Fourth Sunday in Advent

LSW children

Year C

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

Praising Mother and Son

Points to note

This is the final Sunday of Advent. And after all the exciting anticipation from John the Baptist, we take time out to praise the Lord and His Mother as we draw closer to his coming on Christmas Day.

The session then can end on a bit of a devotional note if you can get the children to calmly and solemnly recite the Hail Mary. If you do, draw attention to the words said by Elizabeth in the prayer.

If you are able to, prepare the Magnificat on a board so that the children can also say the prayer together.  It is the song of praise that follows on from this reading.  The Magnificat is also said in the Evening Prayer, recited by every priest and religious as well as many devout lay Catholics every evening throughout the world. If you think about it, somewhere in the world it would be evening at any one time.  So, somewhere in the world there would be Catholics saying the Evening Prayer.  So, remind the children before they say the Magnificat that they are accompanying someone somewhere in the world in their Evening Prayer when they say the Magnificat.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me

Alleluia!

Gospel

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 1:39-44)

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Go through the story again but this time, explain who each person is.  I would expect everyone to know how Mary is but explain that this story is when she is already pregnant with the Baby Jesus for two months.  (Well, we don’t really know how many months pregnant is really was but we celebrate the Annunciation (when Jesus was conceived) 25 March and the Visitation (this story) 31 May.

Elizabeth is a cousin of Mary but she was very old when she became pregnant with a baby, by the blessing of God.  The baby is actually John the Baptist, the same one we read about in the previous two Sundays.  So, Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins because their mothers were cousins.

Discuss the point of the reading when Mary met Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth in her old age is pregnant with child and so Mary went over to visit her even though she was pregnant herself.  

When Elizabeth saw Mary, she greeted Mary.  Note the words that she used.  It is the second line of the Hail Mary prayer.  (The first line is the words that the angel Gabriel used to greet Mary during the Annunciation).  So, her way of greeting Mary is deemed to be as good as the angel Gabriel’s until generations of Catholics since then have been echoing them when we wish to praise the Mother of God.

Also, note that at the same time the baby leapt in the womb. Ask the children what do they think the baby was doing jumping about in the womb.  Likely it was in happiness.  Do you think it was happiness on meeting Mother Mary or Baby Jesus?  I think it was the latter.  So, even before he was born, John the Baptist has been heralding the coming of Jesus.

So, paint the scene well: Mother-to-be greets and praises Mother-to-be.  Baby-in-the-womb meets and praises Baby-in-the–womb.  Quite a scene, isn’t it?

Discuss with the children, how they would greet Jesus if they meet him coming.  After all, Advent is the time we all think about how we wish to greet Jesus as we await his coming.  How we greet Jesus is not just what and how we say but also how we prepare our hearts to receive him when he comes into our hearts.   

Prayer

Pray the Hail Mary but for today, ask the children to emphasise the words of Elizabeth in the second line.

If you have time and you have prepared the words, pray the Magnificat.   Explain to the children that the Magnificat is the song that Mary sang to praise God after she was praised by Elizabeth. 

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Year B

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

A Message of Joy

Points to note

Some say that the waiting time of Advent is a bit like the expectations one encounter at the time of pregnancy, just that it is four weeks rather than nine months.  Today, we hear of the story of how the pregnancy of all pregnancies started.

There have been depictions of the Annunciation by many artists but most are set in a ornate room with tiled floors and paintings on the wall.  One must remember that most of these paintings were commissioned by rich patrons and those paintings on the wall were probably the artist’s advertisement billboards.

  

I always, though, imagine the event to take place in a small humble house with mud floors and barren walls.  The virgin is unassumingly dressed in house clothes rather than in an embroidered dress.  Jesus was the message but it was not a message of liberation for the wealthy and powerful but for the poor and the burdened in society.

In this time of celebrations, it has always been customary in the Church to turn her prayers and attention to those who has not been fortunate to revel in festivities that many of us have been used to.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me. Alleluia!

