Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Twenty-second Ordinary Sunday

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Washing

Points to note

 

We have just finished the series on the Eucharist that ran for the last five Sundays.  While this reading is not about the Eucharist, it is related in the sense that we need to wash up before a meal and the Eucharist is a meal.

We can therefore begin the session with a throwback on what we did the last five Sundays.  If there has been a break, you may need to amend your introduction accordingly.

Liturgy

Acclamation

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life: 

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus is completing his journey through his home region of Galilee after having just completed many miracles and teaching many people.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with you.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark

(Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.  For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning to the marketplace they never eat without first sprinkling themselves.  There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?”  He answered, “It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:

This people honours me only with lip-service, 

while their hearts are far from me.  

The worship they offer me is worthless, 

the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.”

He called the people to him again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy slander, pride, folly.  All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

You may wish to introduce by referring to the discussions on the Eucharist we had the last few Sundays.

What is the one thing that you must do before you eat?  Well, there is saying grace and washing your hands.  Put the saying grace aside for a while.

Why do you need to wash your hands?  Highlight that other then the obvious hygiene reason, there is also the emotional and social element.  Many people feel better if we were to sit at the dining table when we are clean.  That is why people ‘freshen up’ before dinner. Some people even prefer to bathe before a proper dinner.  There is also the social angle:  would you like to sit to eat with somebody whose hands have not been cleaned, or who stinks badly because he has not washed after a football game?

Explain that saying grace, is also a way of cleaning: just as we wash to clean our hands before eating we also clean our souls by saying grace.  But because it is a physical meal, we do more physical washing than spiritual washing to prepare for it.

If the Eucharist is a meal like we have been talking about these last few weeks, do we also need to wash up for mass?  Well, there is the physical side:  we do try our best to arrive at church clean on Sundays.  Some people even dress up well for mass.  Hence the term, Sunday best, which has largely fallen into disuse of late (please don’t look at me when you say that to the kids).

But just as we do more physical washing than spiritual washing before a physical meal, we do more spiritual washing than physical washing before the spiritual meal, the Eucharist.  How do we do spiritual washing?  Noticed the little tiny containers of water at the church entrances?  Well, that is holy water that we bless and cleanse ourselves with before we enter the spiritually clean place for the spiritual meal.  This holy water has been blessed at the Easter midnight mass.

Explain that that is the public aspect of the cleansing that we share with everyone else.  Ask the children what else we could do.  There is a private and (partly) private aspect to the cleansing.  The private aspect is when we

·           say our prayers before mass, either at home or after we turn up at church; and

·           read the readings in the missal at home so we understand the mass when we attend it, etc.

And just like there is a social angle to washing up at home before the meal, there is social angle to washing up before mass. Would we be clean when we arrive at mass if we have been fighting with our brothers and sisters, or we have been naughty or disobedient, etc?

That is why we have the confessions before the mass.  This is the (partly) private cleansing we do before mass.  In this, we confess our serious wrongs that we have done and ask God for forgiveness and the priest will give us the sign that God has forgiven us.

If there is time, you can also note that just as those at home washes their hands before preparing our food, those at church also cleanse themselves before assisting as mass.  They have a group prayer and will also do their own prayer at home. 

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Twenty-first Ordinary Sunday

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Food and sustenance

Points to note

 

This week’s reading is the last of a series of readings centred around the account of the feeding of the five thousand in Jn. For the five weeks, the readings will be laden with theological themes of: the feeding (Sunday 17); true bread (Sunday 18); the person of Jesus (Sunday 19); Jesus as bread (Sunday 20); and accepting Jesus (Sunday 21).

While it makes sense to present them in such a cycle to adults, it is very difficult for children. I have therefore interpreted it as: preparing the meal (Sunday 17); what we eat (Sunday 18); who we eat with (Sunday 19); the wider church who shares the bread (Sunday 20); and what to do after the meal (Sunday 21).

In all instances, it is important to emphasise the personal and the everyday occurrences that children encounter at meals and parallel them with the meal for their spiritual world.

Liturgy

Acclamation

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life: 

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus has just told the Jews that he is the Bread of Life.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John

(Jn6: 60-69)

After hearing his doctrine many followers of Jesus said, “This is difficult to believe.  How could anyone accept it?”  Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, “Does this upset you?  What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

“It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

“But there are some of you who do not believe.”  For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.  He went on, “This is why I have told you that no one can come to me unless the Father allows him.”  After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “What about you, do you want to go away too?”  Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who shall we go to?  You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

What do you do when you finish a meal?  The children better be those who will be helping Mom and Dad to clear up the dishes and put out the garbage.  If there are guests at the dinner, we entertain the guests.  We definitely do not rush off and lock ourselves into our bedroom with the Playstation!!

