7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A
3-6 year olds
(Adults: the Gospel reading this week is again a moral exhortation: to love as God loves. For the 3-6 year old, for whom loving is equivalent to being 😊, this reflection focuses on how God loves.)
In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus is still talking to his disciples, the people who have come to hear him speak. He tells them how he cares for his sheep.
What do sheep need? We hear Jesus speaking of some of these things today.
if anyone wants to...take your coat, give your cloak as well
Sheep need to be warm and safe. A cloak is a coat that is more like a blanket. When a sheep is cold and needs warmth, the Good Shepherd wraps the sheep in his cloak. Even better than a coat! The Good Shepherd always gives abundantly, more than enough.
What if a sheep has wandered off? What if a sheep is lost and separated from the Good Shepherd?
if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
He will go far, and even further, to get to that sheep. How much he loves his sheep!
Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
Someone who begs is someone in need--someone who needs something. The Good Shepherd always gives to the sheep who is in need.
There is nothing the Good Shepherd will not do for the sheep!
This reading makes me wonder about sheep who get into bad moods. Have you ever been in a bad mood? I wonder if there are sheep of the Good Shepherd who sometimes feel angry and upset, who cry when others are smiling or laughing, who scream when others are playing and singing. Does that ever happen to you?
What does the Good Shepherd do then? What does God do?
he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
The warmth of the sun is given to each sheep! Rain to wash in, rain to drink is given to each sheep! It doesn't matter if they are angry or joyful, screaming or singing, in a good mood or in a bad mood. The Good Shepherd gives to all. He loves them all!
I wonder what would happen to that angry sheep...
...when the Good Shepherd wraps it in his warm and cozy cloak?
...when the Good Shepherd walks for miles and miles to find it?
...when the Good Shepherd lifts it up onto his shoulders?
Can you imagine?? How close it would be to the Good Shepherd! Would it be in a bad mood anymore?
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