Celebration of the Word

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our Celebration of the Word assembly this week, we heard the story of when Jesus met ten men who were very sick with leprosy. They asked Him to help them, and Jesus told them to go and see the priests. As they walked away, they were all healed! But only one man came back to say "Thank you" to Jesus - and he was very happy and thankful and praised God for curing him. Jesus was glad he returned and told him that his faith had made him well.

We talked about how it is important to always remember to thank God for everything He has given us in our lives: our families, friends, school, health, the world around us... the list is endless as we are so blessed. Being thankful shows our love and faith in God, just like the man who came back to thank Jesus. It is also important to thank those around us for always being there for us. We especially thought about thanking our parents who love us and care for us and our teachers who are always there to teach us, to help us, to support us and who also care for us everyday in school.

 

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week, the children listened to the Gospel from Luke 17:5–10, where Jesus teaches that even a tiny amount of faith, like a mustard seed, can do amazing things when we trust in God. He also reminds us that faith is shown through humble service—doing what is right not for praise, but because it’s our duty as followers of Jesus.

The children talked about how small acts of faith and kindness can grow and make a big difference, and how living with faith means trusting God and serving others with love and humility.

 

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

   

In Sunday’s Gospel this week, Jesus told a story about a rich man who lived in luxury and a poor man called Lazarus who was very hungry and sick. The poor man lived at the rich man’s gates, hoping for some scraps of food from his table. The rich man ignored Lazarus and never helped him. He sinned by omission. When they both died, Lazarus went to heaven where he was happy with God, but the rich man was sad and in pain because he had not been kind during his life. Jesus is warning us that we must make a difference in our lives now and not ignore the suffering and injustice around us.

God wants us to share, be compassionate, kind and care for people in need. What matters most is not what we have but what we do with what we have – our wealth, our time, our talents and most importantly, how we show love to others. We talked about being “rich in spirit” like Lazarus rather than “poor in spirit” like the rich man in the Gospel.

We are asked to put our Catholic Social Teaching into action and if we do this, we will be living out the Gospel and showing how RICH IN SPIRIT we can all be.

 

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week, the children heard the Gospel from Luke 16:1-13, where Jesus tells the story of a dishonest manager to teach us about honesty and trust. We talked about how being truthful in small things helps others trust us with bigger things. The children reflected on real-life situations where it can be hard to be honest and thought about the choices they would make. We discussed that money and possessions aren’t bad, but they should never come before God, love, kindness, or doing what is right.

The focus was on being honest, using what we have to do good, and remembering that what truly matters are our actions and hearts, not our wealth or appearance.

 

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

    

Our Celebration of the Word assembly this morning, focused on a very special feast day in the Church yesterday – the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - when we remember how important the Cross is in our faith.

Even though the Cross was used to hurt Jesus, it became a symbol of love, hope, and forgiveness. We spoke about how the cross shows that Jesus would do anything for us because He loves us so much.

When you look at the cross, you can see a beautiful symbol pointing in four directions – up, down, left and right. When it points down, we think about God who loved the world so much that he sent his son DOWN to earth from heaven to be with us and to show us His love. When it points up, we think about Jesus dying on the cross and anyone who believes him will rise UP to heaven to be with God. The cross points right and left. When Jesus’ arms were stretched out wide on the cross and he was lifted up from the earth, he called all people to himself. We must love all people, left and right and know they are our Brothers and Sisters.

We practised thinking about how much Jesus loves us and to help us remember this, we can open our arms as if on a cross and say, “Jesus loves me this much and more!”

 

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this week’s Gospel (Luke 14:25–33), Jesus reminds us that following Him isn’t always easy. He tells a story about someone who wants to build a tower. Before they start, they have to plan carefully and be ready — just like we need to be ready to follow Jesus every day with love and kindness.

On our prayer focus, we used bricks to show the good qualities we want to have, like kindness, patience, and humility. When we try our best and show these qualities, it’s like building a strong tower. But if we don’t prepare or don’t try to be our best, the bricks won’t stay in place, and the tower might fall.

Let’s try to build strong towers by being our best selves every day!

 

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this week’s Gospel (Luke 14:1, 7-14), Jesus showed us the importance of being humble. I spoke with the children about what humility means: recognising our talents without boasting, helping others even when no one is watching, and showing kindness by putting others’ needs before our own. 

This week, I encouraged the children to practice humility at school by being kind, listening carefully, and helping others without expecting a reward.