Sister put a large rosary on the altar. We said a number of Hail Marys for different people: the helpers,our families and friends.

'Hail Mary, full of grace .The Lord is with thee. 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'

Rosary beads have 5 groups of 10 beads close together, so people can remember to say 10 Hail Marys. In between each group is one bead on its own, to remind us to say an 'Our Father'. At each group of 'Hail Marys', we can think about someone or we can think about an event in Mary's life, which is called a 'Mystery'. Next week, we will look at the Mysteries...do you know what they are?

Then we sang a song about God's love:

'God loves you, and I love you,
And that's the way it should be;
We should love others
Like sisters and brothers,
And that's the way it should be'.

It is full of little bugs. Every so often, one climbs a reed and the others cannot see where it has gone.

We talked about people or pets we love who have died and are in Heaven. We made dragon flies for each one of them, with their names on, after we put little bugs in the pond to stand for us. The dragon flies are in Heaven.

We praise the Lord,
for he guides us along the path of right,
he shows us what to do.
We shall not fall down
if he is there beside us.
Lord we are happy,
for we are safe with you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We have had an end of Summer party. It is an excellent time to share a meal and to give thanks for all the good things we have done during the Summer.
Our table of food was buffet-style, where everyone could help themselves and we learnt to share with each other.
Here is Grace's picture of the party.

St. Luke; chapter 16:19-31
In today's Gospel, Jesus talks about a rich man, who does not even notice the very poor man, Lazarus, who lives at his gate. Lazarus dies and goes straight to heaven. When the rich man dies, he is in agony ,begging Abraham to ask Lazarus to help him. He is told that too great a gap has opened between them, so he cannot be helped.
Jesus wants to point out that all people do not have the same chances in life. We should care about those who are shut out for one reason or another. We should notice and help.
This seems like a good time for Frankie to introduce some friends of his. They have important things to say.

Last Thursday, October 4th, was the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. We have been hearing about his life.
Here is a wonderful picture of him, painted by Giotto. You can see the painting in the big church, called a basilica, in Assisi today.

Here is the basilica.

Born in Assisi, in 1182, in central Italy, Francis was the son of a wealthy middle-class merchant. When he was young, he was fun-loving; as we might say today, a bit of a playboy. He enjoyed stories about medieval chivalry, which were all about serving a liege lord for a lofty purpose- you were supposed to forget about yourself by helping the poor and weak, being kind, showing good manners. Francis wanted to become famous as a knight in shining armour.
He joined the army, but only for a short time, as he was captured and became a prisoner of war for a year. He became ill.
Then he had the idea of fighting for the pope of the day, but had a vision, after which he turned to Christ instead. He saw Jesus suffering on the cross. Soon after, something made him hug a leper, someone with a terrible illnes, whom normally no-one would touch. People thought you could catch leprosy really easily.
Francis dressed as a beggar and went on a pilgrimage to Rome.
Back in Assisi, he was praying in front of a crucifix in the church of Saint Damian, when the figure of Jesus seemed to speak to him. Jesus seemed to say,"Go Francis, and repair my house which, as you see, is in ruin."

Francis thought he meant the actual church was falling down. He did spend some time mending three churches in Assisi.
His father was angry that Francis was living in that way. He made him a prisoner in his own home to try to stop him and to get his money back. Francis would not give in.
Aged 25, choosing to dress as a hermit, he began to look after lepers until the Holy Spirit moved him to go to preach, to tell other people about God. He was unsure whether to spend his time in this way, so asked his good friend, who became Saint Clare, to pray to God to ask if he should do this. She gave the answer, yes.
A set of stories called 'The Little Flowers of Saint Francis' tell us about lots of wonderful events which happened.
Saint Francis is often shown preaching to the birds, which flocked to him to listen. He told them they should sing beautifully to praise God,sending them out- north south east and west, all the directions which can be seen in a cross - in other words, to all corners of the world, to tell of Jesus.

Francis set up an Order of monks, but never became a priest, as he was too humble. He helped Clare set up an Order of nuns.
This symbol, the Tau cross, is associated with Saint Francis. It is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but reminded him of Christs's cross. Also Saint Anthony the hermit, who looked after lepers, was often pictured with the Tau symbol on top of the staff he carried.
Here is the Tau cross with part of a famous prayer of Saint Francis.

We began thinking how we could bring these things to the world. We put our ideas inside the image of the wolf, because we were going to tell the people back in church the story of Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio. It is another story inside the 'Little Flowers'.

We practised our play, which we performed to the congregation. Father John was an excellent stage manager. He made everyone join in.

Dear Jesus,
You bless us too. Help us to follow the example of the grateful leper, remembering to thank you for the good things you give us.
Amen

We wrote or drew pictures of the things we wished to thank God for.

In today's Gospel (Luke 18: 9-14) , Jesus uses a parable to tell people how to speak to God in order to set things right.
The pharisee is concerned with obeying rules, for which he congratulates himself, thinking that will make him a better person; more important than anyone else. He looks down on others and so forgets about God ,really- he leaves no room for God, because he is full of himself.
The tax collector knows that he has made many mistakes, but he readily says he is sorry, because he cares about being close to God and wants to make things right.

We could see each day of our lives as a party: we can pat ourselves on the back, making sure we know the rules and are always winning; or we can make sure we welcome God when we try to help other people enjoy themselves.
God was seen at the second party because the guests were seen as important- they were truly seen.
Everyone received a prize - a balloon and a chocolate bar from the Fair Trade shop- or was it God's love and forgiveness?

Yesterday , 8th December, was the Feast of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, which occurs nine months before we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We call Mary IMMACULATE because we think of her as being without sin. We are all born into a world where there is sin. At some point in the history of the world somebody committed the first sin. The Bible puts the idea into a story -the story of Adam and Eve. Adama means 'from the soil' and we get the name Adam from that. We are all made of soil; we all eat the things that grow from the soil.

When we are born, we have done nothing wrong, but we say we are born into sin because sin already exists in the world. We have no blame ourselves. Then at some time in each of our lives, we do something wrong, knowing about it, for the first time.
When we think of Mary, though, because God chose her to give birth to Jesus, the Son of God, we know she must have been a good woman and she never committed a sin of her own. So we call her IMMACULATE.

On the 8th December, we think of the beginnings of her life in her mother's womb.

On our journey through Advent, this week, we looked at how people celebrate Christmas in South America,.

In Rio, Summer begins just before Christmas Eve. Our beach scene shows this.

In Columbia, as in most countries, Christmas is a time for family get-togethers- going to church and sharing a meal. Christmas day is the first day of celebrations , with lots of parades such as a Classic Car show, Cabellero Horse Parade and a Parade of Flowers.