Likewise, discuss what we do when we finish the mass.  Some of us stay back to chat with our friends over coffee morning. Some of us go to Sunday School. Some help to put away the chairs. There are also others who attend other meetings and activities and choir practices, youth meetings, St Vincent de Paul meetings.   

Get the children to come up with any other post-mass activities.  Take time to explain what these groups and activities do. Not very nice is it if everyone rushes off home straight after mass?  Get the children to imagine how such a church would look like and whether they would feel welcomed in such a church.

It is a bit like some of the people in the reading who could not accept the food that Jesus is to give and left, leaving Jesus all alone with his disciples.

By the way, you may wish to take the opportunity to remind children not to run off from mass too early.  After all, somebody left the first mass (the Last Supper) early too and we don’t want to be like him, do we?

As we have discussed a few weeks ago, the physical food we eat gives us physical strength to do physical work.  What kind of physical work do we do?  Homework, housework, play, etc.  What happens to the food, though, if we were to eat it all that food and do not do any work?  Well, take this politely:  it comes out in the toilet and is useless to anybody.

Likewise, the spiritual food we eat at mass gives us spiritual strength to do spiritual work.  What kind of spiritual work do we do?  Love, pray and do good deeds.What happens to the spiritual food, though, if we were to eat it all that spiritual food and do not do any spiritual work?  Well, take this politely:  it probably comes out in a spiritual toilet and is useless to God.  We wouldn’t want that to happen, do we?  Discuss specific things we could do to avoid such a situation, 

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Twentieth Ordinary Sunday

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Feast for a world-wide family

Points to note

 

This week’s reading is the fourth of a series of readings centred around the account of the feeding of the five thousand in Jn. For the five weeks, the readings will be laden with theological themes of: the feeding (Sunday 17); true bread (Sunday 18); the person of Jesus (Sunday 19); Jesus as bread (Sunday 20); and accepting Jesus (Sunday 21).

While it makes sense to present them in such a cycle to adults, it is very difficult for children. I have therefore interpreted it as: preparing the meal (Sunday 17); what we eat (Sunday 18); who we eat with (Sunday 19); the wider church who shares the bread (Sunday 20); and what to do after the meal (Sunday 21).

In all instances, it is important to emphasise the personal and the everyday occurrences that children encounter at meals and parallel them with the meal for their spiritual world.

Liturgy

Acclamation

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me

and I live in him, says the Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus was explaining to the people his miracle of the loaves and the significance of him feeding 5000 men plus the women and children.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John

(Jn6: 51-58)

Jesus said to the crowd:

“I am the bread of life which has come down from heaven.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;

and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, 

for the life of the world.”

Then the Jews started arguing with one another: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they said.  Jesus replied:

“I tell you most solemnly,

if you do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man 

and drink his blood,

you will not have life in you.

Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life:

and I shall raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me 

and I live in him.

Just as I, sent by the living Father,

myself get life from the Father,

so whoever eats me will get life from me.

This is the bread that come down from heaven; 

not like the bread our ancestors ate ;

they are dead, but whoever eats this bread will live for ever.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Just as the family at home have meals together, the family of God also have a meal together.  The mass.  Draw parallels between the family at home and the family of God. There is a dining table (the altar table) with a table-cloth over it (the altar cloth).  There is food on the table (the bread and wine) and lots of diners (the congregation).  

Imagine a big party to be held.  Get the children to think in terms of a big party.  Can you think of a place big enough to hold a very, very big party. Your church?  No bigger!  The Stadium?  No, bigger! Imagine a party so big that it needed 12,000 Stadiums to hold all the people invited.  That is what happens every Sunday.  Every Sunday, over 4,000 bishops and 400,000 priests celebrate mass for one billion Catholics in 900,000 churches throughout the world.

Get the children to stretch their imagination and imagine millions of people attending mass at the same time.  Imagine that at the same minute that you are taking communion, maybe one million other Catholics are taking it with you.  Emphasise that it is one big family meal for a family so big that we need to hold the meal at the same time in different places all over the world.

