Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, Intermediate

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Intermediate Session
Isaiah 49:14-15
Matthew 6:24-34

Opening Prayer

Let us pray.
O God,
You love and care for each and every one of us.
Help us to love one another as you love us.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.

Opening Life Reflection

The theme for today is God’s love for us. To begin, provide materials and pictures from nature and set them on a table in the center of the room. Invite the children to examine the materials and think about how the objects might show God’s love for them. Then invite the children to choose an object that reveals God’s love for them. Have volunteers share what object they chose and why. Discuss:

• What helps you to understand how much God loves you?
• What do you believe about God?
• Where do you learn about God?

Allow time for discussion. The beauty of creation helps to show us how God provides his creation. Yet, God is so much more then we can imagine. As we grow in faith, we grow in our understanding of how much God loves us.

Listening to the Word of God
In today’s Old Testament reading, listen to find out how God is described.

Read Isaiah 49:14-15.
Allow for silence.

Scripture Discussion Starters

• How is God described?
• Why is the image of a pregnant woman used?
• How does God show love for the people?

In today’s Gospel listen to Jesus explain how we are dependent upon God.

Read Matthew 6:24-34.
Allow for silence.

• What does Jesus tell us about God’s creation?
• Why does Jesus say that we should not worry?
• What will happen if we depend on God’s love for us?

Scripture Background

Provide 2-3 minutes of background information on the readings using the Catechist Background section.

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah reminds us that we can rely on God’s tender care with trust. Isaiah proclaims that the love of God for his children, us, is even more than that of a mother for the baby in her womb.

In today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus preaches calm assurance in God’s care, his Divine Providence. He assures us that our anxiousness and worrying about tomorrow will not provide for our future. God will provide for the future that is of greatest importance for those who trust in his care.

Questions for Deeper Reflection
• What happens during the springtime when grass is no longer brown but turns green?
• How do you show that you trust someone who loves you?
• What does it mean to trust in God’s love for us?

Doctrinal Discussion Starters
God’s Love for Us
God is so much greater than we can ever imagine. However we can know God. We have been blessed with an experience of God in creation, throughout salvation history, and finally in Jesus Christ, sent to save us because of God’s great love for us.

Scripture describes God as loving and faithful. The images that describe this loving God are often drawn from marriage and family life. The images found in the Old and New Testament help us to imagine God by showing us what God is like. Some of these images include “spouse,” “father,” and “mother.”

A famous image of “mother” to describe the relationship between God and the people is found in Isaiah. The prophet asks, “Can a woman forget her own child? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). Such images of mother show that God is compassionate, as a mother is compassionate toward her children.

In the New Testament Jesus refers to God as his “Father.” Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as to their loving Father (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:3). The image of a close and faithful friend is also used to describe the love of God for us. “I have called you friends,” Jesus says to his disciples (John. 15:15.).

God is a loving and personal God who cares for each of us. We are greatly blessed. We can love one another because God has first loved us.

• What does the image of mother tell you about God?
• What does the image of father tell you about God?
• What does the image of friend tell you about God?

Posted in: Sessions A