s friend?

What about the other two?  Do you think they considered themselves to be God’s friend?  Do you think God would have considered them to be friends on the basis of what they did?  Which is more important --- to say that we are God’s friend or to do something that will show that we are God’s friend?

Stress that action speaks louder than words.  If we say that we love God, we must prove it by loving other people.  St John tells us that ‘Anyone who says, ”I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar!’ (1Jn 4:20)

It will also be interesting if we discuss why the priest and the deacon did not do what God wanted them to do.  They were more concerned with their own ritual cleanliness, but in the end, lost the basis on which they were to be ritually clean.  A parallel will be when children kick up a fuss over the best clothes to wear for mass and, in the process, ended up late and getting everybody upset.  


For older children
Discuss the Golden Rule of Christianity: Do unto others as you would like other to do unto you.  

Discuss the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans.  Much of the enmity stems from a refusal to interact with one another, with both preferring to keep to their prejudices and prejudgements of the other.  Much of the conflicts in the world arises because peoples and their leaders see others as caricatures and racial/religious biases rather than as people with the same hopes, fears, loves and dislikes as they are.  Are there any such enmity that your community has of other people.  Maybe it is time we start use the hated enemy the way Jesus used the hated Samaritans in his stories: as the good people instead of the baddies.