Children's Liturgy Sunday April 12th 2009

Easter Sunday 2009

Happy Easter, everyone! Today we celebrate that Jesus is risen from the dead. He has made it possible for us all, one day, to be in Heaven with God.
Do you see anything familiar in our Easter card? The model of the world and everything in it was made by the children of our liturgy in Lent 2008.
In the Bible, we find the story of the Creation described in a poetic way, as taking place over seven days. The writer imagines the stages.
In his Gospel, Saint John describes the beginning of Jesus' work on earth as a second Creation. During Lent, we thought of the meaning of Jesus' coming to this world for us- his life, death, then his resurrection at Easter. In 2008, we made a model/collage of the world God created.

Saint John also tells us what happened on Easter morning. The night before, John had helped Mary, Jesus' Mother, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus to wash Jesus' body and wrap it in the winding cloths. Now, John went with Peter to visit the tomb once more, but found that there was no longer a body inside. All he saw were the cloths in which Jesus had been wrapped, the cloth which had been around Jesus' head lying separately. The cloths had not been unwound, but were empty. He realised that the Resurrection had taken place. John says 'he saw and he believed'.

Here is a representation of the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb.

Here is our final Station of the Cross: Station 15.

Here are some ideas you may like to follow during Easter.
The calendar reminds us that we are currently celebrating that 2000 years have passed since Saint Paul was born.

Children's Liturgy, Sunday April 19th 2009

The Second Sunday of Easter

Today in our liturgy, we talked about all the things we experience with joy in our lives because Jesus gave his life for us. We made thank you cards, with our own messages of thanks for everything we have.

We placed the cards around the model of the empty tomb which the flower ladies had made. Inside the tomb, you can see the cloths which remind us that on Easter morning, Jesus' body had gone from the tomb, but the cloths which had been wrapped around his dead body remained where they were.

Jesus died to show how much God loves us.
Dear friends,
Let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God. Whoever does not love does not know God; for God is love.

God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. Help us to know Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly and follow Thee more nearly, Lord, day by day.
Amen.

We had another celebration of new life this morning, as one of our liturgy leaders brought her new baby daughter to church for the first time. Congatulations to all the family!

This Sunday is also called the Octave of Easter, as it is the Eighth day of Easter. Here are things to think about this week.

Children's Liturgy Sunday April 26th 2009

The THIRD SUNDAY of Easter

In the Gospel today (St. Luke 24: 35-48), Jesus appeared to the apostles, asking them to realise that everything he had promised had come true. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, so that they could spread the message of God's love and forgiveness to all peoples.

Jesus, today we would like to remember all those people who are living in Heaven. We want to pray for them.

We promise always to remember those who are now with you and be glad that we knew them.

We made doves with the names of our loved ones who have died written on the back.

So today, we are sending our doves to Heaven with a special prayer for our loved ones who are with Jesus.

Children's Liturgy, Sunday May 3rd 2009

The FOURTH SUNDAY of EASTER

May is traditionally known as the month of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We have a number of wonderful feastdays to celebrate the things she did and knew during her life.

It is the perfect time to think about praying the Rosary as much as we can and to recall the wonderful mysteries and power of prayer.

In our liturgy during May, we are going to make our own rosary beads to have on display in our room.
Today we made the beads out of newspaper balls covered with plain paper and glue - they may not look much like a rosary yet, but watch this space!

The Rosary is a form of prayer we say and think about the Mysteries of the way Jesus came on Earth to show God's love and to save us all - we can call this our 'Redemption'.
The Mysteries are made up of four groups: The Joyful Mysteries; The Mysteries of Light; The Sorrowful Mysteries; The Glorious Mysteries.

The Glorious mysteries are:
1) The Annunciation: the Angel Gabriel tells Mary she is to be the Mother of God;
2)The Visitation: Mary visits her cousin, Elizabeth;
3) The Nativity: Jesus is born in Bethlehem;
4) The Presentation:Mary presents Jesus to Simeon in the temple;
5) The Finding in the Temple: Jesus is lost for three days and Mary finds him in the temple.

We begin praying the Rosary by making the sign of the Cross. Using beads to help us remember and keep count, we can think about each Mystery in turn, saying 'Our Father', ten 'Hail Marys' and 'Glory Be' for each Mystery.

