The heart of each of us

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we will listen to three parables about the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? It is not some place that we will go to after we die. The Kingdom of God is already present here and now in this life. During summertime, we celebrate the feasts of many saints. No one becomes a saint after death. One becomes a saint because of the way one lived. In the Our Father we pray that ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ This is the Kingdom of God. Heaven is the gift we receive for building the Kingdom of God on earth. These three parables will console us knowing that God can work wonders even with small beginnings.

The first parable is about the wheat and the weeds. Above all else, it teaches that judgment is for God to make. We have fallen to this temptation often enough! We judge others by the way they look. Due to hearsay, we judge and condemn others because of certain decisions they make. If left to us, we would punish that person, there and then. But these are not God’s ways! God is full of surprises as Pope Frances likes to say. And indeed he is. God wants everyone to be saved, so he gives us a chance to change right up to the end. The farmer did not remove the weeds until harvest time. Weeds can be persons who are making the wrong decisions. In fact, we could be those who make wrong choices at times. God waits and is patient. He gives a chances to everyone to repent. The Bible is full of persons who started off on the wrong foot, people who made wrong choices, who were blind to the truth. Yet many of these changed through God’s grace. Let us take St Paul as an example. God gives us a chance to change as he gave to Saul of Tarsus.

The parable of the mustard seed and the yeast gives us courage. God can change even the smallest good decision we take into something big. The children are still young, but God wishes them to start making the right decisions from now. He gave this responsibility to parents, and others, so that they bring the children to him. No matter their age, they are important to God. The example given by adults, leaves its mark on the children. Let us take a couple of examples. I get angry quite easily and I do not forgive and I keep reminding the children about their misbehaviour. The children can hear me, they can see me. Then they start learning that God is patient and forgiving. But they cannot see or hear God. So how can they understand about God’s divine mercy if they do not see it in me? I never allow the children to do anything at home, it is quicker if I do the things myself, perhaps avoiding some unpleasant thing they might cause in the process. Through my attitude I’m sending them the message that they need to stay put and that they are good for nothing. God has given everyone many good qualities but they have to be discovered. If the children believe that they are not capable of doing things, they will not have confidence in themselves. When they start to learn about the talents God gives us, they will think that they have none. Although we have not even mentioned God, our actions have influenced the way they will perceive him. God does not leave parents without help. Priests, formation meetings and programs, spiritual directors, catechists and others, all may help. Let us remember the mustard seed and the yeast, they are very small, but they change into something much bigger. The same happens to us, a small good action on our part, may be transformed by God into something much bigger, which to us would seem impossible.

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 13, 24-43)

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

He proposed another parable to them.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”

He spoke to them another parable.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and how do they affect you now?
  3. What is the weed in your life?
  4. What are those small things you can do for your family and others?
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare:
    a. The Bible reading from St Matthew (13, 24-43)
    b. A lit candle
    c. Cover the table with green cloth
    d. A computer/laptop with the reading and clips
  6. Go through the steps with your kid’s (2 age groups are being suggested)
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊
  9. Go to the Prayer Spaces section to continue praying as a family

“Today the Lord, who is Wisdom incarnate, helps us to understand that good and evil cannot be identified with neatly defined areas or specific human groups: “These are the good, those are the bad”. He tells us that the boundary line between good and evil passes through the heart of each person; it passes through the heart of each of us, that is: We are all sinners. I would like to ask you: “Whoever is not a sinner raise your hand”. No one! Because we are all sinners, all of us are. Jesus Christ, with his death on the Cross and his Resurrection, has freed us from the slavery of sin and given us the grace to journey in a new life; but along with Baptism he also gave us Confession, because we all need to be forgiven for our sins. Looking always and only at the evil that is outside of us means not wanting to recognize the sin that is also inside us.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is going to tell us three parables. Do you remember what is a parable? (A parable is a story which helps us understand what Jesus is teaching us.)

We will learn that:

  • God is merciful
  • God loves and appreciates even the smallest good thing we do
  • This small good things make us better persons
  • Non-toxic acrylic paint, brown and green
  • A3 paper
  • Pencil
PictureDownload

We ask: do you remember what the parables were about? (the first one was about the wheat and the weeds, the second about the mustard seed and the last one about yeast).

These parables show us that God loves us and that he is very patient with us! Have we ever disagreed with our friends and said: “I don’t want to continue being your friend”? Have your parents ever put a plate of food in front of you and you said: “I don’t want it, I don’t like it” without even tasting it? God is different, he loves us and he gives us a chance to change. When we do something wrong, God does not say, “that was the last chance I gave you, I do not love you anymore.” Do you remember what the owner of the fields did? He did not allow his servants to remove the weeds, he allowed both to grow. God does the same thing with us, he allows us to grow, and always gives us a chance to change for the better.

Did someone ever tell you: “You do not understand, you are too young!”? Everyone is equally important in the eyes of God. If the mustard seed or yeast fall on the ground, they are so small, it will be difficult to find them. Nonetheless, if you plant the seed and put the yeast with flour and bake it, these change and grow! God wants the adults to take care of the young ones so that they too may grow and become like Jesus.

