Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

The Pope and the structure of the Church

Points to note

There is a board inside the Westminster Catholic Cathedral in London, which lists down the names of all the Popes and next to them, the list of the leading bishops in England at that time.  There are two ideas here which are important.  Each bishop is consecrated a bishop by another bishop, who has been consecrated by another bishop, who has been consecrated by another bishop, and so on, who has been consecrated by another bishop, who has been consecrated by one of the Apostles.  This is known as the Apostolic Succession, the principle that every Catholic bishop traces his lineage back to the Apostles and we have the list of bishops to prove it.  Every diocese in the world keeps such a list of its own line of bishops.  This list that traces back to the Apostles is our proof that what our bishops teach is the same as what the Apostles, and Jesus, taught.

The other is one of communion.  Every Catholic owes allegiance to his or her local bishop.  We are said to be in communion with our bishop.  Each bishop is in turn in communion with the Pope.  Therefore, each Catholic is communion with each other through his or her communion with the local bishop who is in communion with other bishops through his communion with the Pope.

In Year A, we discuss the structure of the Church while, in Year B, we explain how the Pope is elected and, in Year C, we discuss the Apostolic Succession.  In this leaflet you may need to do a bit of research to get some of the details to share with the children.  You can normally get the statistics about your diocese in your diocesan directory, a copy of which should be in your parish office.  The historical details is normally available in Wikipedia.  Doing the research is quite interesting and often it leads you to other little nuggets of interesting information you may not be aware of.  Have fun.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.

And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Jesus has just been debating with some Jews and Pharisees.

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 16:13-20)

When Jesus came to the region of Ceasarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But you,” he said, “who do you say I am?”  Then Simon Peter spoke up, “You are the Christ,” he said, “the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man!  Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.  So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.  And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.”  Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

Who is the head of the Church?  Jesus.  Explain that Jesus does not take care of the entire Church by himself and he has a lot of people to help him.  He has the Pope to help him.  The Pope helps Jesus to take care of all Catholics throughout the world, all one billion of us.  The Pope wears white and lives in Rome.  He has a huge church called St Peter’s Basilica.  This is because the first Pope was St Peter.

The Pope could not possibly take care of all Catholics, too.  So he has over 5,000 bishops to help him.  Most of these bishops take care of an area called a diocese.  Some dioceses are larger than others and are called archdioceses.  We are in the Diocese/Archdiocese of [name of diocese/archdiocese], which includes [list the areas covered by your diocese].  There are more than [number of diocese] Catholics in our diocese/archdiocese.  The bishop who is appointed to help the Pope take care of all Catholics in our diocese is Bishop/Archbishop [name of your bishop], who wears purple and lives in [principal city of your diocese].  His church is called [name of cathedral] Cathedral.

Even Bishop/Archbishop [name of bishop] needs help to take care of so many Catholics.  So, there are over [number of priests] priests to help them.  There are 400,000 priests helping bishops throughout the world.  Many of these priests help take care of a parish.  We are in the parish of [name of your parish] and there are [number of weekly attendance] people in our parish who come to our church for mass.  Priests normally wear black except in hot countries.

Sometimes, priests may have brothers and sisters to help them do God’s work.  These brothers and sisters run schools, orphanages and hospitals or they may do other work like praying for us in monasteries.  There are more than 700,000 of them throughout the world.

Bishops are important people.  They teach us the same things that the Apostles have been teaching.  So, when the Pope picks someone to succeed him, he will choose the next bishop very carefully and ensure that they are well trained.  The new bishop will be consecrated a bishop by several bishops, who themselves have been consecrated a bishop by several other bishops, laying their hands on the new bishop.  Having these other bishops there is the guarantee that the new bishop is a genuine Catholic bishop, who can trace his lineage back to the Apostles.  You can explain the Apostolic Succession in these simple terms and that the Apostles were the only bishops who were consecrated bishops by Jesus himself.

Someone once said that it is a bit like knowing who your father is.  This is quite true: every diocese in the world has a secret archive, which must include, among other things, the list of all the bishops in that diocese from the very beginning and the Pope in communion for each bishop.  While our diocese was started in [year of establishment of your diocese], we can also trace the line back to the first bishop of [first diocese in your country] in [year first diocese was set up].  

You can find out more about priests and bishops in the Church here.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Images

Persistence

Points to note

There is more than one way of looking at this passage.  We can talk about how Jesus came to save all people and not just the Israelites.  From here we can relate it to God reaching to all religions and not just Christianity.  This, though, could confuse the children if not handled right and you don’t have the answers ready.  This is particularly the case with the younger ones.

I have chosen to discuss the way the Canaanite woman debated her way.  It is easy sometimes to accept Jesus’ first answer.  Sometimes, we are even told that it is a matter of humility to accept it and shut up.  But Jesus loves a good debater and he gave in to her more because she came up with a smart answer rather than her persistence, which she seems to have in plenty, too.  I suspect that this is one debate that he did not mind losing.  So, it would seem that, to get on to Jesus’ right side, one need to be persistent and have a smart answer.

I love children who can give me a smart answer, provided of course, I don’t have them at my dining table every night.  Somehow, smart answers make for more lively discussions.  But, if we are not ready for the cut and thrust of that kind discussion, stay clear.  Children have a cruel way of telling you they enjoy seeing you humiliated when you lose a debate.

Anyway, for this discussion, we focus on the Canaanite woman’s other virtue: her persistence.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom,

and cured all kinds of sickness among the people

Alleluia!

Gospel

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 15:21-28)

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  Then out came a Canaanite woman from the district and started shouting, “Sir, Son of David, taken pity on me.  My daughter is tormented by a devil.”  But he answered her not a word.  And his disciples went and pleaded with him.  “Give her what she wants,” they said, “because she is shouting after us.”  He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”  But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet.  “Lord,” she said, “help me.”  He replied, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.”  She retorted, “Ah yes, sir; but even the house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.”  Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, you have great faith.  Let your wish be granted.”  And from that moment her daughter was well again.

This is the Word of the Lord

Dialogue

How many of you have younger brothers or sisters?  Have you noticed the way they ask things from Mom and Dad?  They keep asking and asking until Mom and Dad agrees to give it to them.  It should be interesting that children will be quicker to claim that younger siblings unfairly get things because they are persistent.  Be careful that this does not become a grouse session and that we do not convey the impression that this is acceptable.

Explain the meaning of the words, persistence and perseverance.  Explain how we use them, in language and the context that it is used.  Older children may be able to differentiate between persistence and pestering.  Persistence is when we do it while pestering is when someone else gets something unfairly simply because they are persistent.

Go back to the reading.  Note how Jesus recognised the way woman was willing to persist in her request.  Ask if the children have encountered any examples of such persistence - when someone persists in asking for something someone else unreasonably will not give.  There should be examples at home and in school.  There are also examples of people who persist in fighting for freedom:  Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mandela, Aung San Su Kyi.

Translate these into our spiritual lives.  How do we persist in our spiritual lives?  When we ask for things from God, we constantly pray to him.  Care should be taken that we do not convey the impression that God is someone unreasonable that we have to keep bugging to get what we want. 

Some people say that if we pray hard enough, God will give us what we want and we do not get what we want when we ask God because we did not pray hard enough.  Do we agree with that?  Explain that it is not how hard we pray but also that what we pray for must be something good.  Therefore, we must be persistent in wanting the right thing and for the right reasons. 

Also, in praying, we don’t just ask God for things.  We also make sure that we live good lives.  It is of no use if we pray to God everyday but do not behave as good Christians do.  Therefore, we must be persistent in living good lives because our lives are also a part of our prayers.

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?