12th Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C
Welcome children to their worship space.
Introduce
Explain: Today is the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Does anyone remember anything about the season of Ordinary Time? <it’s the time when there is no feast> What is the color that the church uses during Ordinary Time? <green – to symbolize growth of the church and to symbolize hope>
Ask: Does anyone remember the symbol for last week? <host and chalice> Why? What did it mean? <it represented Christ’s Body and Blood that he shared with us and told us to share with each other>
Introduce symbol
Say: Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is a cross with a heart on it.
Say: Let’s look at the poster. What does it say? <We are his people, the sheep of his flock.> 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 New Testament, a letter written by St. Paul to the Galatians. (Gal 3:26-29) In the early church, to be Jewish, one was usually born into the faith… or maybe married into it. Not just anyone could be part of the Jewish faith. Not just anyone was believed to be part of God’s chosen people. St. Paul teaches that this is wrong. He teaches that one of the important things Jesus had to tell us is that we are all children of God, that he loves all of us. In this reading, he talks about a sacrament that ties us all together. Listen closely and find out what it is.
Have the reader read the first reading.
Ask: What is the sacrament? <baptism> How does baptism unite us (or tie us together)? <discuss> In Baptism, we all choose to “put on Christ”, to believe in him and make him part of our lives. Is there something that many Christians might wear to show that they believe in Jesus? <a cross> The cross reminds us of Jesus and how he died and rose for us.
Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your part is to say:
We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of Luke. (Lk 9:18-24) This reading takes place at the time when Jesus first began to teach people. Many people were confused as to who he really was. They thought he was a great prophet who taught about God…like Elijah or John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin). In this reading, Jesus was talking to Peter and trying to help him understand more about why he came to earth and what was going to happen later.
Say: Now we will get ready to hear the Gospel. Please stand up.
Say together: Alleluia, Alleluia.
Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”
Read: Read the Gospel
Ask: What did Jesus say to Peter? <discuss> Jesus said to “forget about yourself and take up his cross”. What do you think that means? <discuss>
Say: Jesus taught us all about love. Jesus’ cross reminds us about his love for all of us. To follow Jesus, we need to forget about our own selfish needs and show his love to others.
Hand out the poster & Offertory symbols to color. (The symbol is a cross with a heart on it). Have the children write their names on the small Offertory symbol.
Explain: Color this symbol of the cross 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 for all of us.
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.
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| Use either the heart (above) or the cross (below) graphic for the communal poster. |
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| Use this graphic for the mid-sized banner symbol and the full sized Offertory gift coloring page. |
Parent Letter
Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time C
Dear Parents,
Today is the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The children listened to the same readings you did: Galatians 3:26-29 and Luke 9:18-24
To reinforce at home:
In our readings today, we talked about God’s people, who they are. It is easy for us to believe that Christ came for us, for each individual one of us. The difficult part is for us to believe that his message of love is also directed at the people we don’t like or the people we don’t know. Jesus came to earth for all people- and once we are baptized, we are all his followers.
Activities to do at home:
Make up a prayer to pray together for someone you don‘t know or don’t agree with. Help your child understand that God loves us all.
Thank you for sharing your children!
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