CATECHESIS
According to the liturgical time
ORDINARY TIME - cycle/A
En PORTUGUES
Director: P.Celerino Anciano o.p. Text and design : Sister Teresa Castaño m.a.r. Translated by: Ana María Diaz y Eleazar González
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5º Sunday of lent
JESUS IS THE LIFE
Objective:
REFLECT ON THE MESSAGE OF JESUS
HE IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE AND WHO BELIEVES IN HIM, ALTHOUGH HE HAS DIED, HE WILL LIVE.
1) Setting:
Place a dark colour on the background of the notice board. Cut out paper crosses (newspaper, advertisements, photographs, etc), of various sizes and put them one on top of the another, in different positions in the lower part of the notice board as if they were the ground. In the empty space, on top the crosses, put a bright sun in the central part of the notice board.
2) Greeting:
Dear children: today Jesus wants to teach us something very important.
How can we understand his message? Let’s pay attention, reflect and pray.
3) Prayer:
Let’s observe the notice board in silence and when I tell you, we’ll close our eyes. The catechist says slowly: Jesus, in our world there is a lot of suffering: hunger, illness, violence, death, poverty, discrimination... you are the light, the strenght, the joy and the love. Teach us to be sensitive to the pain of others and to show you to those who suffer. Amen.
4) Review of the commitment:
- How have we prayed during this week?
- How many colors have I added to my cross?
5) Activity
The catechist tells the children that they have to discover part of the message of Jesus on that day. The words are hidden in different places of the meeting room. When the catechist indicates, the children start looking and when they have all the words, they should make a complete sentence). The sentence says: “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE ,WHO BELIEVES IN ME, EVEN IF HE HAS DIED, HE WILL LIVE”.
After the sentence is organized, give to each one of the children, a white strip of paper with the words: I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. The children should colour the letters and take it home to place it over their beds.
6) THE WORD OF GOD
John 11, 1-45
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him , saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill”. But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the Glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go into Judea again”. The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”. Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover”. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Laz’arus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, that we may die with him.”
Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “your brother will rise again”. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” When she said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, “The teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “see how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank thee thou hast heard me. I knew thou hearest me always, but I have said this in account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Laz’arus come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.”
7) Reflection
- What feelings did Jesus have for Mary, Martha and Lazarus?
- Why did Jesus stay so long where he was, knowing that Lazarus was sick?
- What did Jesus say to Martha, which explained that Lazarus would come back to life?
8) Enlightenment:
Jesus felt truth friendship. He loved these three people and they knew that. That was why, when Lazarus got sick, his two sisters told Jesus immediately. Martha and Mary were sorry that Jesus hadn’t arrived before Lazarus died, they had already lost all hope. Jesus then told them these wonderful words: “I am the resurrection and the life”. And when they believed in Jesus, the son of God, the miracle happened: After four days of being dead, at the command of Jesus, Lazarus came back to life. Many people believed in Jesus after that.
9) Celebration:
The catechist gives to the children the phrase that was hidden and found at the beginning of the class. The catechist gives a crucifix to another child who will hold it up high above while they say the prayer. Everyone stands in a circle and one by one, they will say: JESUS, I BELIEVE IN YOU, after that, everyone will speak spontaneusly , for example: I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE, or any other expression that they want to say.
10) Commitment:
-Place in the wall, above the bed, the phrase, that you have painted.
-Is there any part of the cross of “defeat temptations” that you haven’t painted?
-Pray every night for those who don’t believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
