THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

“Pay attention,” chanted a small group of students as others read this week’s gospel while the rest of KidsRelig gathered in the church.  I told the chanters and readers not to shout, but to use their “inside voices.”  They all told me that if they did that no one would pay attention.  And they were right!

As the chanting and reading went on, everyone else was talking and fooling, laughing and cutting up.  And the gospel reading continued along with the chanting, “Pay attention!”

Finally, I turned to the crowd in church and asked, “Were you paying attention?”  With guilty looks, they all confessed that they had not been paying attention.  But I told them, “Wrong! you have been paying attention.”  This surprised them all.  I explained that they had been paying attention to all the talking and fooling, the laughing and cutting up.  The problem is they had missed the Word of God.  It’s not just paying attention; it’s what we pay attention to. 

Paying attention to the Lord today and every day means paying attention to the Lord any day—even the last day.

CALENDAR REMINDER

No KidsRelig Wednesday, November 21^st.

A Thanksgiving Grace from KidsRelig

With thankfulness, O Lord above,

We bless you for your gift of love,

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food and all our friends,
For everything your goodness sends.

Open our hearts and hands to bless

The poor and all who have much less.

Please, keep us close to you each day,

And bless this meal, O Lord, we pray.  Amen.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love,

Deacon Charlie