4th Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle
A
Welcome
children to their worship space.
Ask
them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.
Introduce
yourself and your helpers.
Explain:
Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Does anyone remember the season that will
begin soon? <Lent> And what does Lent mean? What do we do during Lent? <prepare for the feast of Easter—the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ>
Ask: Does anyone remember the symbol for
last week? <hold up the symbol of the
fish> We talked about how Jesus
calls each one of us and we must be ready to answer the call.
Introduce
symbol
Say: Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is
a heart on fire. Today we are going to talk about bringing
the warmth and love of God to other people.
Ask: Tell me what you know about fire. What does it do? <it burns things up (or cleanses to make
way for new), it warms you, it lights up a room> Fire is another form of light. God’s love is like fire—it warms us, it
lights our life and it fills our hearts, getting rid of all the unhappiness.
Say: Let’s look at the poster we will make to
day. What does it say? <Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom
of heaven is theirs.> This is our Responsorial Psalm for today. Psalms were originally songs, so make sure
you pray the response clearly and loudly.
You can sing it if you like.
Introduce
readings
We have two readings today.
Say: Let’s light the candle to show that we are
ready to listen to the Word of God.
Say: Today’s first
reading is from the Old Testament book of the prophet Zephaniah. (Zeph 2:3,
3:12-13) Zephaniah tells us to be
humble. What do you think that means?
<to put others before yourself>
Being humble means thinking of other people first, worrying about how
others are instead of how we are, making sure other people have what they need
before making sure we have what we need.
Have
the reader read the first reading.
Ask: Do you think that it is easy for us to
be humble? Why or why not? <discuss>
Say: Now it is
time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your
part is to say:
Blessed
are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading is taken from the book
of St. Matthew. (Matt 5:1-12ab). This reading tells about a special talk that
Jesus gave on a mountainside—called “the Sermon on the Mount”. During this talk, he said something we call
the “Beatitudes”. The Beatitudes tell
about God’s feelings toward people who suffer while they are on earth. We have Jesus’ words to tell us what God
thinks about our behavior. Listen
closely and try to remember one thing that Jesus says to you.
Say: Now we will stand and get ready to hear
the Gospel
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Have
the reader begin: “a reading from the
holy gospel.....”
Read: Read the Gospel
Ask: What did you hear? Did you hear anything new or that surprised
you? <discuss> Which Beatitude do
you think you might want to work on?
Hand
out the poster cut-outs and Offertory symbols.
Ask
the children to add their names to the cutouts (hearts) so that they can be glued onto the poster.
Explain: Color this
symbol of the heart on fire and
bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!) to show what we have learned about God’s love
and blessings.
If
there is time, ask the older children to write one thing that they can do this week
to show that they understand what Jesus said on the mountainside.
If
there is time, ask questions and go over the lessons one more time to help the
children remember.
Give
out stickers and hand-outs as they leave.
Use this graphic for the mid-size banner symbol and the full-size Offertory symbol |
Parent Letter
4th Sunday Ordinary Time A
Dear Parents,
Today we celebrate the 4th Sunday in
Ordinary Time. The children listened to
two of the same readings you did: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13 and Matthew 5:1-12ab.
Symbol: heart on fire
To reinforce at home:
For several weeks, we have been
talking about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry . Today’s readings focus on the virtue of
humility. The reading from Zephaniah
emphasizes how much God values people who are humble. St.
Paul reminds us in Corinthians that God has chosen
each of us, those who the world considers important and those the world doesn’t
consider important. And in the Gospel
today, we hear the Beatitudes from Jesus’ sermon on the mountainside. Blessed are the poor inspirit! God blesses the downtrodden, the lost, the
depressed, those who did not put themselves first.
Activities to do at home:
*Discuss with your child WHY God blesses those who put
themselves last.
*Watch the news together and
identify some of those people that God specially blesses and try to think of a
way to help them (pull together a bag of clothes to donate, purchase a sleeping
bag to donate to a homeless shelter, go as a family to help serve in a soup
kitchen.
*Read over the Beatitudes together
and choose one that is hard for you to practice and work on it together!
Thank you for sharing
your children!
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