Begin with a few moments of quiet.

Invite all present to sit comfortably.
When sitting comfortably, take three deep breaths, as you breathe in feel your lungs filling all the way up, when they are full slowly release your breath and feel your lungs emptying out fully. Repeat this three times.
Now return to breathing normally.

Opening ourselves to the Presence of God in our lives

Have a conversation, allowing each person present a few moments to think about and to reply to the following.
Thinking back over the week, let us share with one another
What is it that I want to say thank you for?
What is it that want to say I am sorry for?

Use the following if you like to listen to some quiet music during this.

Introduce the Gospel

Today we hear how Jesus helped a blind man to see again. God has given us the gift of sight to see all the wonderful things that he has made in our world. But we also need to open our eyes to things that are wrong and try to do what we can to change them. Let’s think some more about this today.

We are going to read from the Gospel of John today.

Read the Gospel

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man’s eyes and said, ‘Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam.’ (This name means ‘Sent’) So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.
His neighbours then, and the people who had seen him begging before this, asked, ‘Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?’
Some said, ‘He is the one’, but others said, ‘No he isn’t; he just looks like him.’
So the man himself said, ‘I am the man.’
Then they took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. The day that Jesus made the mud and cured him of his blindness was a Sabbath. The Pharisees, then, asked the man again how he had received his sight. He told them, ‘He put some mud on my eyes; I washed my face, and now I can see.’
Some of the Pharisees said, ‘The man who did this cannot be from God, for he does not obey the Sabbath law.’
Others, however, said, ‘How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?’ And there was a division among them.
So the Pharisees asked the man once more, ‘You say he cured you of your blindness – well, what do you say about him?’
‘He is a prophet,’ the man answered.
They answered, ‘You were born and brought up in sin – and you are trying to teach us?’ And they expelled him from the synagogue.
When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’
The man answered, ‘Tell me who he is, Sir, so that I can believe in him!’
Jesus said to him, ‘You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now.’
‘I believe, Lord!’ the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.

Have a Conversation about the Gospel

What do you remember about today’s reading?

Jesus makes a paste, puts it on the blind man’s eyes and tells him to wash in a pool. When the blind man does this he can see. How do you think the blind man felt at being able to see for the first time?

The Pharisees (some of the religious leaders of the time) question the man and his parents to find out how Jesus gave him his sight. The man tells them but they do not believe it and grow angry.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are blind because they cannot see that he is the Son of God. While there is nothing wrong with their eyes, the Pharisees do not open their hearts to see the truth of who Jesus is. While the blind man is able see and to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.

God has given us five senses to learn about the world that is around us. Do you know what those five senses are?

• We can see all the beautiful and wonderful things that God has created like birds, trees, flowers, fish, family and friends.
• We can hear lovely music and the birds singing.
• We can smell flowers, and the sea, and grass when it has just been cut.
• We can taste yummy food and drink.
• We can feel the sun warm on our skin, the soft fur of a pet when we stroke it, and the hands of our friends when we do a high five.

Can you tell me some of the wonderful things in our world that you have seen, heard, smelt, tasted or felt today?

But we also need Jesus to help us to see the truth about the world around us and how we should treat one another. As well as our five senses we need to open our hearts to others so that we can reach out and help them when they need us.

God calls us to use our gifts and not to ignore the problems that we see. We can try instead to make a difference, to care for our earth and to help people who are poor to change their lives for the better (you might have a Trócaire box in your house, did you know that Trócaire means Mercy?)

Here is for a short video on today’s Gospel

End with a prayer

Dear Jesus, Help us to be like you and to notice when someone needs help. Help us to see the world and other people like you do, through the eyes of love.
Amen

An Activity

You might like to complete these puzzles during the coming week as a reminder of this Gospel today.

Additional Resources

As today is mother’s Day, you might like to cut and colour your own card, here is a template