Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Fourteenth Ordinary Sunday 

Images

Speaking up

Rejection

Points to note

This reading tries to bring across the idea that, as Christians, we have a duty to stand up for what is right.  That is our calling to be prophets.  Highlight the point that all of us are called to be prophets and therefore we are all called to this responsibility.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

The Word was made flesh and lived among us;

to all who accept him

he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus has just started teaching in the area around his home region.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark

(Mk 6: 1-6)

Jesus went to his hometown and his disciples accompanied him.  With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him.  They said, “Where did the man get all these?  What is the wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that has been worked through him?  This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon?  His sisters, too, are they not here with us?”  And they would not accept him.  And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is only despised in his own country among his own relations and in his own house”; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Discussions

What is a prophet?  Can you give examples of prophets of the old days?  In the Old Testament, there are four major prophets:  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.  They are so called because their books in the Old Testament are the longest. There are also twelve minor prophets, because their books are shorter:  Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.  In addition, there are prophets who did not write any of the Old Testament books such as Samuel, Elijah, Eli, Nathan and so on.  People like Moses and Abraham are not prophets:  they are called patriarchs.

Discuss the fact that Jesus was anointed priest, prophet and king.  Similarly, at our baptism, we are all called to be priests, prophets and kings (or queens?).  For us Christians, we see our role as priests to be that of praying, prophets to be that of proclaiming and kings to be that of servants.

What does a prophet do? Discuss what we expect a prophet to be.  A prophet is not someone who predicts the future:  that is a fortune teller.  A prophet calls people to be true to God’s teachings.  In many ways, a prophet is a teacher.  Discuss people who we could consider prophets in this sense: Sunday school teachers, priests, your friendly LSW facilitators, etc.

A prophet also has to proclaim God’s law and point out where people have not followed God’s commandments.  Examples of people who are prophets in this sense are those who speak up for the poor, those involved in social justice, etc.

What qualities do you think a prophet should have?  Courage, a strong faith, a clear voice.   A prophet should also be one who can withstand rejection because many people would not want to listen to them.  Discuss the types of people who would have been rejected for their message.

For older children

Discuss with the children the times when they have made themselves unpopular when they have pointed out something that is right and should be done.  At times, they have incurred someone’s anger when they refused to take part in an unkind act, a dishonest act or a disobedient act.  Discuss how it hurts and ask them to share their experience.

Scripture note

In the reading, Jesus was referred to as the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon.  Catholic teaching on this point is that brother here is used in the same sense as cousin, which is the meaning still commonly encountered in Middle Eastern languages.  There is an interesting minority view that Jesus has half brothers, sons of Joseph from a previous marriage.  This retains the belief that Mary herself has no other children.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Strong persons to help carry burdens

Points to note

There are two separate imageries from this Sunday’s reading.  In the first part of the reading, Jesus touched upon the fact that the kingdom of heaven is revealed to mere children.  I have chosen for the discussion, the second part with its well-known line, Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest.

This reading can be very abstract for the children and, again, it should be best translated into the more practical terms of children’s lives with the more vivid imageries for younger children.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus is travelling around Galilee with his disciples and teaching them along the way.

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 11:25-30)

Jesus exclaimed, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.  Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.  Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest.  Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.  Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

What is a burden?  Start with physical burdens and then go onto more mental and emotional ones.  Describe it with burdens from children everyday lives:  exams anxieties, fears over being punished for a misdeed, etc.

Explain that some people are said to have a heavy heart and what it means. People with a heavy hearts often have burdens which they find difficult to deal with.

If we have a burden, what do we do?  Get others to help.  Again, it is easy to discuss where a physical burden is involved like getting many people to push a broken down car.  In more emotional burdens, we have someone to talk to about it:  a teacher, parents, a close friend.

Emphasise that this other person that you would call in to help, be it a physical burden or not, would normally be someone stronger than you.  For a physical burden, it would be someone who is bigger and has more muscles.  For emotional burdens, it is normally someone who is older and more experienced than us.  Discuss the strongest person in the world: Jesus.  Discuss how he would help us with our burdens.