Gospel

This is the final Sunday of Advent, the last before Christmas.  Remind the children that there are four Sundays in Advent and that Christmas is round the corner.  The last of the Advent wreath candles will be lit today.

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

(Lk 1:26-38)

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

What was the story about?  It is a well-known story with which most children with basic catechism should be familiar.  Take them through the story and what happened.  Focus on the message of the angel and that it was a message of joy.  Discuss how they would have felt if they have been told that the Saviour of the World is to be born.  Discuss why.  What does it mean that a Saviour is coming?  Leave it at conceptual level if the children are unable to translate it into real terms.

Imagine the scene.  Ask the children to use their imagination to see how the scene looked like.  Do they imagine a room like the one they have at home?  Discuss the reality of the room that Mary was in – it was the home of a poor carpenter.  Was it a rich man’s house?  Ask the children to describe a poor man’s house.  It will be interesting to see if any of them have ever been in a poor person’s house.

What would the message of the coming of a Saviour mean to poor people?  Explore what poorer people would be expecting from a Saviour.  Would it include freedom from physical hunger as well as spiritual ones?

Explain to the children that we call Christmas the season of peace and goodwill and that it should also include

·     freedom from wars that is faced by many Christians who are fleeing their homes in some countries

·   freedom to pray and celebrate Christmas the way they want to but are stopped by various people & governments

·     freedom from hunger and malnutrition that plagues many people even in rich countries

·     freedom to pursue education and opportunities for life, especially for girls in some places

·     freedom to travel wherever they want to be and be with their loved ones this Christmas

While the children may not be able to do much with the above problems, they would be able to stay with these people in their prayers, just as Jesus will be with them in their longing.

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Year A

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

Trusting God

Points to note

There are two accounts of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels.  The one in Mt (this year) tells it from Joseph’s point of view while the one in Lk tells it from Mary’s point of view.  To understand Joseph’s point of view, one need to know that Jewish marriage takes place in two stages.  In the first stage, where Joseph and Mary’s marriage was at the time Jesus was conceived, the husband and wife are betrothed but do not stay together as husband and wife until the second stage a year later.  So, for the first year of the marriage, the Jewish wife remains a virgin.

Now, how do you explain this to children who may not have that birds and bees chat with their parents yet?  Maybe, better to focus on the role of Joseph in his part of the Holy Family and him taking the second place to Mary.  To me, his acquiescence to his part in our salvation in no less than Mary but his humility in deferring to Mary’s role is something to emulate.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Discuss with the children about the Christmas season that we are about to enter in the coming week.  This is available in the end panel of this leaflet & for a more complete explanation, at http://childrenlivingthesundayword.blogspot.com/2013/09/soundbites-about-advent-christmas.html.

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 1:18-24)

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

This discussion could be kept short as the bulk of the discussions takes place before the reading.

Who is Jesus’ mother?  Mary is the mother of Jesus.

Who is Jesus’ father?  No, not Joseph, but God.

Yet, Joseph is part of the Holy Family.  So, who is Joseph to Jesus?  Explain that Joseph was Jesus’ foster father.  Explain what a foster father is.  Explain similarities and differences with stepfathers, if children are more familiar with the latter.

Explain that while Joseph is the foster father, not stepfather of Jesus, Mary as the mother of Jesus was the more important parent.  Joseph was there in the supporting role. 

Discuss how Joseph must have felt when told by the angel in the dream that he is to become a foster father.  How did Joseph take it?  Did he accept the task that God gave him?  Why?   Like Mary, he trusted God.  Discuss what the angel told him.  And as a Jew, how he is to fulfil the scripture prophecy in the reading.  According to the reading, did he even hesitate?

Did Joseph carry out his task well? Would that be a difficult job?  To take care of a child that was not his son?

