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.