Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Doers of the word

Reading I: Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–8 (advantages of fidelity)
Reading II: James 1:17–18, 21–22, 27 (response to God’s gift)
Gospel: Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23 (Jesus and the Pharisees)

Key Passage: Welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. (James 1:21–22)

Adult: Which words of Jesus provide the most inspiration for the Christian work that you do?
Child: How do you welcome the words of Jesus into your heart?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time , Year B

Christian marriage

Reading I: Joshua 24:1–2, 15–17, 18 (reminder of the divine goodness)
Reading II: Ephesians 5:21–32 (Christian wives and husbands)
Gospel: John 6:60–69 (effect of the bread of life discourse)

Key Passage: This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:32–33)

Adult: In what way has the example of Christian marriage (your own or that of another couple) helped you understand the relationship between Christ and his church?
Child: What can you do for your family to show them Jesus’ love and care?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

The Psalms

I can’t talk about prayer without talking a little bit about the Psalms. Yes prayer and Psalms go together like chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers. Psalms are part of the Bible and are discussed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). They are the prayers of the people of Israel, most of which are attributed to being written by King David.

The Psalms express how the people of Israel encountered God. The Psalms as prayer shows us how the Israelites communicate with their creator and they express a wide range of emotions, from joy to anger to fear… Today we can use the Psalms, in the same way. Our world today may seem completely different than when the Psalms were written, but if we take the time to read the Psalms we will find that they are pertinent to today’s world as well.

There are Psalms of lament, the people of Israel crying out to God in an unadulterated and direct manner or complaining about anything and everything that is wrong with their lives. They then go on to express their trust in God, petition Him for help, praise Him and give their words of promise to follow Him in all ways.

The Psalms of Thanksgiving are the peoples way of acknowledging how that their laments were answered, particularly recovery from an illness. In that day sickness was seen as a punishment for not following God’s Commandments and then the recovery was seen as God’s love for the person afflicted. If recovery was not granted it was assumed that the person was not a friend of God.

Finally, there are Hymns. They were considered to be a call to worship and often indicated that the premise of the Palms was to be praise and this was introduced as to what the praise if for.

The Hebrew alphabet played a role in some of the Psalms when some of them were formed in the way of an acrostic poem. These are poems where each line or section of the poem begins with the successive letter of the alphabet, which in the case of the Psalms would be the Hebrew alphabet, so in our looking at them we wouldn’t necessarily see that pattern.

The CCC tells us that “…the psalms were gradually collected into the five books of the Psalter (or “Praises”), the masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament.” It goes on to explain to us that the prayer of the Psalms recalls the events in the lives of the Hebrew people, the promise God made, what may happen in the future even to the end of time. Christ as a Hebrew prayed the Psalms and the Psalms were fulfilled in Him. They are seen as a spontaneous and simplistic prayer showing the desire for God throughout.

So, perhaps it is time to step back and take a second look at the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament and really let the meaning sink in to help us in today’s world.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church: October 2010, USCCB, Libreria Editrice Vaticana; Collegeville Bible Handbook: 1997, Liturgical Press, Collegville MN)

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Promise of eternal life

Reading I: Proverbs 9:1–6 (forsake foolishness)
Reading II: Ephesians 5:15–20 (sing praise to the Lord)
Gospel: John 6:51–58 (discourse on the bread of life, continued)

Key Passage: Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

Adult: How does Jesus’ promise of eternal life affect the way you live today?
Child: How often do you think about heaven? Does it make a difference in the choices you make?
(from PatoralPlanning.com)

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The eyes of faith

Reading I: Exodus 16:2–4, 12–15 (manna in the desert)
Reading II: Ephesians 4:17, 20–24 (renewal in Christ)
Gospel: John 6:24–28 (discourse on the bread of life)

Key Passage: So they said to Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?” (John 6:30)

Adult: When has your faith helped you believe without “seeing signs” from God?
Child: Who helps you believe in things you cannot see?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Gifts of hope
Reading I: 2 Kings 4:42–44 (Elisha: the multiplication of loaves)
Reading II: Ephesians 4:1–6 (unity in the Mystical Body)
Gospel: John 6:1–15 (multiplication of the loaves)

Key Passage: When [the people] were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. (John 6:12–13)

Adult: When has the generous gift of another offered you hope?
Child: What loving gift could you give to another person this week?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

Moses as Mediator

Are you thinking what does Moses have to do with prayer since that seems to be the theme this summer? Well the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) tells us that the prayer of Moses has become known as “the most striking example of intercessory prayer.” (CCC 2574) The definition for intercession on thefreedictionary.com says:

“1. Entreaty in favor of another, especially a prayer or petition to God in behalf of another. 2. Mediation in a dispute.”

Well this definitely describes what Moses did between Yahweh and His people during the Exodus don’t you think?

Moses doesn’t go into this prayer relationship with God easily if you remember. He made excuses, questioned “why me?” and flat out refused. God kept nudging him, revealed the name Yaweh to Moses and led him to the realization that with God’s help Moses would be able to reveal the one true God to the people. The CCC tells us that “Moses converses with God often and at length, climbing the mountain to hear and entreat Him and coming down to the people to repeat the words of God for their Guidance.” (CCC 2576) If Moses can do this so can we…he tried to get out of this intercessor role by saying he wasn’t fluent with words, God had a comeback in the form of Moses’ brother Aaron, telling Moses that Aaron would be able to speak for him if necessary. God doesn’t let us get out of prayer that easily, nor does He want us to keep that prayer to ourselves. We are to carry His word to those we meet each and every day. We even should bring the requests of those we meet to God being the intercessor just as Moses was between God and the people.

The love God has for us is steadfast and unwavering. Can we say that about our love for God? When our prayers aren’t answered right away or how we think they should be answered we sometimes give up on God and try to go it on our own. That sure doesn’t work well for me anyway. In Moses’ time when the people tried to go their own way, by beginning to worship idols like the Egyptians that had enslave them they found out the one true God could get very angry. Again Moses interceded and came back to the people with the 10 Commandments.

God continues to offer us the chance to recognize our need for Him in our lives and that prayer is the way to communicate with Him. Sometimes the prayer is hard to communicate, that is when we need to rely on others to intercede for us. The power of prayer is wonderful we only need to use it.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church: October 2010, USCCB, Libreria Editrice Vaticana)