We can also have in mind a particular reason for praying in this way, such as asking for help for someone who is ill.
Today we heard that Father David Everitt, who came to tell us about the children at Mother of Peace in Zimbabwe, is ill with cancer. We made a card for him using a picture from our Christmas crib. Do you remember our crib made out of recycled materials? People from the parish asked to be made as models and brought to our crib and they gave us money to send to Mother of Peace. Father David wanted to come as a lion, so for his card, we used his lion picture.
We have asked Father John to say Mass for Father David and the people of Zimbabwe next Sunday. We took our card to be placed on the altar by Father John. We will send the card to Father David.
On the left of your screen, you will soon be able to see a new section on our website, telling everyone about Mother of Peace and Zimbabwe- and we will keep praying for Father David.
May God send healing.
Amen.

Dear God,
Help us to learn how to pray the Rosary, so that we can enjoy the Mysteries of Jesus' life and all that Mary knew.

Children's Liturgy Sunday May 10th 2009

The FIFTH SUNDAY of EASTER

Today we had a wonderful Mass.
Last Sunday, all the children and leaders signed a card to tell Father David Everitt that Mass today would be for him and the people of Zimbabwe. Father David worked in Africa in the Gambia for many years. When he came back to England, he longed to return to Africa and you may remember, he at last had the chance a couple of years ago, when he went to Mother of Peace Community in Zimbabwe.
Father David told our children about the children in Zimbabwe and the people there who have leprosy. Mother of Peace care for AIDS orphans .(For more information, look at the new section on the left-hand side of the web page- coming soon if you can't see it today!) At Christmas, we built a crib to raise money for the Community there, since when we have received letters and feel they are our friends.

After a short period back here again, Father David was unable to go back to Zimbabwe, because of the dangerous political situation, but hoped that this soon would improve. Now Father David is ill with cancer and we all wanted to do something to help. We were delighted he wanted to come to the Mass and that all his family were coming to join us, too. Afterwards, they were going out for a lovely meal together.

When he received our Mass card, he told Father John he would like to come to Mass today. He wanted to be anointed with the Holy Oils and to ask our children to pray to the Holy Spirit to bless him. So Father John and Father David celebrated Mass together.

All our children were invited to come to the altar. Father David knelt on a big green cushion in front of them, whilst Father John explained that with the anointing during the Sacrament of the Sick, the priest is asking God to send healing so the person will be well again, or if God is calling that person to Heaven, that God will make them strong for the journey.

Father John told us that before Father David returned to England, the people in Zimbabwe had blessed him , sending him back to us. Now we were going to bless him, hoping that he will be well enough again for us to send him back to Zimbabwe.
Father John anointed Father David with the oil. Then he showed the children how to hold out their hands, palms facing downwards, as the priest does during Mass, when he sends down the Holy Spirit over the bread and wine. All the children held out their hands over Father David, to ask the Holy Spirit to come down and bless him.

Here is a picture of Father David - on the left- with Father John after Mass.

We will continue to pray for Father David and the people of Zimbabwe.
We pray for all who have cancer.
If there is anyone for whom you would like to ask for prayers, for any reason, let us know and we will put them in the prayer box on our web page.

Children’s Liturgy Sunday May 17th 2009

The SIXTH SUNDAY of EASTER

Praying the Rosary. During May, we are learning to pray the Rosary. The rosary prayers were revealed to St. Dominic by Mary and begun as regular prayers by one of his followers in the Fifteenth Century. Pope John Paul the Second said that to pray the Rosary is to be with Mary, looking into the face of Jesus. On October 16th 2002, Pope John Paul published a letter, asking us to “enter the school of Mary”, who knew Jesus so well. He introduced the Mysteries of Light. We are making our own Rosary, which we will show you before the end of May. Today we thought about the Mysteries of Light. Pope John Paul said he hoped they would help rosary prayers grow out of Jesus’ life.



This fits with today’s Gospel (St. John 15: 9-17), because Jesus tells his disciples they are his friends; he has shared with them all that God shared with him. His life was made up of ways to show them God’s love and all that remained for them was to love each other and all people. He said that there was no greater love than to give your life for your friends. Jesus was baptised by John. May we be open to God’s love and our lives spread that love.



Jesus turned water into wine. May we perform little miracles in our friends’ lives by being kinder than they expect.



Jesus said we could know God’s Kingdom now. May we help others know that Kingdom by looking after them when they are poor, sad or hurting.



Jesus was transfigured in front of his friends. May our friends see something different about us because of what we believe.



Jesus gave us himself in the Eucharist. May we give our lives to serving others; may we count everyone as our friend and may we love them.



