25th Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle C
Welcome children to their worship space.
Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.
Introduce yourself and your helpers.
Introduce
Explain: Today is the Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Ask: Does anyone remember the symbol for last week? <the dove> We read the story of the prodigal son and talked about love and forgiveness. Can anyone tell me basically what happened? <let them re-tell the story> Our focus was on the older brother and his feelings of unfairness.
Say: We were reminded to celebrate the forgiveness of others as well as ourselves.
Introduce symbol
Say: Today’s symbol is a heart. What does the heart symbolize? <love>
Say: Let’s look at the poster. What does it say? <Teach me your ways, O Lord.> 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
We have two readings today.
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 letter of St. Paul to the Romans, (Rom 12:9–12). St. Paul talked to the Roman people about loving and serving each other. He talks about being sincere. Can anyone tell me what the word ‘sincere’ means? <honest> What might “honest love” mean?
Have the reader read the first reading.
Ask: What does St. Paul tell us about loving each other? <to love others more than you do yourself> What else does he remind us to do? <never stop praying, be patient, serve the Lord, follow the Holy Spirit, etc.>
Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your part is to say:
Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of Luke. (Lk 16:10-13) In this passage from Luke, Jesus talks about trust. What is trust? <believing in someone> How do you know when you can trust someone? <when they do what they say they will do, when they keep their promises> Jesus wants us to be trustworthy people. He wants others to be able to trust us. Do you think it is easy to always keep your promises? Let’s listen to what Jesus says about people who can be trusted.
Say: Now we will stand to get ready to hear the Gospel
(hold up card) Alleluia! Alleluia!
Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”
Read: Read the Gospel
Ask: What did Jesus say? <discuss> Did he say that you can be trustworthy about some things but not others? <no, you must keep all your promises- even the little ones> Do you think that it will take some effort to be truly trustworthy?
Say: Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters. He spoke about choosing between serving God and serving money. What do you think that means? <it means that you have to decide which is more important – the things that God wants or the things that we want>
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 and cut out. (The symbol is a heart).
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 being people who can be trusted. .
If they can, ask the older children to write something on their symbol a way that they can serve others 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.
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| Use this heart graphic for all three symbols this week! |
Parent Letter
Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time C
Dear Parents,
The children listened today to simplified versions of two of the same readings you did: Romans 12:9-12 and Luke 16:10-13.
To reinforce at home:
Today’s readings are all about loving honestly like Jesus did. We talked about trust and being trustworthy people. We talked about making choices between doing what God wants us to do and what we want to do.
Activities to do at home:
*Help your child choose one thing to do this week that might not be convenient but will make God happy. (a few examples are: doing a chore for someone else, spending some time reading Scripture, donating some allowance money to the weekly collection.)
*Catch your child being honest and sincere and praise him or her.
*Read a story about someone who was honest. (an example would be the story about George Washington and the cherry tree)
Thank you for sharing your children!
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