Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twenty-sixth Ordinary Sunday

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Self-righteous people

Points to note

This is a short and simple parable, aimed very much at the Pharisee in us.  Pharisees are still with us today, in some ways.  When I was wondering around the London district of Stanford Hill one Saturday, where many orthodox Jews live, a little Jewish boy (complete with skullcap and braids) came up to me and asked me to ring the doorbell for him.  To orthodox Jews who are not allowed to work on Saturday, touching something electrical is work.

Not just the Pharisee in us, but the children too.  For some children, it may hit to close to home for comfort.  Protracted quiet during the session may mean a great deal.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain to the children what a parable is.  Explain the situation in Israel at the time of Jesus.  There were Pharisees and priests who thought that because they knew God’s law and kept them, they were better than others who do not.  They also believed that as descendants of Abraham, they will automatically go to heaven whatever they do.

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 21: 28-32)

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, “What do you think?  A man has two sons.  He went and said to the first, ‘My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today.’  He answered, ‘I will not go’, but afterwards changed his mind and went.  The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, ‘Certainly, sir’ but did not go.  Which of the two did the father’s will?”  “The first,” they said.  Jesus said to them, “I tell you truly, tax collectors and Gentiles are making their way into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you as a model of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and the Gentiles did.  Even after seeing that, you refused to change your mind and believe him.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussions

Run through the story again and list all the different characters.  Point out whom the different characters are supposed to represent:  the father, God; the first son, the Pharisees; and the second son, the sinners.  Discuss how the Pharisees see themselves as people destined for Paradise and how they see others who do not measure up to their standards of righteousness.

Discuss the meaning of the terms ‘the letter of the law’ and ‘the spirit of the law’.  Give examples:  when Mom says ‘No cookies before dinner’, eating sweets but not cookies would be obedience to the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law.  Explain that God does not expect merely that we observe the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law as well.  What he wants is that we do the right things for the right reasons.  Link this up with the second son in the story of the Prodigal Son.

Explain that in the parable, Jesus does not condone the sins of the sinners.  Nevertheless, he loves them because they repented.  Link this up with the thief who repented while on the cross next to Jesus.

Who are the modern day Pharisees?  Restrict the discussion to the types of situations where the children have encountered people who are self-righteous, and not the individuals themselves.  We do not want a litany of other people’s sins.  Do they find these people irritating? 

Among the examples could be those who scrupulously do all their own chores in the house but refuses to help in other chores as they are other people’s work; those who observe all the school rules but tell on others who do not without discussing with the offending person first; those who attend mass every Sunday and do good deeds because they think that that is all they need to do to get into heaven. 

Do we do these things?  There would normally be silence in addition to a few shaking of heads.  Leave it to them to think about it and discuss how others feel if they see us doing the things we just mentioned – exactly the same thing that we mention about others.

Note that in all these, God is not looking at what is done but the intention.  For instance, he does not want us to attend mass to chalk up a score for our eligibility for Paradise, but because we love him and his Church.  In all things, love and only love should be the motivation.

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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God’s gifts are unlimited

Points to note

This is a long parable reading and deals with concepts of ‘unfairness’ with which adults often struggle.  Children encounter these similar concepts of ‘unfairness’ in what we see as their own little childish ways.  Or is it we, adults, who react to such ‘unfairness’ in childish ways.  In this sense, to discuss this with children could be difficult unless the facilitator has, at least to a certain extent, come to terms with this ‘unfairness’.  Care should also be taken that we do not project our prejudices on the children.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

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

Peace in the heaven and glory in the highest heavens!

Alleluia!

Gospel

Jesus has explained forgiveness to his disciples and he expects everybody to forgive everyone.

