Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

The mass as a meal

Points to note

Actually, the image stated above is not exactly accurate.  Liturgists agree that the feeding of the five thousand does not constitute a mass.  In fact, some liturgists even contend that no incident involving Jesus, including the Last Supper, can constitute a mass: The mass is a sacrifice and it cannot be a sacrifice if the victim is still presiding!

The feeding of the five thousand, though, contains some elements of the mass.  In particular, it highlights what is known as the four liturgical actions: take, bless, break and give; which is central to the celebration at mass.  A wider discussion of the mass is invited.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

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

Peace on the earth and glory in the highest heavens!

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus has been teaching the people: remember the parables of the past weeks?  Now, he is tired.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mt 14:13-21)

When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat on a lonely place where they could be by themselves.  But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot.  So, as he stepped shore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go off to the villages to buy themselves some food.”  Jesus replied, “There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.”  “But,” they answered, “All we have is five loaves and two fish.”  “Bring them here to me.”  He said.  He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessings.  And breaking the loaves, he handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds.  They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full.  Those who ate numbered five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Identify those children who have already celebrated their Holy Communion.  You may wish to use them to help lead the discussions.

Have you been to a birthday party?  Do you enjoy it?  Let the children talk about the birthday parties that they have been in and enjoyed.

Is there a big table at the birthday party?  Is there a clean and pretty tablecloth on the table?  What do you find on that table?  Lots of food.  What takes the pride of place on the table?  The birthday cake.  Let the children talk about their favourite food at birthday parties and the best cake they have ever seen.

Who is the most important person at the birthday party?  The birthday boy/girl.  Is he/she the only person needed to make a party?  Get them to imagine if they have a party with all the favourite food and cake but there is no one to share it with or to play with.  Without the guests, we cannot have a party.

Do you know that the mass is a meal?  Draw parallels with the birthday party.  At church, there is a table (the altar) with a table cloth on it (altar cloth).  The pride of place on the table is the bread and wine.

Focus more on the people.  Just like in a birthday party, we have someone who must be there for it to be a mass.  The priest.  Discuss also about the people.  Imagine if only the priest turns up for mass and no one else, would that be a mass?  Actually, it would be a canonically valid mass, but common sense would tell us that it is not complete without the community being present.

Link it back to the reading where Jesus had a meal with a lot of people.  Without the people, the glory of God cannot be seen.  Discuss why people are so important to make a meal complete.  We do not eat just because we are hungry.  We also take the opportunity of the eating environment to socialise and strengthen our bonds with each other.  In children terms, to make friends and to play.  Mealtime is always more fun the bigger the crowd.

One final point: do we invite people who are close to us or people we hardly know to our parties?  In the church, we attend mass with people who we know to have the same beliefs about God as we do.  These people are part of our Christian family.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Dreams and sacrifices

Points to note

This reading completes a series of three parables that Jesus told.  For this reading, only the shorter version in the Missal is used.  The longer alternative version has further parables.

This reading contains only two parables with the same theme.  This one theme can generate many messages: possessions, sacrifices, etc.  This reading focuses on the idea of sacrifices.  A more positive slant is given by the lead up where we discuss a little more on dreams for which we are willing sacrifice.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from our Father.

Alleluia!

Gospel

As this parable follows on directly from that last week, you may wish to revisit the parables of the sower and the wheat & the darnel briefly before starting this reading.

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 13:44-52)

Jesus said to the crowds, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

What most would you like to do when you grow up?  Guide the discussions towards achievements rather than what jobs the children would like to have.  These achievements need not be big ones that can only be achieved when the children grow up.  It may be something simple like pass the exams or meet Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus (no, they are not my dreams); or something big like fly jet fighters or climb Mount Everest.  Take your time to describe the achievements, focussing on the activities themselves, e.g., the act of climbing.  Discuss how much the children would like to achieve these ambitions.

Discuss what is required for someone to achieve these achievements.  For instance, climbing Mount Everest would require a lot of training in mountain climbing as well as keeping fit.  Passing the exams would require a lot of studying.  Discuss whether these preparations are easy things to do or not.  Some of these efforts require us to give up doing things we enjoy so that we can achieve our dreams.  Discuss whether these preparations are worth the effort.  This will largely depends on how desperate we are to achieve our dreams.

