Children's Liturgy Series: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

In today's gospel we learn about how Jesus cured a man with leprosy and how he uses this as an analogy of how he wants to clean our hearts of sores as well.

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, fill our hearts and illuminate our minds. Help us to hear and understand your message for us today. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Say: You have so many choices in the course of the day that you may not even realize how many decisions you make. Let’s list some of the decisions that you have made since you woke up this morning. Make a list together. (choosing what clothes to wear, choosing what to eat for breakfast, and so on)

Say: Most of us have become pretty good at making good choices that relate to our daily routines. But sometimes we are faced with a choice that is more difficult.

Say: In today’s Gospel, Jesus is faced with this kind of choice. A man approaches Jesus, asking to be healed. Jesus was faced with the choice of whether to heal him or not.

Ask: What did the man want Jesus to do? (cure his leprosy) Why might Jesus not want to do this? Remind the students that leprosy is a disfiguring skin disease and that in Jesus’ time, people with leprosy were not permitted to have contact with people who did not have the disease. What did Jesus decide to do? (He healed the man with leprosy; he touched him as part of the healing.)

Say: As Christians, we face similar choices with the decisions that we are asked to make. We have the choice to love, the choice to help, or to do nothing. We show the depth of our faith when, like Jesus, we choose to love and to help, even when this is difficult for us.

Conclude by praying together that we will have the courage to help and heal others, even if doing so is difficult. 

Father in heaven, we thank you for your love to all individuals of any age, race, status, or gender, especially to the ones who are less fortunate than ourselves.  Help us to have the same heart of compassion for the weak, sick, and the poor. Help us to notice them and be a beacon of hope to them. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.