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 20: 1-16)

Jesus said to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at sunrise to hire workers for his vineyard.  He made an agreement with his workers for RM30, and sent them to his vineyard.  Going out at about 9 o’clock he saw others standing idle in the market place and said to them, “You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage.”  So they went.  At about noon and again at about 3 o’clock, he went out and did the same.  Then at about the 5 o’clock he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?”  “Because no one has hired us,” they answered.  He said to them, “You go off into my vineyard too”.  In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his accountant, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first.”  So those who were hired at about the 5 o’clock came forward and received $30 each.  When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received $30 each.  They took it, but grumbled at the landowner.  “The men who came last,” they said, “have done only one hour’s work, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day’s work in al the heat.”  He answered one of them and said, “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on $30?  Take your earnings and go.  I choose to pay the last-comer as much as I pay you.  Have I no right to do what I like with my own?  Why be jealous because I am generous?”  Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Describe the scenario: the child was caught fighting with the little brother or sister.  Mom comes along and had a severe punishment for the child, but little brother or sister got off without even a telling off.  Do they feel it is fair?  Get them to describe any other situations like this.  Be careful that the whole session does not get too vindictive!

Ever played a game, like football, with the rest of the team?  Or on sports day?  (You may use any other team activity such as putting together a collage with others, etc.)  Imagine that the child played very hard and ran a lot during the game or race.  Some others did not do so much work.  But because it is a team effort, everyone gets a prize irrespective of the effort put in.  How does the child feel about it?  Is it fair?  Encourage different points of view.

Ask the child to imagine him or herself as the one who was less skilled or talented and yet got the same prize as others.  How would this child feel?  Is it fair for such a child to feel like that?

Go thorough the story again and see what workmen felt, those who worked all day and those who worked only one hour.  

·       What do you think those who worked one hour thought they will get when time came for them to be paid?  Do you think they expected a full day’s pay?  How do you think they felt when they got a full day’s pay?

·       What do you think those who worked all day thought when they saw those who worked one hour get a full day’s pay?  Do you think they thought they will get more than those who worked one hour?  Why?  How do you think they felt when they got exactly the same?

·       How do you think those who worked one hour and got a full day’s pay felt when they saw those who worked all day getting the same as them?

Relate it to the message of Jesus.  All people who are saved belong to the one big happy family of God.  And all members of the same family will enjoy the same rewards from the same father, just as all members of the same team get the same prize.  There is only one reward: going to heaven.  There is no such thing as a lower grade of heaven.  Either we make it to heaven or we don’t.  And everyone who does, gets to the same heaven.

There are people who committed their lives to living in a community, like nuns and some priests.  Those who are able work more.  Those who can’t work as much as they can.  Those who are able draw little from the common funds.  Those who are sick draw as much as they need.  Maybe, the kingdom of God is a little like that.  People contribute as much as they can and takes as much as they need: everyone gets the same chance of life.

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twenty-fourth Ordinary Sunday

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Forgiving others

Points to note

Every child loves a story.  So, tell this story well.  If necessary, embellish it with details.  To do this, though, you will have to prepare well for it.  Take your time with the story.  It is dramatic.  Tell it with drama. 

You may want to dramatise the actions, perhaps, even get the children to act out the roles.  Be careful with the choice for the roles.  A sensitive child should not play the role of the first servant. 

The reading should be able to lead the children on to something very close to them, the Our Father.  The parable isn’t just a fun story or even a moralising one.  It deals very much with the Christian love triangle between God, our neighbour and ourselves.  It is important to emphasise the words of the prayer that we pray every day; and the concept that we should not expect forgiveness from God if we do not forgive in our turn.

Introduce the concept of justice to the children.  This concept however may be a little too abstract for some but you can tackle it through the concept of fairness.  Children normally have a keen sense of fairness and it would be expected for them to react as the other servants had in the story.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Gospel

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 18: 21-35)

Peter went up to Jesus and said, “Lord, how often must I forgive my brothers if he does something wrong to me?  As often as seven times?”  Jesus answered, “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

“And so the kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to his servants to settle what they owed him.  When the counting began, they brought him a man who owed him $10 million; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all that he owned, to meet the debt.

At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet.  “Give me time,” he said, “and I will pay you the whole sum.”  And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt.

Now, as the servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him $10; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him.  “Pay what you owe me,” he said.  His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.”  But the other would not agree; instead, he had him thrown into prison until he paid the debt.

His fellow servants were upset when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported it to him.  Then the master sent for him.  “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me.  Should you not, then, have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?”  And in his anger, the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt.  And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Go through the story with the children again.  Discuss how the various persons in the story would have felt:  the king on seeing the first servant pleading at his feet; the servant on being told of his debts and then, that his debts are cancelled;  the second servant of being told of his debt and then, being thrown into prison;  the other servants and the king on hearing that the second servant has been thrown into prison.  In the discussion, the fairness and justice of the affair should be questioned.

Draw the analogy of the story with ourselves, that God is the king and we are the servants.  God watches over us in our actions to forgive us our wrongs.  But he also watches over us to ensure that we forgive our neighbours.

Discuss also the role of the other servants.  They didn't stand aside when they saw the injustice.  Instead, they reported to their employer.  So, do we stand aside or do we do something when we see something wrong.

Finish off by bringing up the Our Father.  Discuss the significance of the line Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Note that we are effectively asking God not to forgive us if we do not forgive others. 

Do not recite the Our Father during the LSW.  Liturgically, the place for the Our Father is during the communion rite - you are still in the Liturgy of the Word.  But explain to the children that you expect them to reflect carefully.  Ask the children to remember that line in the Our Father the next time they pray the prayer, which is soon at the mass.

Twenty-three Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twenty-third Ordinary Sunday

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I am my brother’s keeper

Points to note

Last week, we dealt with how Jesus reacted to Peter who made a mistake.  This Sunday, we deal with a central theme in our everyday life:  What do we do when someone else makes a mistake?

Care must be taken to ensure that the discussion does not centre on the mistake that the someone else did, but rather on our reaction to that mistake.  Some children are notorious as ‘tell-tales’ and intervention is often required to keep the discussion on track.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord,

consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

Gospel

This passage takes place after the Transfiguration, and Jesus was discussing with his disciples about the Church.

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 18: 15-20)

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves.  If he listens to you, he has won back your brother.  If he does not listen, take one or two others with you:  the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.  But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; or if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a leper or a tax collector.

“I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you considered loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

“I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Have you heard of the saying ‘I am not my brother’s keeper’?  It was Cain’s response when God asked him where Abel was (Gn 4:9).  What kind of person was Cain?  He murdered his brother, Abel.  You may wish to go through the story of why Cain killed Abel - because Cain got jealous when God liked Abel’s sacrifice more than Cain’s.  Discuss the type of person who would use the saying - someone who is afraid or not bothered about his brother.  Explain that ‘brother’ in this context, does not just refer to a member of the family, but to any member of the community.

Have you ever seen your brother or sister in the family done something wrong?  Careful here, we do not want a long diatribe of dirty linen being washed in public!!  Damper it down if necessary and move on.  Note that this does not refer to wrongdoing done by the child, but by others.

Point out that even if it were a wrongdoing where no one gets hurt, Mom and Dad would still be angry.  Discuss what the child would do if Mom and Dad still haven't found out.  Would they tell at the first instance, or would they remonstrate with the wrongful sibling?  If the sibling were still unrepentant, would the child then inform the parents?  I find that in many circumstances, there is no right and wrong answer to this question.  Even for us as adults, or maybe, especially for us as adults (would you turn in your own child if he/she commits a crime?  A small crime?  A big crime?).  So, don’t be dogmatic with the answer.

If there is time, expand the discussion to brothers and sisters in the community.

Explain to the children that as the Church is one family, it also has a head like our parents at home.  As head of the Church, God would not like it if somebody in the family sins.  As a member of the family, we have a responsibility to do for a fellow member of our community what we should do for our sibling at home who has done any wrongdoing.