Hail Mary, full of grace. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Children's Liturgy, Sunday May 31st 2009.

PENTECOST SUNDAY

During May, we have been learning to pray the Rosary and here is the rosary we have made, which we took into church.
Today, we honour Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

We also carried a statue of Mary, which someone had given us. Some of the youngest children scattered rose petals around the rosary and statue. Everyone was given their own little statue of Mary, as a lady had visited our liturgy room during the last couple of weeks, liking our room so much, she wanted to give something to all the children.

When we begin to pray the rosary, we make the sign of the Cross, then we say 'Our Father' and three 'Hail Marys' and then the' Glory Be'. We prayed these prayers for everyone who is ill, remembering Father David, Klara's husband, someone's grandma and someone's great grandma.
We have learnt about the Mysteries of the Rosary, especially the Mysteries of Light, and we remembered that we say 'Our Father and ten 'Hail Marys' for each Mystery, counting them out on our beads, then a 'Glory Be'.

On our return into church, each of the children carried flowers for Mary, which we placed in Mary's chapel. Someone carried a cushion with a little crown of flowers, which Mags placed on Mary's head.

Today we also celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We heard how Jesus had ascended into Heaven and now it was time for the apostles to carry on telling everyone about him. They needed courage and inspiration. The Holy Sprit came down, when flames were seen on the head of each apostle. We asked the Holy Spirit to guide and inspire us all. The prayers were the words which came to the children today. here is Megan's idea.

Someone else prayed,"Please help my Grandma get better";
someone said, "Dear God, help everyone who is hurt and died and poorly";
someone said,"Dear God, please may the Holy Spirit be in everyone in the country";
someone prayed,"Thank you for my baby sister".

Children's Liturgy, Sunday June 7th 2009

HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY

Today we listened to the Gospel (Matthew 28: 16-20) and talked about the Holy Trinity. St. Patrick used a shamrock to explain how the Holy Trinity works. We have made our own shamrocks to remind us.
Each petal on the clover represents a way of experiencing God. The top petal is God; the other two stand for Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

No-one made God; God has always existed. God came to earth as Jesus, a man we could see, so that everyone would know how much God loves us. You could say that the Holy Spirit is the love between God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God. After Jesus had gone back to Heaven, we could still walk with him in God's love because the Holy Spirit came to us, to guide us, help us make decisions and inspire us. Whenever God gives us something out of love, we call it the working of the Holy Spirit- and everything God gives is given out of love, so the Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives.

Father John told everyone that however we puzzle about the Holy Trinity, the most important thing to remember is that God is Love.

Dear God, we are glad that we are part of your family.
Thank you for our own family and the love we share.
Amen.

Children's Liturgy Sunday June 21st 2009

FATHER'S DAY

Today in our litugy, we have thought about all the good things our Dads do for us.

We have made Gold Medals for all our Dads.

Mags found these quotes:

"A man becomes a father only when his wife gives birth to a child. Till then he is only an ordinary man. When a man becomes a father, he becomes the most responsible man on earth."

(A visiting priest pointed out that he had no wife or child, but he was a father!)

"You cannot do without them, considerate, kind and good. But when you're very bad, you sometimes wish you could!"

Dear god,
Thank you for giving us wonderful fathers. Please keep them as nice as they have always been.
Amen

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 5th 2009

In today's Gospel (Mark 6:1-6), we hear how Jesus began to teach in the synagogue in the country where he had grown up. People who knew him questioned why special knowledge would be given to someone ordinary, whom they had known as a carpenter.

Jesus was astonished at their lack of belief and did not stay in that place long, healing only a few sick people.
In fact, those who doubted Jesus did not really know him at all. Jesus had an understanding about God he had been born with- he was, after all, sent by God.

We thought about the way we often assume we know everything there is to know about the people we meet every day. We fit them into our own ideas about life. Secretly, we may struggle if we guess they can do wonderful things, because that may make us feel a little jealous. But we are missing out on many surprises and gifts in our lives by tying others down in this way, so they do not share their unique gifts with us.