Explain that it is the same mass that is celebrated throughout the world. Jesus promised that he is the bread of life that is given to all people who believes in him.  And everyone who believes in him will be coming for mass every Sunday.  

Explain that the mass is organised so that every church will be using the same readings and will be saying the same prayers the same way.  We all use the same mass books drawn up by the bishops in Rome.  We all also use the same Missal, which dictates which reading is to be used for every Sunday of the year.  Praying from the same mass book and reading form the same Missal is our way of saying we are family.  We also learn the same faith from the same Catechism and the same Bible.

How many of us have been overseas?  How many of us have attended mass overseas?  How many of us have attended mass overseas in another language?  Explain that there is no difference in the mass here and overseas and whatever language it is.  

Actually you don’t need to go overseas to attend mass in another language.  Check out the different languages at masses in the local nearby parishes and share that with the children.  Ask them how many different language masses they have been to.  We don't know how many language the mass has been celebrated all over the world.  The complete Bible can be found in over two thousand languages and I am sure masses are celebrated at least in part in many more languages than that.  It makes me proud to be a Catholic.

You see: ask the children what does Catholic mean? It means universal.    It means that people who are in all countries in the world speaking different languages, practicing different customs but bound by the same faith.  The Malaysian Church is probably more Catholic than most.

Explain that we are sometimes called the Body of Christ because St Paul taught us that we are all like different parts of the same body with Jesus as the head.  

So, when we say ‘Amen’ to the Eucharistic Minister’s ‘Body of Christ’, we are not just agreeing (remember, ‘Amen’ means ‘to agree’) that the piece of bread has now become the body of Christ, but also we are all part of the one Body of Christ, we believe in the same God and we belong to the same family.  And you know at that point, something special happens.  Two persons who have never met become one family, one in the same church, one in the same Body of Christ.  And wherever that you take communion in the world, you are at home. 

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Nineteenth Ordinary Sunday

Images

 

Welcoming Jesus to our mass

Points to note

 

This week’s reading is the third of a series of readings centred around the account of the feeding of the five thousand in Jn in Sunday 17.  For the five weeks, the readings will be laden with theological themes of: the feeding (Sunday 17); true bread (Sunday 18); the person of Jesus (Sunday 19); Jesus as bread (Sunday 20); and accepting Jesus (Sunday 21).

While it makes sense to present them in such a cycle to adults, it is very difficult for children. I have therefore interpreted it as: preparing the meal (Sunday 17); what we eat (Sunday 18); who we eat with (Sunday 19); the wider church who shares the bread (Sunday 20); and what to do after the meal (Sunday 21).

In all instances, it is important to emphasise the personal and the everyday occurrences that children encounter at meals and parallel them with the meal for their spiritual world.

Liturgy

Acclamation

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven, 

says the Lord.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Remind the children that Jesus has just fed the five thousand men, with the women and children.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John

(Jn6: 41-51)

The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.”  “Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph,” they said.  “We know his father and mother, how can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  Jesus said in reply, “Stop complaining to each other.

No one can come to me 

unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, 

and I will raise him up at the last day.

It is written in the prophets:

They will all be taught by God, 

and to hear the teaching of the Father, 

and learn from it, is to come to me.

Not that anybody has seen the Father, 

except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.

I tell you most solemnly, 

everybody who believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this bread that comes down from heaven, 

so that a man may eat it and not die.  

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.  Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; 

and the bread that I shall give 

is my flesh, for the life of the world.

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Just as the family at home have meals together, the family of God also have a meal together.  The mass.  Draw parallels between the family at home and the family of God. There is a dining table (the altar table) with a table-cloth over it (the altar cloth).  There is food on the table (the bread and wine) and lots of diners (the congregation).  

Discuss when Mom or Dad has an important guest for dinner.  Dad’s boss at work, the parish priest, or even more important, your schoolteacher.  Would the table be set even more special?  Discuss how. The guest will have the most important seat that the table and will have the first serving of the food. Everything will be done to get the guest as comfortable as possible.  And if this is the first visit, the guest may even get a tour of the house.  We will all also have to be on our best behaviour and will not be allowed to say any nasty remarks about our guest.

Parallel this with the mass. Who are the people at our mass? There are Catholics as well those who are interested in our church.  There are the priests.  Discuss when we have a special guest at our church:  say, the bishop or a visiting priest.  Won’t we make an extra effort to make sure that he is welcomed and he knows where everything is for him to say mass?  Also, in some churches, we ask people who are attending our church for the first time to stand up so that we can welcome them.

What about Jesus?  Is he a guest at our mass too?  This is an interesting question: is a member of the family also a guest?  Discuss how Jesus is present at our mass:  (i) in the Eucharist in the form of bread and wine; (ii) in the reading, since Jesus is also the Word of God; and (iii) in the gathering of the people, because Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be.

Discuss how we make Jesus welcome in the mass: (i) we kneel when the bread is broken and prepared for us as our way of treating the Eucharist with respect; (ii) we stand when the Gospel is read, because we recognise that these are the words of Jesus; and (iii) we greet the people around us in the sign of peace, and in doing so, we also greet Jesus.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

LSW children

Year B

Eighteenth Ordinary Sunday

Images

 

Bread and wine at mass

Points to note

 

This week’s reading is the second of a series of readings centred around the account of the feeding of the five thousand in Jn in Sunday 17.  For the five weeks, the readings will be laden with theological themes of: the feeding (Sunday 17); true bread (Sunday 18); the person of Jesus (Sunday 19); Jesus as bread (Sunday 20); and accepting Jesus (Sunday 21).

While it makes sense to present them in such a cycle to adults, it is very difficult for children. I have therefore interpreted it as: preparing the meal (Sunday 17); what we eat (Sunday 18); who we eat with (Sunday 19); the wider church who shares the bread (Sunday 20); and what to do after the meal (Sunday 21).

In all instances, it is important to emphasise the personal and the everyday occurrences that children encounter at meals and parallel them with the meal for their spiritual world.

Liturgy

Acclamation

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone, 

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Remind the children that Jesus has just fed the five thousand men, with the women and children.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John

(Jn6: 24-35)

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.  When they found him on the other side, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”  Jesus answered:

“I tell you most solemnly, 

you are not looking for me because you have seen miracles but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

Do not work for food that cannot last, 

but work for food that last forever, 

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, 

for on him the Father, God himself has set his approval.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?”  Jesus gave them this answer, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”  So they said,  ”What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you?  What work will you do?  Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scriptures says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus answered: “I tell you must solemnly, 

it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, 

it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, 

the true bread; 

for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread always.”  Jesus answered:

“I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry; 

he who believes in me will never thirst.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Just as the family at home have meals together, the family of God also have a meal together. The mass.  Draw parallels between the family at home and the family of God.  There is a dining table (the altar table) with a table-cloth over it (the altar cloth). There is food on the table (the bread and wine) and lots of diners (the congregation).  Discuss why the bread at mass looks the way it does.  There is no yeast in it.  This is because when the Jews left Egypt, they left in a hurry and had no time to wait for the dough to rise.  Our mass is a successor to the Jewish Passover meal, which celebrated the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt

Discuss what bread represents to most people.  It is important especially in places where bread is eaten everyday.  Discuss where there are places with famine, etc.  How important do the people there think bread is?

Discuss what is meant by eating the flesh of Jesus. Remember it is not just that our body is eating the physical flesh of Jesus, but rather our spirit eating the spiritual flesh of Jesus.  Explain that by eating him spiritually, we bring the spirit of Jesus into us. Wouldn’t we all like that?

If asked, explain that the wine that is used must be alcoholic, but there are set rules as to how alcoholic.  There is a maximum level for obvious reasons.  There is also a set minimum so that the wine will keep. Also, the wine must be a fruit of the grape.  So, no cider. The rules do not say that the wine must be red to symbolise blood.  I have taken white wine at mass before.

Discuss what the wine means to people.  In countries where wine is drunk a lot, it is normally drunk at dinner time.  It is the kind of dinner where people are relaxed and the meal could take quite a long time because people chat a lot over the meal.  So, wine represents fellowship to these people.

Discuss what is meant when we say we drink the blood of Jesus. Jews and Muslims do not eat meat with blood in it.  Halal & kosher therefore doesn’t just mean no pork, but also that the animal is slaughtered in such a way that all the blood is drained out.  This is because they believe that blood contains life and life can only belong to God.  Going by that therefore, we can say that the blood of Jesus is his life. When we drink the wine, we are drinking the life of Jesus into us.

Therefore, at the end of mass, we are all filled with the spirit and the life of Jesus after partaking of the bread and wine at mass.  With the spirit and life of Jesus in us we can go out and be better Christians. That is the meaning of spiritual sustenance given to us at mass.