Dear children, you are still young, but to God, you are as important as any adult. Jesus is telling you not to lose heart. He wants you to start making good choices so that you grow to become good children.

We start loving Jesus from when we are young. Our love will be small like the mustard seed. But the older we get, the more we learn about Jesus. This moves us to do good things and so our love for Jesus will also grow. Little by little, our love will grow and grow like the mustard seed which became a tree.

It is best to do this activity with the help of your parents or older brothers and sisters. Make a footprint with the brown paint, on the paper. With the green paint make hand prints, so that it will be similar to the picture below. If you do not have paint, or perhaps find the suggested activity too messy, you can make cut outs of the foot and handprints, and colour them.

When the picture is ready, read the following examples to the children:

I pray

I lie

I steal something which is not mine

I go to catechism lessons

I listen to Bible stories

I get angry

I help in the house

I pay attention in church

Assist the children so that they may choose those the good things among the list of examples given (to which others may be added). Help them write these good choices in the handprints. When we make good choices, when we love Jesus more, we will grow up into beautiful persons, just like the small mustard seed which grew into a big tree.

We can listen to this song together (afterwards, it may be explained to the children, if they found it difficult to understand), Make that change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dkFhuJsjBo

Note: the tree is made from foot and handprints. To make good choices generally we have to use our feet and hands, if we stay put, it will be difficult to become better!

Thank you Jesus, you love us even though we are still very young, we are also very special for you. Thank you for helping us to grow and become better persons.

As in previous weeks, the Prayer Corner helps us to better understand the gospel message.

Today, Jesus is going to tell us three parables! Do you remember what is a parable? (a parable is a story which helps us understand better what Jesus is telling us).

We will learn that

  • God is patient and merciful, he has faith in us
  • Even small good things and actions are pleasing to God
  • These small things, make us better persons

Materials Needed:

  • Non-toxic acrylic paint, brown and green
  • A3 paper
  • A pencil
PictureDownload

Today, Jesus tells us many things. It could be that we do not understand everything. This does not matter. Not even the apostles understood everything Jesus told them! It is importang that we seek further explanation.

Jesus wants to tell us that we may meet people, and we may already know friends, who do not do what Jesus wishes them to do. Jesus does not want us to ignore them. He does not want us to become like them either, but he would like them to become good like us. Jesus wants everyone to be good, he gives us endless chances to change. Sometimes, we also make bad choices. Jesus does not say: “I do not want to be your friend anymore”. He gave us the sacrament of reconciliation so that when we repent, we become his friends once again. He is always waiting for us, he continues to love us.

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus shows us that although we are young, if we allow him, he can do great things through us. Let us take the above-mentioned example. By being good, we can influence our friends and they can start behaving well like we do. We should pray, so that Jesus shows us how to help some of our friends who are making wrong choices. Jesus gave us parents, priests, teachers and catechists. They show us and tell us how we can help our friends.

No one is born knowing everything. Everyone needs to learn. We are no different. Look up mustard seed on the internet and see how small it is and then how it grows into a tree. Similarly, the yeast is very small. Did you ever see some yeast? Nevertheless, if we do not add it to the bread mix, we will end up with pitta bread and not with a nice load of Maltese bread! Can you see what a difference that small bit of yeast makes?! Dear children, although you are young, you can still make a difference. Jesus has faith in you. For Jesus everyone is important, no matter who he is or how old he is. When the seed found good ground, it became a tree. With the help of others and with a strong will, we too can grow into beautiful persons. The tree could offer shelter to the birds. When we speak about Jesus with others, when we give good examples, we are bringing others to Jesus.

God creates a tree from a very small seed. From the little we do, God can do great things. We have to have faith in God and we need to trust him. We need to pray each day so that we have this great gift of faith.

We may do the following activity together with our parents. We will think about how we can get to know Jesus better, how we can love him more and so become better persons.

Make a footprint with the brown paint, on the paper. With the green paint make hand prints, so that it will be similar to the picture below. If you do not have paint, or rather not make a mess, you can make cut outs of the foot and handprints, and colour them in.

Let us think. The seeds needed good soil, the sun, water and nutrients to grow into a tree. What do we need to become better persons? We listen to what the children have to say. They write these in the roots (the toes). We can help them out if need be (prayer, mass, reading the Bible, help us to grow into better people). In the leaves (handprint) they write the good actions they make (like: helping others (ask them to give specific examples), reading Bible stories to younger brothers and sisters, they go to catechism classes, they attend mass, they help as altar boys or as part of the church choir).

We can listen to this song whilst doing the activity: Faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTCQ81-7MnA

Note: the tree is made from foot and handprints. To make good choices generally we have to use our feet and hands, if we stay put, it will be difficult to become better!

Lord God, help us to understand that we are important to you and when we do what you wish, even though small things, you can change them into something big.

Together we say the prayer of St Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen

As in previous weeks, the Prayer Corner helps us to better understand the Gospel message.

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.