Discuss the parables and how the persons in the parable are willing to give up everything, i.e., sell everything they own.  Link it up with what Jesus is trying to say.  What does the treasure and the pearl represent?  Salvation from doing God’s work.  What does selling everything they owned mean?  We give up everything to do God’s work.  For instance, a priest may give up cherished ambitions (eg., wealth, family) and become a priest.  We give up a lunch or something that we would spend money on to give our Lenten money to the poor.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Good and bad co-existing together

Points to note

This reading is the second in a series of three parables that Jesus told.  For the children’s readings, only the shorter versions in the Missal are used.  The longer alternative versions contain Jesus’ explanation to the parables. 

The message of this parable is abstract and revolves around concepts of justice that younger children may find it difficult to grasp.  As such, it is recommended that the idea that good and bad co-exist in this world is broached with younger children, moving up when the children are ready, to concepts about the rewards that good and bad will have at the end of time.  Care should be taken that justice should not be equated to vengeance in this context but aim to highlight the good rather than the bad.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

May the father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our mind,

so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

Gospel

As this parable follows on directly from that last week, you may wish to revisit the parable of the sower briefly before starting this reading.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mt 13:24-43)

Jesus put a parable before the crowds, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.  While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off.  When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well.  The owner’s servants went to him and said, ‘Sir, was it not good seed you sowed in your field?  If so, where does the darnel come from?’  ‘Some enemy has done this’, he answered.  And the servants said, ‘Do you want to weed it out?’  But he said, ‘No, when you weed out the darnel, you might pull out the wheat with it.  Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers:  First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.’”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Does everyone know the story of Dick Whittington and his cat (you may choose to use another children story where there was a person in trouble, a person who caused it and a person who helped)?  You may need to retell this story as I have found many children and grown-ups who do not know the story.  Highlight in the story that Dick was troubled because of the nasty cook in the house but the master of the house was such a good man.

Have you ever been troubled?  Discuss the times that children have been troubled in their everyday lives.  Do not force the discussion and do not lead children to create a troubled scenario for the discussion.  Gently highlight the ones where some one else was the cause of the troubles.  Take care again that we do not paint this other person as the villainous one.  Ask questions to take the story a little further.  Was there some one else who came to help the child in his or her time of trouble?  Spend more time on this aspect of the story and make sure the time spent on the good person who helped is more than that spent on the bad person who caused the trouble in the first place.  In all the discussion, you may use the story of Dick Whittington and his cat, or any other story of your choosing for the context.

Link this up with the parable.  Each person/object in the story has an analogy: The owner is God and the field is the world.  The servants are his missionaries and the wheat is the good people.  The enemy is Satan and the darnel is the bad people.  Harvest time is judgement day with the barn being paradise and the fire is you-know-where.

The message is that in every story with a bad person, there is a good person in there as well.  You may wish to play down the part about what happens to the bad people.  That will lead on to a lot of questions that cannot be finished this Sunday.  (Basically, the bad will be with us together with the good, all the way until judgement day – harvest time in the parable - then, judgement will separate the good from the bad)

Dick Whittington was a little boy whose only possession was a cat and he went away to London to look for work.  He found a job as kitchen help.  Although the master of the house was a kindly soul, the cook was nasty to him and used to beat him up.  The cat was his only friend.  So, Dick ran away with his cat.  He stopped on a hill outside London where he heard the church bells of London tolling to him, “Come back, Dick Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London.”  Dick went back to the house.  One day, the master of the house whose ship was about to sail asked everyone in the house if they had anything to sell in the faraway land.  Dick gave his cat, which became a treasure when it helped to clear out all the mice in the palace of a king in a faraway land.  Dick became rich, married the daughter of the master of the house, and became the Lord Mayor of London three times.

Interesting little-known fact – if you go to London, near a train station called Archway, there is a small statue of a cat by the side of the road.  It marks the spot where Dick heard the bells of London and turned round.  London public archives do record a Richard Whittington, who was, unusually, Lord Mayor three times.