For older children, you may want to go into the kind of burdens that Jesus was trying to relieve in his days.  For instance, in this passage, he probably meant the burden of the Jewish Law, which heavily prescribes what is permissible and what is not permissible in daily lives.  The rules on Sabbath did not allow people to work and travel.  Work is defined as lifting a set weight and travel is defined by a set distance.  Jesus did away with all that.  Does this lesson still apply today?  Discuss how laws can become burdensome if the end reason is ignored.  Discuss how various people have challenged unreasonable or unjust laws like Jesus did.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C

Fourteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Theme

The harvest is rich but the labourers are few

Points to note

This is a very vivid passage on missionary work.  We can either convey to the children the drama, the tension and the enthusiasm of the early church in spreading the Gospel message.  Or, we could translate passage into a commitment to proclaim the message in our daily lives.  The latter requires very concrete examples of how we are to practise our faith with this missionary intent.  Care must be taken to draw on the vividness of the passage and lead it into our ordinary lives.  Otherwise, the session could get stuck in between, leading neither into the former nor the latter.

This is a shorter of the two versions available in the Missal.  The full reading contains much negative images, which may be a little too difficult a concept for the younger children to grasp within context.  Even the shorter reading we have below does contain negative images (eg., ‘sending you out into a dangerous world’, etc.), which may have to be explained carefully to the children.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

I call you friends says the Lord,

because I have made know to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus has just begun his final journey to Jerusalem.  Remember how he was greeted as a king when he entered the Holy City.  Obviously, a king will have his heralds and messengers to prepare his way before him.  This is how Jesus sent his heralds ahead of him before entering the Holy City, instead.

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 10: 1-12,17-20)

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he was going to visit.  He said to them, “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.  Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out into a dangerous world.  Carry no purse, no backpack, no sandals.  Waste no time on long greetings when you meet strangers on the road. 

When you first go into a house, say “Peace to this house!”  And if peaceful people live there, your peace will go and rest on them; if not, it will come back to you.  Stay in the same house and eat whatever food and drink they are offering, for you deserve your wages for all your hard work.  Do not move from house to house.  Whenever you go to a town where they welcome you, eat what they give you.  Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Dialogue

There was much enthusiasm in the early Church on the call to spread the good news to all nations.  This is evident from the stories from the Acts of the Apostles.

There is also a sense of urgency, as you can see in the passage. Some people think that the early church expected Jesus to return within a few years after the ascension.  That could explain the urgency.  But, there is also urgency in people who have a piece of good news to tell.  After all, no child with good marks in the exams would delay telling their parents of it.

Retell the story, highlighting the drama and the tension in it. Convey the enthusiasm and urgency in the calling.  Stress that Jesus would like to have a lot of people to help him.

Few, however, do so.  Get them to point out those people they know who have helped spread the good news. Ensure that the people they mention are not too remote from them.  Do they think it is important that there are such people?  Would they have known about Jesus if there were no such people?

What do you call people who spread the good news and tell people about Jesus?  Missionaries.  Explain the role of missionaries and what they do.  They are sent out to spread the Gospel as priests, preachers, catechists and pastoral workers.  They may be ordained priests or lay people.

Link it up with the sacrifices that missionaries are supposed to make if they are to work to spread the good news.  Remember the session last week when we talked about the sacrifices a priest has to make to be a priest?  Go through again with the children on the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that they made. 

Discuss the triple prohibitions that Jesus gave to the disciples.

No purse – this means no money.  So, how would they get food?  They have to ask people for it or work for it.  If they have to ask people, wouldn’t they need to be nice to people?  It wouldn’t make sense would it for a missionary to be nasty to people and then ask them for food?  Missionaries therefore have to show the qualities of Christ to the people they meet.

No backpack – this means no additional supplies.  So, where would they get medicine if they fall sick, etc.  Jesus wanted the missionaries to depend on God.

No sandals – Can you imagine them walking with no sandals?  It must be rather painful.  What Jesus was saying was that they will need to be prepared for suffering if they are truly committed to the Gospel.  Some of them were martyred for the faith while all of them were rejected or made fun of.

Discuss how the children in turn could help spread the message.  Make the task that they could do as simple ones.  It is often the small deeds that remind people that Jesus loves them.  It is important to translate the enthusiasm of the seventy-two disciples into the small deeds that they could do.

