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.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Trust in Jesus

Points to note

This is another vivid account of the powers of Jesus and of faith in him.  As such, there are many images that can be drawn from this passage.  One could also concentrate on the powers of Jesus to calm the sea.  If you choose to concentrate on this image, though, it is recommended that the demonstration of his powers by Jesus should not be taken only as such but the powers are demonstrated to illustrate a requirement of Christian living: that Jesus’ powers are available to us if we but trust in him.

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 was tired after teaching people.  However, as we have seen last week, people did not leave him alone, and he had to feed five thousand of them.  Now, he is left even more tired and wishes to go away with his friends for some rest.

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 14:22-33)

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he would send the crowds away.  After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  When evening came he was there alone, while the boat, by now far out on the lake, was battling with a heavy sea, for there was a headwind.  In the fourth watch of the night he went towards them, walking on the lake and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified.  “It is a ghost,” they cried out in fear.  But at once, Jesus called out to them, saying, “Courage!  It is I!  Do no be afraid!”  It was Peter who answered, “Lord”, he said, “if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.”  “Come,” said Jesus.  Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink.  “Lord!  Save me!” he cried.  Jesus put out his hands at once and held him.  “Man of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  And as they got out of the boat the wind dropped.  The men in the boat bowed down before him and said, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Have you ever seen when a baby plays with his parents?  Can you see the baby’s face when his father tosses him up in the air and then catches him again?  Is there any fear?  Discuss how the baby feels safe because he knows that his father will catch him before he falls.  Note the fact that the thought that his father will not catch him does not even cross the baby’s mind.

Discuss how we may have such a personal experience ourselves.  Ever gone into a big crowd like at a football match?  Discuss how the children would hold the hands of the parents tightly so that they will not get lost.  Ever been frightened when going camping?  Discuss how we keep closely to the adults to be safe.  There may be other examples.

Go through the reading and discuss the salient points, bringing out how the various peoples felt at the following points:

·       When Jesus and the disciples went out onto the boat to rest and instead, a storm broke out, were the disciples exasperated at losing their rest in addition to being frightened?  Sometimes, we worry instead of praying.

·       When Jesus decided to go for a walk, were the disciples frightened to see Jesus walking on water?  Who else would walk on water?  Ghosts?  Sometimes, we see the worst in all good things.

·       When Peter wanted to join Jesus walking on water, what was he anticipating (walking on water – come on??!!) and why did you think he wanted to walk on water as well?  Sometimes, we think that faith is easy, and we don’t prepare & pray about the hard part – keeping going with Jesus.

·       When Peter began walking on water, what did he begin to see?  The winds and the waters would seem frightening and he probably began to wonder what he was doing, walking on water!  Sometimes, we get easily distracted when ‘reality’ sets in.

·       When Peter began to sink: why did he sink?  Where do you think he should have kept his eyes if not on the wind and the water?  What was his reaction?  Sometimes, we only reach out to Jesus after we get into trouble.

·       When Jesus hauled him back into the boat, what did Peter think?  What did the other disciples think of Jesus and Peter?  Sometimes, we wonder what could have been if we had that little more courage.

Discuss the lessons of this reading: that to do anything, we must keep our faith in Jesus, keep our eyes on him at all times and do everything that he wants us to do, the way he wants us to do it.

A little story A man went mountain climbing.  As he climbed, suddenly he slipped and fell down a very steep cliff.  With no other hope, he closed his eyes, called out, “God, help me!” held out his hand and grabbed the only branch growing out of the face of the cliff.  As he was hanging there by that one little branch, he looked down the cliff and saw the bottom a long way off.  So, he looked up and shouted, “Anyone up there?”  A booming voice replied, “Yes.”  With relief, the climber shouted, “Can you help me?”  The booming voice replied, “Yes, I can help you but you must trust me.  Do you trust me?”  The climber shouted, “Of course I trust you!”  The booming voice continued, “If you trust me, you must do everything I tell you to do.”  Exasperated, the climber shouted, “Of course I trust you and I will do whatever you want me to do: just get me out of here!”  The booming voice said, “Let go of that branch!”  The climber looked down and then looked up and then shouted, “Anyone else up there?” You may laugh, but what would you have said?

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Being ready

Points to note

The fuller version can be a little doom-laden.  Hence, the shorter version of the reading is used. 

A parable brings home to us a truth by relating it to our daily living.  An emphasis on waiting for the Second Coming can be personalised into waiting at home for a relative.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Stay awake and stand ready,

because you do not know the hour

when the Son of Man is coming.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Explain to the children that Jesus has just been talking about trusting God for all our daily needs.  Remember last week's reading tells us not to put our trust in earthly things.  Now, Jesus wants us to use that trust to wait for him.

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 12: 32-48)

Jesus said to his disciples, “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit.  Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.  Those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes will be well rewarded.  I tell you, he will put on an apron, sit them at the table and be a waiter to them.  It may be at midnight when he comes, or even later but those servants if he finds them ready will be well rewarded.  You may be quite sure of this, that if someone had known at when the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house.  You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Dialogue

Do you have a favourite uncle or relative or friend who lives far away?  Do they come over to visit you to stay with you?  Do you do anything to prepare for their visit?  What?

Make this a long drawn out preparation.  The longer the preparation for this favourite uncle, the longer should be our preparations for the coming of Jesus. 

