Year C
Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
Theme
Naming the baby
Points to note
While the reading is a little difficult for children to follow, we can reduce it to something a little simple. Names are something that fascinate me. When you think about it, our names are very personal to us, being tied up to our very identity as individuals. Yet, though most of us never have a choice in the matter, almost all of us stick to our given names all through our lives. I thought it will be great to explore the meaning of our names with the children. It is also a great excuse to find out the children’s names if you don’t already know them.
There may need to be a little research before hand. It will be great if you know the meaning of the more popular names around. Maybe, it will be handy if you have a name-book with you, which you can then check out together with the children.
Liturgy
Explain that today we are stepping outside the normal church cycle of Ordinary Sundays to celebrate a feast-day. Feast-days are days in the church calendar when celebrate a saint or an event in Jesus’ life. They tend to fall on a particular date, which can be any day of the week. There are three ranks of them. There are, in order of importance: solemnities, feast-days and memorials. Solemnities and feast-days celebrating an event in Jesus’ life are so important that they replace the reading of the Sunday if they fall on a Sunday.
Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia! Alleluia!
As for you little child, you shall be called
a prophet of God, the Most High
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before him.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Explain that Jesus has just begun his final journey to Jerusalem.
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 1:57-66, 80)
The time came for Elizabeth to have their child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.
Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. “No,” she said, “he is to be called John.” They said to her, “But no one in your family has that name,” and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. “What will this child turn out to be?” they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew up and his spirit matured.
And he lived out in the wilderness until the day he appeared openly to Israel.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Dialogue
How many of you have had a younger brother or sister or a cousin? How did you prepare for their arrival? Let them talk about it. If possible, bring it round to helping the parents find names for the baby. Discuss if any of the names were given for an interesting reason.
How many of you were named after somebody? It used to be a common practice in some places to name babies after grandparents, as people didn’t live very long after that. The bafflement over the choice of name in the reading is a case in point. People could also be named after someone famous or liked by the parents. They say you can guess the ages of people who were named John Paul or Kylie.
Explain that in the ancient world, names have power. People believed that you will have power over someone if you call out the person’s name. That is why God did not give us his name in the Old Testament and why he refused to give his name after he wrestled with Jacob.
In the past, names were very important as people believe that our names give us certain desired attributes (think of the seven dwarves). People named Victor or Victoria are expected to be victorious. Those named after someone are also expected to take up the attributes of the person. Boys named John Paul are expected to be holy. Parents hope that daughter Kylie will be a good singer (though I can’t understand why). In the church, of course, we hope that our children will grow up to be like the saints that we name them after.
Interesting names
I included only some of the more common names of our kids, with origins, meaning and variations,but you should have a book of names with you. If youneed any further names, please give me a call.
Alex Greek Defending warrior
Amanda Latin lovable
Andrew (Andrea) Greek man, as in humans
Ann Hebrew favoured by God
Catherine Greek (meaning not known) name became popular after St Katherine of Siena
Charles (Carol) German freeman
David Hebrew (meaning not known) (Islamic: Daud)
Edward Old English guardian of wealth
Elisabeth Hebrew God’s promise. If you look into this name, there are several other names inside of it. These were originally short forms of Elisabeth, which became names in their own right
James Hebrew supplanter same name as Jacob (Islamic: Yakub) Seamus (Scot) and Jaime (Spanish) are variations
John (Joan/Jane) Greek God is gracious. There are plenty of variations of John: Jock(Scot), Ian (Welsh) Sean (Irish) Jean (French) Johan (Dutch) Hans (German) Jon (Polish) Jan (Scandinavian) Ivan (Russian) Joao (Portuguese) Juan (Spanish) Giovanni (Italian). Do you know that there are over 60 St Johns?
Jordan Hebrew flowing. Named after the river, of course
Joseph Hebrew God shall add another son (Islamic: Yusuf)
Joshua Hebrew God is salvation
Kimberly Old English forest clearing. Originally a river name
Lawrence (Lauren) Latin laurels, you could take this to mean victors
Margaret German pearl. Breaking up the original German name Margarita gives us Rita, which is the same name
Mary Hebrew (meaning not known) (Islamic: Mariam). Maria is the only girl’s name I know that also is a boy’s name.
Nicholas Greek victor
Oliver (Olivia) Latin Olive, which symbolise peace
Patrick Latin nobleman. St Patrick wasn’t Irish but was French
Paul Latin small, originally a nickname
Richard German brave power
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