32nd Sunday in 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 Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Ask: Does anyone remember what we talked about last week? <show the symbol of a tree> We have been talking about how to become better people. We have been reminded that none of us is perfect and that we can all learn to be more like Jesus.
Introduce symbol
Say: Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is a sun. The sun symbolizes the eternal life that we receive if we do as God asks us to do.
Ask: What is another word for eternal life? <heaven> Can anyone tell me what heaven is? <where we live with God, where everyone is happy, up in the clouds> Who can go to heaven? <everyone can go to heaven>
Say: Let’s look at the poster. What does it say? < Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.> This is our Responsorial Psalm for today. The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.
Say: When the psalms talk about God in his glory, what are they talking about? God in his glory is often picture as very bright in color – like the sun. We think of his glory (and of heaven) as bright because we cannot imagine how wonderful it really is. We know that we will be happy because we believe in all the things that God tells us about heaven.
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 second book of Maccabees. (2 Macc 7:1-2, 9-14) This is a story about some heroes who promised to believe in God and follow his laws. They knew that they would go to heaven. They were willing to suffer because they believed in God’s promise to them.
Have the reader read the first reading.
Ask: What do you think of the story? <discuss> ** note to facilitator: The most important feature here is the strength of the faith of these martyrs** They believed so strongly in eternal life that they were willing to die.
Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your part is to say:
Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of Luke. (Lk 20:27-38) When Jesus taught people, they had lots of questions. There was one group of Jews called Sadducees who did not believe in eternal life. They believed that when a person died, that was the end. There was nothing else. Let’s listen to this story that St. Luke shares with us some of the questions that the Sadducees asked Jesus.
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 they ask? <about the brothers and their wife> It was the custom of the time for men to marry their brother’s wife to take care of the family because there was no way for a woman to earn the money to take care of herself and her children. The Sadducees were trying to understand about heaven. What did Jesus tell them? <that none of that would be important in heaven, the only thing that will matter is what kind of life we lead and how much we love God>
Ask children to add their names to the cutouts (suns) 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 the sun).
Explain: Color this symbol of the sun and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!) to show that we have learned about God’s promise of heaven for 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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| poster symbol |
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| Banner and Offertory symbol |
Parent Letter
Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time C
Dear Parents,
Today is the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The children listened to simplified versions of two of the same readings you heard: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 and Luke 20:27-38.
Symbol: Sun
To reinforce at home:
Today’s message was about the eternal life that God has promised his followers, what we call heaven. The first reading told about some heroes of the Old Testament who chose to die rather than betray their beliefs in God. Their faith in God’s promise of heaven was strong enough that they could give up this life for it. We want our faith to be that strong.
The Gospel addressed some very practical questions that were posed to Jesus by the Sadducees. They did not believe in an afterlife and were very concerned about practical matters. Jesus’ response was that earthly concerns would not matter in heaven. God’s love is all that will matter.
Activities to do at home:
*Together with your child, draw pictures of what you think heaven looks like. Share your ideas with each other.
Thank you for sharing your children!
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