Children's Liturgy Sunday July 1st 2007

1st july 2007

In our liturgy today, we thought about people who are following Jesus.

Today five children are making their First Holy Commumion:
Patrick, Nelson, Paris, Kiera and Daniel. Congratulations to all of them.

We have made a card to celebrate Father John's being a priest for FORTY YEARS. We have written a prayer inside the card.

Here are forty Father Johns. Two of them are different- can you spot which ones?

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 8th 2007

8th July 2007

Today we heard how we have all been chosen to do God's work. He will show us what that work is. He will give us everything we need to carry it out.
We have written down some of the things that God has given us to help us do well.

Today, Father David Everitt flies out to Zimbabwe in Africa. He will be a priest for the Mother of Peace Community, who look after 120 AIDS orphans. The children have lost their parents because of disease, so when they arrive, they are frightened and confused, besides being in poor health themselves. In the Community, they are cared for and made to feel safe again.

Father David will live in Mutemwa, a village where 35 people have leprosy and 25 people have disabilities.
Here are pictures of Father David working last time he was in Africa.

We had a wonderful Mass, which Father David celebrated with Father John. People from Zimbabwe who live locally now came to sing with us. They used their own language, called 'Shona'. Some played drums or shakers.
We made a card for Father David, to wish him well as he goes off to do God's work.

Dear God,

You give us lots of gifts, so we can do your work. Help us to remember that life is the very best gift of all.
Amen.

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 15th 2007

15th July 2007

Today our liturgy was again led by Sister Maura, who teaches in Australia. We made the sign of the Cross in several different languages- English, Polish, Jaru (the language of native Australians) and Irish.

Jesus was a great story teller. Today we heard the story about the Good Samaritan.( You can find it in the Gospel of Saint Luke: Chapter10, verses 25-37).
People had been asking Jesus who was their neighbour, because he had told them to love their neighbour as they loved themselves.
How surprised the people must have been when they heard the answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?"
My neighbour is not just the person next door, or a member of my parish, or people from the same country. My neighbour is anyone in need.

Jesus, we know you are with us. We can call on your name always.
Jesus, you know all our needs. You are always ready to help us. Give us courage to be your faithful followers each and every day. Amen.

Today we also heard the story of Blessed Mary Mackillop.

Mary Mackillop was born in Melbourne, Australia. Her parents were Scottish immigrants. Mary was the eldest of seven children and at the age of sixteen, she had to find work to support her family.
She began her working life as a governess and clerk in Melbourne and then as a teacher in Portland. In 1861, she went to Penola in Southern Australia to care for her uncle's children. It was here she met a young English missionary priest called Father John Tenison Woods. He had a large parish in the area and his vision was to give Catholic education to the children of the outback. This inspired Mary and she committed herself to the work of educating the isolated and poor.

At the age of 24, Mary opened the first St. Joseph's school in Penola.

Mary and her friends were prepared to follow farmers, railway workers and miners out into isolated areas, where they helped to educate their children,
It is hoped that in 2008, Mary Mackillop will be declared Australia's first Saint.

Sister Maura then told us about some of the teaching work of the Sisters of Joseph in Australia today, and showed us pictures of the school where she worked before coming to visit her family in Leicester.
Here is Sister Maura with some of the children she was teaching.

Here is Maggie Long who visits the school to tell the children about their own customs, to make sure the are not forgotten. They are watching face decoration, which they find attractive, as we would have a make-over.

These children are very poor in material terms. They sleep under a tarpaulin. They have few clothes, which they leave in a heap. When they get up in the morning, they don't worry about which clothes fit perfectly; the first child takes what is on top of the pile and puts that on. The don't worry about who owns what- and they are exceedingly happy. They do look happy, don't they!

Here is a man the children call Mister Tony, who acts as a teaching assistant in the school.

Sister Maura told us that some members of her family had bought a goat through CAFOD as a wedding present for a brother, as the couple getting married had enough material things for themselves, so it seemed a good idea to give to people who had less instead. We thought about different ways of giving- being a good neighbour.
We ended our liturgy by singing action songs, including:
Do You Love Jesus;
God Loves You and I Love You.

Congratulations to Anna and Leonie who made their First Holy Communion today.

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 22nd 2007.

15th July 2007

Today in our liturgy, we talked about prayer.
We have looked at the Our Father, which is the only prayer Jesus taught us.
It has everything in it that we need to pray about.

We hope you like our display of the Lord's Prayer.
It will be mounted on the wall for next week, when we will hear how Jesus teaches us to pray.
Each time you look at it, you will see how special the prayer is to us.

This is another way of saying the Lord's Prayer.

Congratulations to Tendai, who made her First Holy Communion today.

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 29th 2007

29th July 2007

Today we talked about the way Life is a circle going round- we come from God and we go back to God.
Sometimes we feel happy and sometimes we feel sad.
Today was Faith's birthday, so we all felt happy as we sang to her.
Sadly, a year ago today, Ray died. Lots of us remembered him, because he served on the altar at our mass and for many years at St. Joseph;s. We can see his picture in our new 'Altar Servers' Corner' in our liturgy room, which we have called 'Ray's Corner'.
We talked about how we still love someone after they have died; we can still talk to them- they still love us.
We listened to a poem.

That poem was written by Safi, aged 8, for his grandfather, who had just died. Love goes on after they are parted. Memories are very important. You can tell from the poem that they shared many happy times. The images (pictures) Safi gives us seem to be magical, because they are about feelings, not just things that happened.
We drew pictures of Safi's memories or of our own of someone we love, and put them in our box.

Here is another child's story.
Beth was 10. Her mother was worried she would be too upset by her grandparent's funeral, especially by seeing the coffin.
Beth said she would be alright, because she knew that our bodies were only the shell and our real selves were like the pearl inside. After we die, it does not matter that we put the shell into the ground, in a coffin, or as ashes, because the pearl is with God.
We treat the shell gently and ask God to look after the person, because we still love them. we miss them and we need to remember and talk to them.
Ash is made when something is burnt. It is like grey dust. Some people want to be taken to a crematorium, where their shell is burnt and the ashes are put into a kind of jar called an urn. Then the urn is buried, just like a coffin- or the ashes are scattered in a place that mattered very much to the person and their family.

The priest puts another sort of ash on our foreheads at the start of Lent, to remind us we all come from God and we all go back to God.

We visited the Garden of Remembrance. We took flowers to mark out that it is a quiet place of love.
We saw the place where Maggs and Theresa's Mum's and sister's ashes are buried. Maggs had put flowers in the place. We saw where someone had put a little statue of Saint Francis to remember their family. Then we saw the place where Ray's ashes are buried. His wife, Mary, had put a lighted candle near the stone with his name on.

We remember all the people of the parish whose shells are resting in the garden.
We ask God to bless all the people who come to rest here and all our friends and family who have died. We still love them. Amen.

Today, a priest called Father Willibrod was visiting from Tanzania. He came to say thank you for the computers our parish sent to his parish. He loved our children's liturgy and said he would be looking at our website in future.
Here are pictures of the people in his parish at Uchira building their own church. It has rooms underneath for a children's school. Now it is completed and has all the windows and doors said Father!

Children's Liturgy Sunday August 5th 2007

5th August 2007

During our liturgy today, we heard a story about flood victims and what they have lost.
They may have lost most of their possessions, but at least they have their friends and families around them.
On our collage, we have tried to put into categories things that we need, things that we want and even what comes in between.

Children's Liturgy Sunday August 12th 2007

In our liturgy today, we talked about welcoming people into our lives and the things we do to make them feel happy. Jesus tells us that we need to be ready to welcome him.
Jesus promises us that if we are faithful and prepared, he will not let us serve him, but he will serve us and make us welcome.
We made 'welcome back' cards.

Children's Liturgy Sunday August 19th 2007

19th August 2007

Our liturgy was again led by Sister Maura, who is over from Australia. We are enjoying her visit and her teaching very much!
The new children were welcomed.
We talked about August's being a month to remember Mary the Mother of Jesus. She is known by several names, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Lady. On Wednesday 15th this week we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Catholic Church teaches that when she died, she was immediately taken up to God, body and soul.
Mary is seen in many different ways in different cultures. Sister Maura told us of a native Australian woman called Winnie, who lived in Warmun. Winnie had never heard about Mary, but when she was told about her, she said she had already seen her in her dreams. Here is a picture which shows the way Aboriginal people often think of Mary.

Sister Maura told us about the faith that people have in the power of prayers for Mary's help. She described the way the Benedictine monks held up a picture of Mary in front of a terrible bush fire in New Norcia. Now, you can see the blackened picture still in its frame in the church there.
Sister then showed us a picture of Our lady which hangs in her own parish church in Fermoy, in Ireland.

The second reading today- Saint Paul's Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 1-4- speaks of being surrounded "By a cloud of Witnesses".
We talked about what it means to be a witness.
Who are the witnesses helping us on as we try to live as a Christian? Family or friends?People from the Bible? People with us today?
We looked at special patterns, called mandalas, which help us to think or meditate. We each coloured in a mandala, as we remembered those who help us to live as a good Christian. We tried to be quiet as we did this and if we wanted, we told the adults present about our witnesses.

We sang a song about Mary.

Children's Liturgy Sunday September 2nd 2007