Newsletter – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C. (with the Children for the First Holy Eucharist)

REFLECTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Jesus advises us to be humble, and not to assume that we have a higher position or status than others. That way we won’t be embarrassed if someone else comes along whose status is actually higher than ours.

A lot of status-lowering is done with put-downs. Every time you put someone down, it is an attempt to lower that person’s status and to raise your own.

How does status-lowering relate to what Jesus asks us to do?

Paying a compliment to another person raises their status. If your compliment is accepted with grace, your status is also raised. If your compliment is rejected, or coupled with a put-down against you, your status is then lowered. How often does this happen?

It seems to be more of a risk to compliment a person than it is to put someone down. Yet Jesus asks us to take that risk. Are you willing to risk giving compliments?

Are you willing to stop dishing out put-downs and to start giving more compliments to others? Why or why not? What would Jesus say about this decision?

Jesus challenges us to include people of the lowest status in our social activities.

When you have a party or when you are in the position of inviting someone to go to a movie or an athletic event with you, do you tend to seek out the most popular people with the highest social status? Or do you seek out the people who are least popular and sometimes made fun of? Why?

Do you think Jesus’ challenge is unrealistic, or do you think it is what the world needs? How so?

What would Jesus tell teenagers directly if he were a verbal, flesh-and-blood part of this conversation?

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