We divided up into small groups in order to spend time getting to know each other better. We had to find out things we never knew before about each other. These are some of the gifts we discovered:
Liam likes to think;
Ethan likes to laugh;
Ben and Gearge like to play football;
Ethan R is good at impressions;
Billy is good at magic tricks;
Grace has read 12 books in one day;
Zoe is good at climbing on her climbing frame;
Eve is good at hanging spoons on her nose;
Stephie is good at handstands;
Gerard is good at driving diggers;
Dempsey is good at doing tricks on his trampoline;
Bradie is good at looking after animals;
Rhain can touich her nose with her tongue;
Rumbie goes modelling;
Courtney goes to Brownies;
Shivani has really dark brown hair (NOT BLACK);
Amelia has had 5 cats;
Monica used to help people on her street with the water pumps.

What wonderful gifts!

Dear God,
Thank you for all the wonderful people in our lives. Please help us to realise they are all sent to help us get to know you.
May we set people free to do God's work by listening and letting them be themselves.
Amen

Children's Liturgy Sunday July 19th 2009

July 19th 2009

In today's Gospel (Mark6: 30-34),we heard how Jesus felt sorry for the people, who seemed like sheep without a shepherd.
We spent time thinking about what this would mean today:
When do we feel lost?
What things make us lose our way?
Can we see people in our lives who seem lost?

What helps us find our way?
Who helps us?
How can we help other people?
Do we have a shepherd?
Can we be shepherds?

Some of the younger children made sheep masks.

Here are some of our ideas about being lost and finding our way.

We seem to be lost when we don't feel we belong anywhere and when we don't believe in any purpose in our lives.
Having friends and family, belonging to groups at school and coming to church can help us find our way. We are happier when we share the things we value with other people.
Owning things in themselves won't give us pleasure for very long. But when we love and care for others, we get a sense of direction.
We can work hard at school to get good results, but if we don't have ideas about how this can help us take our place in the world, we still can feel lonely. We can bring a sense of joy to other people by doing many small things well and with love.

When we feel down or bored, perhaps we can remember the choices Jesus asked us to make. We can remember that God loves us and wants us to help make others happy.
Perhaps you know someone who doesn't seem to fit in or belong anywhere. Maybe their family is not as close as yours, or they are shy or worried about something.
You could be a shepherd and help them find their way by being kind!

When we went back into church, the children dressed as sheep scattered all through the pews until somone dressed as a shepherd appeared, calling them to him.

Dear God,
We pray for our friends, our families and our parish. Help us be close to each other and welcoming to those who seem to be outsiders.
Amen

Children's Liturgy Sunday August 2nd 2009

In today's Gospel (John 6:24-35), people are asking Jesus for another miracle, another sign, so that they will believe in him.
They talk about Moses' giving their ancestors bread in the desert, but Jesus reminds them that it was actually God who gave them bread.
It is also God who is giving them this new bread- the bread of life. This bread is Jesus.

Father John told everyone of one of his memories from boyhood. One day, his father gave his mother a single rose- just one. When he was a boy, Father John didn't think much of just one rose. He thought it would look silly in a vase and wondered if they had a vase small enough to put it in. Why would you give anyone just one rose- it wasn't a very big present, was it?

But his mother didn't put it in a vase; she simply kept it as it was, wrapped in a piece of paper. Of course, it died and faded, but still his mother kept it, just as it was. Father John couldn't see the point of that. His mother kept the rose for years, long after it was dead and dried up; in fact she kept it all her life. How pointless, Father John thought- just one, dried up old rose that had never even been in a vase.

Then, one day, when he was a man, Father John thought about the rose- and realised what it meant. His father had given his mother the rose as a sign of his love for her- and she had understood it as that. There didn't need to be a big bunch of flowers, because one rose said it all. And she didn't need to put it in water, because what was important about the rose wasn't about its being a flower, but about the love between the two people who knew about it. When the flower died and dried up, when it was wrapped in a piece of old paper, where you couldn't see it all the time, the love still carried on.

Father John told us that God's love for us came to us at Communion, just as the rose brought love. We see a piece of bread, but, because Jesus died for love of us, we receive God at Communion. Love changes everything and lasts forever. We eat the bread: we receive love.

Congratulations and God Bless all the children who are making their First Holy Communion this Summer.

Children's Liturgy Sunday August 16th 2009

Today we have been thinking about Jesus' promise that those who believe in him will live forever.

We heard the story of a boy called Jack, whose grandmother had died. He dreams he has gone to Heaven, where he meets her again with Jesus and Mary.

Jesus, you gave us the promise of life forever with you.
Help us to meet you in Communion as often as we can.

Bless those people who cannot receive you in Communion as often as they would like.
Bring us all one day to be with you in Heaven. Amen.

Easter 2009