Do we belong to another family?  Who is our big brother in this family?

If Jesus is to come again, what kind of preparation will we be making?

There will be two kinds of preparations to talk about.  At a communal level, we could be preparing for his Coming like we prepare for big feastdays.  This will, of course, be the biggest feastday of them all.  But this, of course, will imply we have sufficient notice. Link this with the preparations that the family makes before the relative turns up.

At a personal level, internal cleansing and good works will help us prepare to accept Jesus.  Link this with the baths Mom makes us take before a visit.

Now take this concept a step further.  What if the uncle said he is coming next week but not sure of the exact day.  He could be Monday, or Tuesday or Wednesday …  .  So, how do we prepare for his arrival.  Do we need to keep making sure that the house is constantly clean and tidy.  And there is always a warm meal waiting.

Explain Jesus’ coming is a bit like that.  We know he is coming but do not know when.  We need to be ready if he just turns up tomorrow.  Discuss how the children can make sure that they are always ready for Jesus to turn up.

19th 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

(Jn 6: 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 me 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.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

LSW children

Year A

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Trust in Jesus

Points to note

This is another vivid account of the powers of Jesus and of faith in him.  As such, there are many images that can be drawn from this passage.  One could also concentrate on the powers of Jesus to calm the sea.  If you choose to concentrate on this image, though, it is recommended that the demonstration of his powers by Jesus should not be taken only as such but the powers are demonstrated to illustrate a requirement of Christian living: that Jesus’ powers are available to us if we but trust in him.

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 was tired after teaching people.  However, as we have seen last week, people did not leave him alone, and he had to feed five thousand of them.  Now, he is left even more tired and wishes to go away with his friends for some rest.

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 14:22-33)

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he would send the crowds away.  After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  When evening came he was there alone, while the boat, by now far out on the lake, was battling with a heavy sea, for there was a headwind.  In the fourth watch of the night he went towards them, walking on the lake and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified.  “It is a ghost,” they cried out in fear.  But at once, Jesus called out to them, saying, “Courage!  It is I!  Do no be afraid!”  It was Peter who answered, “Lord”, he said, “if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.”  “Come,” said Jesus.  Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink.  “Lord!  Save me!” he cried.  Jesus put out his hands at once and held him.  “Man of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  And as they got out of the boat the wind dropped.  The men in the boat bowed down before him and said, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Have you ever seen when a baby plays with his parents?  Can you see the baby’s face when his father tosses him up in the air and then catches him again?  Is there any fear?  Discuss how the baby feels safe because he knows that his father will catch him before he falls.  Note the fact that the thought that his father will not catch him does not even cross the baby’s mind.

Discuss how we may have such a personal experience ourselves.  Ever gone into a big crowd like at a football game?  Discuss how the children would hold the hands of the parents tightly so that they will not get lost.  Ever been frightened when going camping?  Discuss how we keep closely to the adults to be safe.  There may be other examples.

Go through the reading and discuss the salient points, bringing out how the various peoples felt at the following points:

·       When Jesus and the disciples went out onto the boat to rest and instead, a storm broke out, were the disciples exasperated at losing their rest in addition to being frightened?  Sometimes, we worry instead of praying.

·       When Jesus decided to go for a walk, were the disciples frightened to see Jesus walking on water?  Who else would walk on water?  Ghosts?  Sometimes, we see the worst in all good things.

·       When Peter wanted to join Jesus walking on water, what was he anticipating (walking on water – come on??!!) and why did you think he wanted to walk on water as well?  Sometimes, we think that faith is easy, and we don’t prepare & pray about the hard part – keeping going with Jesus.

·       When Peter began walking on water, what did he begin to see?  The winds and the waters would seem frightening and he probably began to wonder what he was doing, walking on water!  Sometimes, we get easily distracted when ‘reality’ sets in.

·       When Peter began to sink: why did he sink?  Where do you think he should have kept his eyes if not on the wind and the water?  What was his reaction?  Sometimes, we only reach out to Jesus after we get into trouble.

·       When Jesus hauled him back into the boat, what did Peter think?  What did the other disciples think of Jesus and Peter?  Sometimes, we wonder what could have been if we had that little more courage.

  

Discuss the lessons of this reading: that to do anything, we must keep our faith in Jesus, keep our eyes on him at all times and do everything that he wants us to do, the way he wants us to do it.

 

A little story

A man went mountain climbing.  As he climbed, suddenly he slipped and fell down a very steep cliff.  With no other hope, he closed his eyes, called out, “God, help me!” held out his hand and grabbed the only branch growing out of the face of the cliff.  As he was hanging there by that one little branch, he looked down the cliff and saw the bottom a long way off.  So, he looked up and shouted, “Anyone up there?”  A booming voice replied, “Yes.”  With relief, the climber shouted, “Can you help me?”  The booming voice replied, “Yes, I can help you but you must trust me.  Do you trust me?”  The climber shouted, “Of course I trust you!”  The booming voice continued, “If you trust me, you must do everything I tell you to do.”  Exasperated, the climber shouted, “Of course I trust you and I will do whatever you want me to do: just get me out of here!”  The booming voice said, “Let go of that branch!”  The climber looked down and then looked up and then shouted, “Anyone else up there?”

You may laugh, but what would you have said?