RE

29th Sunday of ordinary time

"A farmer has 15 sheep.  All but 6 of them die.  How many are still living?"  Etc.

I tried to trick you with those riddles, but that was just for fun.  One time people tried to trick Jesus, but not for fun; they wanted to get him in trouble.  So they asked him if people should pay their taxes?  If he said yes, .... If he said no, ....  "Render to Caesar . . . Render to God the things that are God's."  What is God's image on?  ("Let us make man in our image . . . ").


30th Sunday of ordinary time

What are commandments?  Why did God give us commandments?

There used to be hundreds of them, then Moses said they could all be summarized in 10, and then Jesus summarized them into a single commandment.  [Yes. Abby, it does sound like two, but they're like different sides of the same coin.]  Seems like things are getting easier and easier, doesn't it -- first 600+, then 10, and now only 1?  But the 10 aren't quite so clear and simple as they seem:  "You have heard it said: . . . ; but I say to you: . . . "  And Jesus's 1 -- how easy is that?  It's impossible, that's how easy it is.  And now, with only 1, I can't tell myself, "Well, sure, I don't keep all the commandments, but I'm able to obey some of them, so maybe I'll get a passing grade."  If there's only 1, and I can't obey it, I can't pretend that I'm doing OK.  So what do we do?

31st Sunday of ordinary time
(We didn't do this lesson; Abby had a birthday party to attend)

"The greatest among you must be your servant.  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Let's talk about saints.  What's a saint?  Sunday, which is almost the last day in October, is the feast of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez; the month began with the feast of St. Theresa.  Both saints "humbled themselves."  Do you know anybody who might be a saint?  (There are lots of saints.  In fact in a couple days, we'll have a feast for all the saints that don't have a special day set aside for them.)