Discuss how the children would respond if they were asked to do a difficult job.  Discuss further if they were asked to take the supporting role in doing that job and someone else had the leading role.  Maybe an example would be a supporting role in a play, a team game or something more important: building something that benefits someone else or looking after someone.

Discuss how trusting God would help them as it has helped Joseph.

CUSTOMS IN CHRISTMAS

We celebrate Christmas in church with two masses.  The Christmas midnight mass is a vigil mass, similar in structure to a normal Sunday mass (unlike Easter, the other midnight mass), followed by Christmas Day mass, which is a different mass the next morning.

The traditional colours of Christmas are gold (for the gift of the Magi), red (the blood of Jesus on the cross) and green (eternal life of Jesus that the cross cannot conquer).

The first Christmas crib was credited to St Francis of Assisi, who wanted to emphasise the focus of Christ rather than the secular merry-making and gifts-giving (Even in his days!!).  He first used real people & animals and the whole scene was blessed by the Pope but now, of course, we use little statues.  The Christmas crib in church is blessed at Christmas midnight mass.  Oh, by the way, there is no three kings, or even three wise men.  The Bible mentioned some men, and the number and their crowns got added later on.  They were likely astrologers who were watching the stars when they saw the new star over Bethlehem.

Christmas hymns in Latin have been around ever since Christmas started but Christmas carols in local language, was popularised by St Francis of Assisi (again).  Carol comes from the old French word, carole, which is a dance: Carols were originally performed as a dance-song.

We use holly as a Christmas decoration.  Its prickly points symbolises Jesus' crown of thorns and the red berries the blood from that crown.  Both the holly and mistletoe are of pagan origins but I can't think of any Christian significance for the mistletoe.

Christmas trees were popularised by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who tried to recreate the twinkling of stars through the branches of evergreen trees with Christmas tree lights (with candles!!).  The evergreens symbolise life that winter cannot kill off.

And Boxing Day, celebrated on Dec 26 in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, do not have anything to do with boxing or fighting.  Boxes probably refer to gifts in boxes given to employees and slaves, effectively the Christmas bonus.

 

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Year C

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

Praising Mother and Son

Points to note

This is the final Sunday of Advent. And after all the exciting anticipation from John the Baptist, we take time out to praise the Lord and His Mother as we draw closer to his coming on Christmas Day.

The session then can end on a bit of a devotional note if you can get the children to calmly and solemnly recite the Hail Mary.  If you do, draw attention to the words said by Elizabeth in the prayer.

If you are able to, prepare the Magnificat on a board so that the children can also say the prayer together.  It is the song of praise that follows on from this reading.  The Magnificat is also said in the Evening Prayer, recited by every priest and religious as well as many devout lay Catholics every evening throughout the world.  Although the Magnificat is part of the evening prayer. If you think about it, somewhere in the world it would be evening at any one time.  So, somewhere in the world there would be Catholics saying the Evening Prayer.  So, remind the children before they say the Magnificat that they are accompanying someone somewhere in the world in their Evening Prayer when they say the Magnificat.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me

Alleluia!

Gospel

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 1:39-44)

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Discussion

Go through the story again but this time, explain who each person is.  I would expect everyone to know how Mary is but explain that this story is when she is already pregnant with the Baby Jesus for two months.  (Well, we don’t really know how many months pregnant is really was but we celebrate the Annunciation (when Jesus was conceived) 25 March and the Visitation (this story) 31 May.

Elizabeth is a cousin of Mary but she was very old when she became pregnant with a baby, by the blessing of God.  The baby is actually John the Baptist, the same one we read about in the previous two Sundays.  So, Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins because their mothers were cousins.

Discuss the point of the reading when Mary met Elizabeth.  The angel Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth in her old age is pregnant with child and so Mary went over to visit her even though she was pregnant herself. 

