13th Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle B
Welcome the children to their worship space.
Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.
Introduce yourself and your helpers.
Introduce Ordinary Time
Ask: Does anyone remember what season of the church this is? <Ordinary Time>
Ask: What was our symbol for last week? <wave> What did it represent? <that God is all-powerful, that Jesus is God>
Ask: Does anyone know what faith is?
Explain: Another word for faith is Belief. If we have faith in something, then we believe in it. We believe that Jesus is God.
Introduce symbol
Say: Today is the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our symbol today is a hand.
Ask: What can hands do? <they can touch, love, help, heal. We can use them for good things>
Explain: We can use our hands in many ways. We can use them to hurt people and we can use them to help. Jesus used his hands to help, to express his love and his power as God.
Jesus gave life with his hands.
Ask: What is life?
Explain: Life is a vital force. It is the strength that makes us happy and whole people. Do you remember how we have spoken that being sad or alone is a little bit like being dead?
Ask: Have you ever been really sad and had someone come to you and give you a hug? Didn’t it feel good? Didn’t it feel a little bit like you were coming alive again? At that time you knew (or believed) that someone loved you and that made you feel stronger.
Explain: Jesus loves everyone and is able to help those who believe in him.
Say: Now we are going to practice the Responsorial Psalm, that part between the readings where you get to help. The Responsorial Psalm comes from the Bible just like our readings do. Today’s psalm is: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me. Can you say this with me? <Have the children repeat it.>
Introduce readings
Say: The first reading today is from the Old Testament book called Wisdom. (Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24a). It tells us that God is sad when we are sad and wants to help us. He created us to be happy and live forever just like him. It is the devil who brought unhappiness into the world.
Say: Now we will have the first reading (light the candle)
Have the reader read the reading.
Ask: Which person of the Trinity did you hear about? <probably God the Father, possibly God the Holy Spirit>
Say: Now is the time for the Responsorial Psalm that we practiced. <have a volunteer hold up the poster> Repeat after me: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Have reader read the psalm
Say: Now it’s time to read the Gospel. Today’s Gospel reading comes from the New Testament book of Mark. (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43) It tells about a man named Jairus who had a daughter who was dying. The doctors had already given up. Jairus was very worried and decided to ask Jesus to help. Jairus had a lot of faith in Jesus. He believed that Jesus could help his daughter. When Jesus and Jairus came to the little girl, she had already died. Jesus told the people that she was asleep but they laughed at him. Jairus believed Jesus and Jesus was able to help his little girl.
Let’s pretend that you are part of Jairus’ family. You are sad because the little girl is dying. Imagine how you will feel when Jesus comes because Jairus believes so much. You might feel that this strange man <Jesus> is a little bit crazy because you know that the girl is dead. But imagine how you would feel when you see her get up and begin to eat.
Say: Now we will get ready to read the Gospel. Please stand and say: Alleluia, Alleluia.
Read the Gospel.
Ask: How do you think the people felt when they found out that the little girl was alive? <discuss>
Ask: Does anyone remember the sign that we give one another to show that there is God’s peace between us?
Say: Let’s give each other the sign of peace.
Hand out the large Offertory symbols (hands) for the children to color and the smaller symbols (circles) for the children to put their names on for the poster.
Explain: We will color the hands (don’t forget to put your name on the back!) to show that we have learned about how we can help others by believing in Jesus.
Ask: If you can, write a way that you can bring life to others with your hands. What are some things you can do with your hands that make other people happy?
While they are coloring, go over the procedure for entering the church at the Offertory, how they approach the altar and put their symbols in the basket that the lead child will place at the altar.
Remind the children that the large symbol is to be offered in the Offertory procession to show the congregation what they have learned about using our hands to bring Jesus’ love to others. Remind them to put their names on the back and that they can retrieve the symbols after Mass.
Collect the smaller symbols to glue to the communal poster. Remind the children to bring their parents back after Mass to see it.
Give out parent letters, coloring hand-outs and stickers as the children leave their worship space.
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| Use this graphic for the small communal poster |
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| Use this graphic for the mid-sized banner symbol and the large Offertory symbol |
Parent Letter
13th Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle B
Today is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Your children have heard a simplified version of two of the same reading you heard: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24a; Mark 5:21-24, 35-43.
Symbol: Rock
To Reinforce at Home:
For the first few Sundays in Ordinary Time we focus on two concepts: receiving earthly life from bread and wine compared to receiving spiritual life from Christ in the Eucharist and on the virtue of Faith.
The symbol for this week is a rock. We talked about how Christ used His hand to give life to Jairus’ daughter and we talked about the kinds of “life” we can give with our hands. We have talked before about how when nice things happen to us, it helps us feel good - or more alive. Today we reinforced some things we can do for each other to bring Christ’s love - or life - to other people.
Activities to do at Home:
* Write a card or a note to a person who is sick or shut-in. Taking the name of a parishioner from the bulletin may make this particularly relevant.
* Give a hug!
* Think of other ways to use your hands to make others happy.
Thank you for sharing your children!
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