Children's Liturgy Series: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

In today's Gospel, we learn Jesus is the Christ and who ever follows Him must take up His cross.

Father in Heaven we praise and glorify you. We thank you for bringing us together for this Children's Liturgy lesson.  Please send us the Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with peach, love, and understanding.  Help us to understand how to take up our cross, and endure difficult things, for the love of God, and for the love of others, as Jesus did on His cross. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus and his disciples set outfor the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them,"But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply," You are the Christ."

Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."

Today, we heard a story about Jesus talking to His friends, the disciples. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say I am?” and His friend Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” That means Peter knew that Jesus was special—He was God’s own Son, sent to help us and save us.

But then Jesus told His friends something important: if we want to follow Him, we have to take up our own cross. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean we have to carry a big wooden cross like Jesus did, but it does mean we need to do hard things sometimes, just like Jesus did because He loved us.

Probing Questions:

• Have you ever helped someone even when you were tired or didn’t feel like it? That’s taking up your cross.
• Have you ever told the truth, even when it was hard or you were afraid you might get in trouble? That’s taking up your cross.

Have you ever been kind to someone who wasn’t kind to you first? That’s taking up your cross.
When we do these things, we’re following Jesus. We’re carrying our own little crosses for the love of God and for the love of others. Jesus carried His cross because He loves us so much, and when we do these hard but good things, we’re showing Jesus that we love Him, too.

Let’s Pray:
Dear Jesus, thank You for showing us how to carry our crosses with love. Help us to be brave and kind, even when it’s hard. Help us to follow You every day, and let our actions show our love for You and for others. Amen.