5th Sunday Lent C

5th  Sunday in Lent   Cycle C

Welcome children to their worship space.

            Explain: Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Today is the last Sunday of Lent.

            Ask: Does anyone know what next Sunday is?  <Passion Sunday>  It is the Sunday that begins the final week before Easter.  During the next week, we’ll celebrate the events that led up to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  There is a Mass on Thursday night to celebrate the Last Supper and a prayer service on Friday night, too.

Introduce symbol

Say:  Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is a heart with something on it.  Can anyone guess what they are?  <stones>  We have talked a lot about stones lately.  What might stones in our heart mean?  <bad thoughts, sins, things we have done wrong, things that keep us from loving the way Jesus wants us to>

Say:  Let’s look at the poster.  What does it say? < The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy>  God’s love brings us great joy.  This is our Responsorial Psalm for today.  The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.

Introduce readings

Say:  Let’s light the candle to show that we are ready to listen to the Words of God.

Say: Today’s first reading is from the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah. (Isa 43:18 –21)  Isaiah tells us that God is creating something new for his people.  Let’s listen to what Isaiah tells us and see what we think it might mean.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask:  What did you hear Isaiah say?  <that God is creating something new, putting roads in the desert, making streams flow in the desert>  Do you think that God is really putting streams in the desert?  Of course he is able to do that, but is that what Isaiah really means? <discuss> What else “new” did God bring us?  <new life, peace and forgiveness>  Because of what Jesus did, we get to start over.  What is the sacrament Jesus gave us that lets us start over with a clean heart?  <Reconciliation>

Have the reader read the first reading.

Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm.  Your part is to say:

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of John.  (Jn 8:1-11)   Today’s gospel reading is not a parable.  It is a story of something that happened and how Jesus reacted to it.  It is a story of a group of religious teachers who had caught a woman doing something wrong.  They wanted to trick Jesus into saying something against their religious law so that they could punish him.  They quoted the law of Moses and said this woman must be stoned to death for her crime. 

Stop for a minute and think:  was Jesus’ message to us about killing?  <no>  What was it about?  <love and forgiveness>  This story is about what Jesus said and did to the teachers.

Say:  Now we will get ready to hear the Gospel
 (hold up card)  Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”

Read:  Read the Gospel

Ask:  What happened?  <discuss>  What did Jesus do?  Why do you think that the teachers left?  Can you see how Jesus gave the woman “new life”? 

Ask children to add their names to the cutouts (hearts) provided.  Remind the children that we are making a poster for each Sunday and that they will sign a cutout and glue it on when they are here.

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a heart with stones in it).

 

Explain: Color this symbol of the heart and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about Jesus’ love and forgiveness

Encourage those who can to write one way that they can show forgiveness this week.

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.

Parent Letter

5th Sunday Lent C

                                                                     

            Today your children heard a simplified version of the same readings that you heard: Isaiah 43:18-21 and John 8:1-11.

           

To reinforce at home:

Isaiah tells us that God will make all things new.  He uses the example of God creating rivers to flow in the desert.  While God can of course create streams in the desert, Isaiah is telling us that God can make all things new, can make desperate situations good and can make saints out of us sinners.  This reading is another example of Old Testament foreshadowing of Jesus’ coming to show us a new and better way to live.

The Gospel story today is the one of the woman who sinned, was judged guilty and was sentenced to be stoned.  Jesus was present and challenged her executioners.  He said, “Let the one among you with no sin cast the first stone.”  In this story, no one throws any stones.

Activities to do at home:

*Visit a sick or shut-in person and offer to help in their home.  There are many elderly in our parish who would love to have a smiling face straighten or clean a little, cook a treat, open a medicine bottle, etc.

*Watch a television show together and talk about how we judge people by their appearances.

*With your child, mend a garment or fix something that is broken.  Show how it can become “new” again.  Talk about how Jesus can do a better job of “making new” than we can!

Thank you for sharing your children!