When Elizabeth saw Mary, she greeted Mary.  Note the words that she used.  It is the second line of the Hail Mary prayer.  (The first line is the words that the angel Gabriel used to greet Mary during the Annunciation).  So, her way of greeting Mary is deemed to be as good as the angel Gabriel’s until generations of Catholics since then hves been echoing them when we wish to praise the Mother of God.

Also, note that at the same time the baby leapt in the womb.  Ask the children what do they think the baby was doing jumping about in the womb.  Likely it was in happiness.  Do you think it was happiness on meeting Mother Mary or Baby Jesus?  I think it was the latter.  So, even before he was born, John the Baptist has been heralding the coming of Jesus.

So, paint the scene well: Mother-to-be greets and praises Mother-to-be.  Baby-in-the-womb meets and praises Baby-in-the–womb.  Quite a scene, isn’t it?

Discuss with the children, how they would greet Jesus if they meet him coming.  After all, Advent is the time we all think about how we wish to greet Jesus as we await his coming.  How we greet Jesus is not just what and how we say but also how we prepare our hearts to receive him when he comes into our hearts.   

Prayer

Pray the Hail Mary but for today, ask the children to emphasise the words of Elizabeth in the second line.

If you have time and you have prepared the words, pray the Magnificat.   Explain to the children that the Mgnificat is the song that Mary sang to praise God after she was praised by Elizabeth.

4th Sunday in Advent

Year B

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Images

A Message of Joy

Points to note

Some say that the waiting time of Advent is a bit like the expectations one encounter at the time of pregnancy, just that it is four weeks rather than nine months.  Today, we hear of the story of how the pregnancy of all pregnancies started.

There have been depictions of the Annunciation by many artists but most are set in a ornate room with tiled floors and paintings on the wall.  One must remember that most of these paintings were commissioned by rich patrons and those paintings on the wall were probably the artist’s advertisement billboards
 

I always, though, imagine the event to take place in a small humble house with mud floors and barren walls.  The virgin is unassumingly dressed in house clothes rather than in an embroidered dress.  Jesus was the message but it was not a message of liberation for the wealthy and powerful but for the poor and the burdened in society.  

  

In this time of celebrations, it has always been customary in the Church to turn her prayers and attention to those who has not been fortunate to revel in festivities that many of us have been used to.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me. Alleluia!

Gospel

This is the final Sunday of Advent, the last before Christmas.  Remind the children that there are four Sundays in Advent and that Christmas is round the corner.  The last of the Advent wreath candles will be lit today.

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

(Lk 1:26-38)

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

What was the story about?  It is a well-known story with which most children with basic catechism should be familiar.  Take them through the story and what happened.  Focus on the message of the angel and that it was a message of joy.  Discuss how they would have felt if they have been told that the Saviour of the World is to be born.  Discuss why.  What does it mean that a Saviour is coming?  Leave it at conceptual level if the children are unable to translate it into real terms.

Imagine the scene.  Ask the children to use their imagination to see how the scene looked like.  Do they imagine a room like the one they have at home?  Discuss the reality of the room that Mary was in – it was the home of a poor carpenter.  Was it a rich man’s house?  Ask the children to describe a poor man’s house.  It will be interesting to see if any of them have ever been in a poor person’s house.

What would the message of the coming of a Saviour mean to poor people?  Explore what poorer people would be expecting from a Saviour.  Would it include freedom from physical hunger as well as spiritual ones?

Explain to the children that we call Christmas the season of peace and goodwill and that it should also include

·     freedom from wars that is faced by many Christians who are fleeing their homes in some countries

·     freedom to pray and celebrate Christmas the way they want to but are stopped by various people & governments

·     freedom from hunger and malnutrition that plagues many people even in rich countries

·     freedom to pursue education and opportunities for life, especially for girls in some places

·     freedom to travel wherever they want to be and be with their loved ones this Christmas

While the children may not be able to do much with the above problems, they would be able to stay with these people in their prayers, just as Jesus will be with them in their longing.