Children's Liturgy Series: 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

In today's Gospel, we learn about how Zaccheaus, the tax collector earns salvation through his humility and repentance.

Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and our minds. Fill us with your peace, love, and understanding. Help us to hear God's message today and recognize His voice in our daily activities. Amen

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

Say: In today's Gospel, we hear the story of a tax collector who changed his ways after his encounter with Jesus. Let's listen carefully to the story. To understand what happens in this story, you need to know that in Jesus' time, tax collectors often cheated people by collecting more money from people than was required to pay the tax. Zacchaeus is described as a chief tax collector and a wealthy man, probably because he cheated many people.

Ask the group: What did Zacchaeus have to do to see Jesus? (He climbed a tree.) When people grumbled that Jesus was staying in the house of a sinner, what did Zacchaeus do? (He promised to pay back, fourfold, the money he had wrongly taken from others.) How does Jesus respond to this promise? (He says that Zacchaeus has found salvation.)

Ask: This story about Zacchaeus reminds me of a sacrament we celebrate in our Church. Which one? (Sacrament of Penance) What do we celebrate in the Sacrament of Penance?(We celebrate God's gift of forgiveness.)

Make a chart for the group with two columns. On one side of the chart, write the heading "The Story of Zacchaeus"; on the other side, write the heading "The Sacrament of Penance." As a group, identify some of the ways in which the story of Zacchaeus is like the Sacrament of Penance. For example, Zacchaeus tells Jesus what he has done wrong and how he will act differently in the future; in the Sacrament of Penance, we too confess our sins and our desire to act differently in the future.

To conclude the session, pray together the Act of Contrition:

O my God, I am sorry for my sins. In choosing to sin and failing to do good, I have sinned against you. I promise, with the help of your Son, Jesus, to make up for my sins and to love you and others as I should. Amen.

Father in heaven, for the sake of bringing others closer to you, we give you today, all that we think and do and say, and we join it with all that was done by Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen