Autumn 2008

Summer Divider
 

Children's Liturgy, Sunday, October 5th 2008.

Sunday October 5th 2008
Yesterday was the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. We remembered all we knew about him. Today, something surprising would happen in his honour, at the end of our liturgy!
Francis had a comfortable life when he was young, being the son of a cloth merchant in the Italian village of Assisi, where he was born in 1182. The provinces often fought against each other and Francis joined the fighting until he was captured. After this, he became ill and his life totally changed.
On a pilgrimage to Rome, he felt very sorry to see the beggars in front of St. Peter's Basilica- so much so that he swapped clothes with one of them and spent the day begging. When he returned to Assisi, he began looking after lepers, one day hugging one of them. Usually no-one touched a person with leprosy, as people thought you could catch the disease very easily.

Francis also worked for the poor and spent the rest of his time rebuilding the churches. One day, he heard the voice of Jesus asking him to "build up my house, for it is nearly falling down". Francis thought this meant he must rebuild the church at San Damiano, which he gladly did.

Francis began to preach and drew twelve followers who became the first of an Order of Franciscan Friars (friar means brother). They spent their lives preaching, setting an example of Jesus' love by the way they behaved, owning no property and looking after the poor.

In 1212 Francis received into his fellowship a girl named Clara Sciffi, a girl from a noble family. With Francis' help, she set up the Order of Poor Clares at San Damiano.

Saint Francis loved all animals and called them his brothers and sisters. Last year, we heard the story of how he tamed the wolf at Gubbio. This year, we heard how he tamed the doves.

Doves are a symbol of peace. We remembered the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

On to our banner of Saint Francis, the older children placed doves they had cut from newspapers. The daily papers are usually full of stories of worry, sadness and fighting. We prayed for peace.
The younger children drew their pets, or animals they loved and placed these around Saint Francis.
We carried the banner of Saint Francis into church as the organ played the hymn based on the saint's Prayer for Peace.
We had very special friends in church. We remembered Paul's guide dog, Frankie, who is our mascot, but who is now old and living a happy life in retirement. Today, Paul brought Foster, his new guide dog for a blessing on the feast of Saint Francis.
We all stood around the altar as Father John asked Paul to bring Foster forward. Foster stood looking pleased and proud to be blessed-

Blessing for Foster.
Blessed are you, Lord God,
maker of all living creatures.
On the fifth and sixth days of creation
you called forth fish from the sea,
birds in the air and animals on the land.
You inspired St. Francis to call all animals
his brothers and sisters.
We ask you to bless Foster.
By the power of your love
enable him to live according to your plan.
may we always praise you
for all the beauty in creation.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures!
Amen.
Everyone clapped. After mass, Foster had many strokes and a biscuit. Paul had a cup of coffee.
Thank you, Paul, for bringing Foster today, to help us think about the life of Saint Francis.
 

Children's Liturgy Sunday October 12th 2008.

Sunday October 12th 2008
In our liturgy today, we listened to the story Jesus told (St. Matthew 22: 1-14) of how a king invited all the important people to the feast; but because they were so important, they didn't turn up. Then the king sent his servants to invite all the ordinary people instead.

We thought about all of the ordinary things we do and use every day- even though they are ordinary things, they are still important to us in our lives.

We made signs for each of us to wear. The signs say what we do as ordinary people- things that still matter, because they help others.
We even made a sign for Father John. He is an ordinary man, but he serves God as a priest.

Dear Jesus,
Sometimes we ignore the ordinary things you have given us and take them for granted.

When you were on earth, you did ordinary things and you thought they were great.

You met lots of ordinary people and thought they were fantastic.

Help us to enjoy all the ordinary things as well.
Amen.
 

Children's Liturgy Sunday October 19th 2008.

Sunday October 19th 2008
In today's liturgy, we heard the Jews ask Jesus if they should give Caesar any money for taxes. (Matthew 22: 15-21) Jesus said," Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God".

We have made two coins: one for Caesar and the other for Jesus. On our Jesus coin, we have written what we give back to God and on our Caesar coin, we have written good deeds we need to repay others.
 
Jesus,
Sometimes we find it difficult to understand what you are saying. Help us to understand.
Amen.

Children's Liturgy Sunday October 26th 2008.

Sunday October 26th 2008
In today's Gospel- St. Matthew 22:34-40- one of the Sadducees tries to test Jesus by asking him which is the most important commandment in the Law.
Jesus replies, "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind".
Then he says there is another, very similar commandment, which comes next- "You shall love your neighbour as yourself".
The whole Law and the Prophets- in other words, everything which really matters in life- are founded on these two commandments.

Everything God does is about love. All that really matters in our lives is about love. This is what makes us happy. We talked about how we show we love God and other people. Sometimes this is much harder than others!
We made hearts on which we wrote the names of the people we love, including those of people we do not really like.
 
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for loving us. Teach us how to love you and how to love each other.

Sometimes it is not easy to love each other- help us when we find it hard.
Amen.

Children's Liturgy Sunday November 2nd 2008.

Sunday November 2nd 2008
ALL SAINTS/ HOLY SOULS.

At this time of the year, we remember all the people who have died and are in Heaven with God. The saints are said to be those who led very good lives- we know about some of them, who may be very famous (St. Joseph, for example), but we guess there are lots more, as we never know how good some people really are. The Holy Souls are in Heaven, growing more and more happy as they get to know God.

We do not need to feel sad for the people who have died, but we, ourselves, sometimes feel sad, because we miss them.
We still love them; we can still talk to them; they still love us.

We heard a story called 'Remembering Grandad' , which helped us think about how we feel when someone we love falls ill or dies. A boy called James loses his grandad. We also talked about and how we might behave towards one of our friends if they lost someone in their family. Sometimes we might not know what to say exactly, but to say something, however clumsy, just to show we care, is all that really matters. We might ring them or write a short note, or just stay near them at school. In the story, some children make cakes.
Later on, James realises he has lots of happy memories of his grandad, which he will treasure forever.He is not sad any more.
We talked about being upset when a pet dies, as we often love them dearly, too.

We put the names of family, friends and pets who have died on to the leaves of our memory tree.
Someone in the parish has given us a prayer lantern, which, after mass, we put in our very own place in St. Joseph's Garden of Remembrance. We will always be able to go there to think about those we love and to light a candle. Thank you very much.
 
For Loved Ones Who have Died.
Lord, be good to them
And show them all your love.

Lord, be kind to them,
And grant them peace above.

Lord, be gracious to them,
For good that they have done.

Lord, be gentle with them,
For sufferings undergone.

Lord, may we meet again,
When heaven's crown be won.
Amen.
Today we were very proud that Angel, one of the children who has been coming to our liturgy for some years, has now become a reader along with the adults in church. Today she read the psalm. Congratulations, Angel!
 

Children's Liturgy Sunday November 9th 2008.

Children's Liturgy Sunday November 9th 2008.
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY.
It is the time of the year when we wear a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives during wars, for our freedom.
People chose the poppy as a symbol, because masses of poppies flowered in the fields in Flanders after the First World War, reminding everyone of all the millions of soldiers who had been killed in that area. Poppy seeds germinate (start to grow) after the earth is disturbed and the big guns had blasted the ground into a sea of mud during years.

We made decorated crosses and wrote prayers for those killed and those left behind, and prayers for peace.
We carried our prayer lantern, decorated with poppies, and the large cross, decorated with one enormous poppy, into church.
Beneath the Crosses.
In Flanders fields the cold winds blow
And on the grounds the poppies grow,
But why must all the people go
Beneath the crosses, row on row?
Some may think that the wars are past, but they are not
For many people still are bombed, killed, and fought.
A child cries in the night
Another missile comes in sight.

Yet we remember only the soldiers who died,
Not the men, women and children who had cried.
Some believe that it's just the troops that need our care-
No, it's the people affected everywhere.

Remember the past, and change the present;
End the pain and make things pleasant.
Bring the soldiers home from afar
And make peace and end the war.

Glitterbuggy, Canada.
 

Children's Liturgy, Sunday November 16th 2008

Children's Liturgy Sunday November 16th 2008.
Today we heard the parable of the talents, which can be found in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 25: 14-30.
In the time of Jesus, a talent was a piece of valuable metal, but when Jesus tells the story, he means the gifts which God has given to each person.
In the story, someone goes away for a while, asking servants to look after the talents. One servant simply buries his to keep it safe. When the owner returns, he is angry that the servant has wasted his opportunity.
We should use our talents to help other people, not keep them for ourselves.
We talked about the individual talents we have. God wants us to share what we can do with everyone else, so we all enjoy the things each of us can do.
We have shown the things we are good at on our cards and displayed them on Talent Stars.
Some of our talents are quite surprising !
Dear God,
We thank you for the talents you give us.
Help us to share ourselves and our gifts with everyone.
Amen

Children's Liturgy Sunday November 23rd 2008

CHRIST the KING
Today is Christ the King Sunday, or the FEAST of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST the KING. It is the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent.
Pope Pius the Eleventh set up the Feast of Christ the King in 1925, because he wanted world leaders to respect Jesus, and to remind everyone that Jesus must be King of our hearts.
In between World War One and World War Two, many of the leaders of Europe were trying to persuade people to turn away from the churches, or not to believe in God at all. Some countries were ruled by dictators who tried to influence beliefs about who really mattered, which human beings should be seen as important and who should be used as slaves, or worse still, not treated as human.

In today's Gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46) we are reminded the Jesus is sometimes known as the Servant King, because he teaches that to love God is to look after others- to feed them when they are hungry, to care for them when they are sick, to visit them in prison and so on. If we do anything kind for one other person, we are doing it to God.
We remember that Jesus's first crown was the Crown of Thorns, which the Romans made him wear just before they crucified him. Jesus wore this crown and died for us because he loved us.

We made a banner, which we decorated with triangles, which stand for thorns and for crowns of love and serving others. We celebrate God's Kingdom now, when we love others.
We look forward to Advent, when we will welcome Jesus as the 'Newborn King'.
We talked about our Advent project. We have been collecting plastic bottles and cardboard boxes for some weeks now. Also, people of the parish have been giving us left-over material they no longer needed. This is what we are going to do with it: