Thirteenth Sunday of the Year [CYCLE B]

MAIN MESSAGE
[This is for reference only. Please do not read it at Mass]

‘God created all things so that they might exist… He made us in the image of his own eternity. [First
Reading] In the Gospel Jesus brings Jairus’ daughter back to life.
The liturgy reverberates with the message: ‘GOD IS A GOD OF LIFE!’ Not only did he give us eternal
life to begin with, but he also won it back for us when we lost it in sin.
A fairytale, told in the homily, will help the children understand the message more easily. The story
focuses on God’s gift of eternal life to each of us and his call to us to be his friends.

INTRODUCTION:
Celebrant: Children, look at the poster. It says, ‘God is a God of life!’ God gave life to you and me and
that is how we are all here today, breathing and talking and moving. But God has given us another kind of
life too. I wonder if you know what I’m talking about. It is called ETERNAL LIFE. Today we are going
to find out more about it.
LITURGY OF THE WORD:
Commentator: Listen very carefully to the first reading, because it tells us a lot about life and death.
First Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24a.
Psalm: 30:4 & 5def, 10-11ab &12bcd.
Gospel: Mark 5:21-24, 35-43.
Homily: Before we talk about God, I’m going to tell you a story.
Once upon a time there lived a good fairy who loved flowers. Her name was Petals. She had a
special garden at the back of her house, where she grew all sorts of strange and beautiful flowers. I told
you that she was a fairy.. And a fairy has knows magic.. right? With her magic wand, and her magical
spells, Petals was always making extra- special flowers. She had roses growing in her garden which gave
out coloured perfume, like smoke: pink perfume from the pink roses, and yellow perfume from the
yellow roses. There were white lilies that tasted like vanilla ice-cream and blue bells that tinkled like real
bells every hour.
 Then one day, when Petals was feeling extra lonely, she had an idea. “Why don’t I make some
flowers that can talk to me and be my friends? It will be difficult, but I’ll try.”
So she set to work. For many days she went around with her magic bottle and collected the voices
of birds and mice and squirrels. She dropped some flower seeds in to the bottle and kept them to soak.
Then, she carefully sowed the seeds in a flowerbed. The seeds grew super fast and soon there were some
buds on the plants. As soon as the buds opened, Petals tried to talk to them. “Hello! My name is Petals.
What’s yours?” “Cheep-cheep-chip-chip- squeak!’ answered the flowers. Every day, she got the same
kind of answers. And then, after a few days, the flowers dried up and died, as all flowers do.
“Something has gone wrong with my wonderful idea!” thought Petals.” I want friends who can really talk
to me, and who won’t just dry up after a few days.” Then she realized what she had to do. “I’ll have to
put a bit of myself into them. Only then will I get real friends.”
So for one week Petals sat in front of her magic bottle and talked and sang and whispered and
laughed into it. At last, when the bottle was full, she closed it and took out her magic wand. She shut her
eyes and started pressing the wand into her chest. That hurt her of course, but she kept pressing and
pressing until the wand reached her heart. Then she said some magic words and the wand began to suck
up some of her heart. That hurt the most! When that was done, Petals carefully squeezed out the wand
into the magic bottle. Once again, she dropped some flower seeds into the bottle and then, when they
were soft and swollen, she sowed them in the earth outside her window.
Petals spent all her time the next week watching over her very special seeds, watering them and
praying for them to grow. The seeds grew into strong plants; leaves appeared and then at last, buds. Petals
waited impatiently for the buds to open. At last one bud opened.
“Good morning little flower!” she whispered, “Can you hear me?”
“Of course I can!” came the reply, “And I can talk too!”
Then another voice shouted, “And I can talk and sing and laugh!” It was another flower that had just
opened.
After that day, Petals was never lonely. She always had her talking flowers to keep her company.
She gave each one a name and they would have long chats together as she worked in her garden, and
even when she was inside, they would talk to each other through the window. It was like having a family
of her own!

Children, do you know why I told you this story? It’s just a fairy story, but it tells us something about
God and us. Long, long ago, there was only God: no world, no animals and no people. Then God decided
to make people to be his friends, so that he could love us and we could love him.
So God got everything ready. He made the earth and the sun and moon, the rivers and plants. At last
he made people. Into each one he put a bit of himself, a magical gift called eternal life! Eternal life means
that we can live forever and ever, just as God does, even after we die.
It was not easy for God to give us this life, (just as it was not easy for Petals to take out a bit of her
heart with her magic wand.) That’s because people listened to the devil and turned away from God. When
they did this, they lost the gift of eternal life. So Jesus came down and died for us on the cross. (A soldier
even pushed his spear into Jesus’ heart to check if he was dead.)
Because of eternal life, even when you die, you won’t really be dead. Jesus will take your hand and say,
“Get up” and he will take you into heaven.
So let us all thank God for the special, magical gift of eternal life. And let’s always be his friends,
because that is what he made us for.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS PREPARATION REQUIRED:

ENTRANCE: Enter Rejoice and Come In
OFFERTORY: All that I Am • Make poster and put up.
COMMUNION: Open My Eyes, Lord • Prepare children for the readings.
RECESSIONAL: New Life New Life
 FIR ST REA DING : A reading from the book of Wisdom:
God did not create death, and he is sad whenever a living creature dies. God made everything,
and there is a reason for every living creature. No deadly poison is in them, and the kingdom of
death doesn’t rule the earth. Goodness will never die. God created us to live forever, just as he
does. But the Devil was jealous and brought death into the world.
This is the Word of the Lord.

PSALM : Response: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Your faithful people, Lord, Have pity, Lord! Help!

Will praise you with songs You have turned my sorrow
And honor your holy name. into joyful dancing.
At night we may cry, I will never stop singing your praises,
but when morning comes My Lord and my God.
we will celebrate.

ALLELUIA : Alleluia, alleluia. Our Saviour Jesus Christ has done away with death
and brought us life through the gospel. Alleluia.

GOSPEL : A reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Mark.

Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd
gathered around him. One of the leaders of the synagogue was also there. His name was Jairus.

When he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet and started begging him for help.
He said, “My daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so that she will get well and live.”
Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around.

A little while later, some men came from Jairus’ home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother
the teacher anymore? Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don’t worry. Just have faith!”
Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John.

They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise. Then Jesus went
inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child is not dead. She is just
asleep.” But the people laughed at him.

After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl’s father and mother and his three
disciples and went to where she was. He took the girl by the hand and said, “Talitha koum!” which
means, “Little girl, get up!” The little girl got up immediately and began to walk around.(She was about
twelve years old) Everyone was greatly surprised. But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had
happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.

NB. All Readings are taken from the ‘Lectionary for Masses with Children’ canonically approved for use in the USA.