 

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B

Fourteenth Ordinary Sunday

Images

Speaking up

Rejection

Points to note

This reading tries to bring across the idea that, as Christians, we have a duty to stand up for what is right.  That is our calling to be prophets.  Highlight the point that all of us are called to be prophets and therefore we are all called to this responsibility.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

The Word was made flesh and lived among us;

to all who accept him

he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus has just started teaching in the area around his home region.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark

(Mk 6: 1-6)

Jesus went to his hometown and his disciples accompanied him.  With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him.  They said, “Where did the man get all these?  What is the wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that has been worked through him?  This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon?  His sisters, too, are they not here with us?”  And they would not accept him.  And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is only despised in his own country among his own relations and in his own house”; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Discussions

What is a prophet?  Can you give examples of prophets of the old days?  In the Old Testament, there are four major prophets:  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.  They are so called because their books in the Old Testament are the longest. There are also twelve minor prophets, because their books are shorter:  Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.  In addition, there are prophets who did not write any of the Old Testament books such as Samuel, Elijah, Eli, Nathan and so on.  People like Moses and Abraham are not prophets:  they are called patriarchs.

Discuss the fact that Jesus was anointed priest, prophet and king.  Similarly, at our baptism, we are all called to be priests, prophets and kings (or queens?).  For us Christians, we see our role as priests to be that of praying, prophets to be that of proclaiming and kings to be that of servants.

What does a prophet do? Discuss what we expect a prophet to be.  A prophet is not someone who predicts the future:  that is a fortune teller.  A prophet calls people to be true to God’s teachings.  In many ways, a prophet is a teacher.  Discuss people who we could consider prophets in this sense: Sunday school teachers, priests, your friendly CLOW facilitators, etc.

A prophet also has to proclaim God’s law and point out where people have not followed God’s commandments.  Examples of people who are prophets in this sense are those who speak up for the poor, those involved in social justice, etc.

What qualities do you think a prophet should have?  Courage, a strong faith, a clear voice.   A prophet should also be one who can withstand rejection because many people would not want to listen to them.  Discuss the types of people who would have been rejected for their message.

For older children

Discuss with the children the times when they have made themselves unpopular when they have pointed out something that is right and should be done.  At times, they have incurred someone’s anger when they refused to take part in an unkind act, a dishonest act or a disobedient act.  Discuss how it hurts and ask them to share their experience.

Scripture note

In the reading, Jesus was referred to as the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon.  Catholic teaching on this point is that brother here is used in the same sense as cousin, which is the meaning still commonly encountered in Middle Eastern languages.  There is an interesting minority view that Jesus has half brothers, sons of Joseph from a previous marriage.  This retains the belief that Mary herself has no other children.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Strong persons to help carry burdens

Points to note

There are two separate imageries from this Sunday’s reading.  In the first part of the reading, Jesus touched upon the fact that the kingdom of heaven is revealed to mere children.  I have chosen for the discussion, the second part with its well-known line, Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest.

This reading can be very abstract for the children and, again, it should be best translated into the more practical terms of children’s lives with the more vivid imageries for younger children.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain that Jesus is travelling around Galilee with his disciples and teaching them along the way.

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 11:25-30)

Jesus exclaimed, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.  Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.  Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest.  Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.  Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

What is a burden?  Start with physical burdens and then go onto more mental and emotional ones.  Describe it with burdens from children everyday lives:  exams anxieties, fears over being punished for a misdeed, etc.

If we have a burden, what do we do?  Get others to help.  Again, it is easy to discuss where a physical burden is involved like getting many people to push a broken down car.  In more emotional burdens, we have someone to talk to about it:  a teacher, parents, a close friend.

Emphasise that this other person that you would call in to help, be it a physical burden or not, would normally be someone stronger than you.  For a physical burden, it would be someone who is bigger and has more muscles.  For emotional burdens, it is normally someone who is older and more experienced than us.  Discuss the strongest person in the world: Jesus.  Discuss how he would help us with our burdens.

For older children, you may want to go into the kind of burdens that Jesus was trying to relieve in his days.  For instance, in this passage, he probably meant the burden of the Jewish Law, which heavily prescribes what is permissible and what is not permissible in daily lives.  The rules on Sabbath did not allow people to work and travel.  Work is defined as lifting a set weight and travel is defined by a set distance.  Jesus did away with all that.  Does this lesson still apply today?  Discuss how laws can become burdensome if the end reason is ignored.  Discuss how various people have challenged unreasonable or unjust laws like Jesus did.