ABSOLUTELY GETTING READY FOR HRISTMA. For Intermediate Grades

Transcription

1 ABLUTELY ETT READY FR HRTMA ADVET! 2018 For ntermediate rades AA int cover 2018indd 1 6/22/18 8:09 AM

2 Duri Advent, We Try Harder Did you ever notice that Lent gets a lot more attention than Advent? Lent has a puic kickoff day with Ash Wednesday t even gets TV coverage Everyone talks about what they are doi for Lent n Fridays, those of us 14 or older give meat And Lent has the grand finale, Holy Week, with all its special liturgies ure, Lent sts loer than Advent, and Easter the most important feast of the Church year, but we all know the REAL reason Advent gets less attention t comes at a bad time of year! Everybody s busy getti ready for Chrtmas! hoppi, baki, decorati, maki lts and checki them twice There s a lot goi on to dtract us fm our efforts to prepare spiritually for Chrt s birth o, we have to try harder t might be easier than you tnk Most of the secur holiday decorations, traditions, and symbols have a spiritual origin, stemmi fm the reason for the season Jesus birth Consider the five ts on the left, all ts you see or hear at ts time of year ee if you can match each with its spiritual origin 1 Twinkli lights 2 Cals 3 anta Cus 4 ift-givi 5 Candles a Magi b t ichos c Jesus, the Light of the World d star of Bethlehem e aels sii Ts Advent, when you hear, see, or tnk about any of these five ts, recall its origin and say ts simple prayer, Come, Lord Jesus, come! 3

3 ymbols FRT UD Y December 2 F THE EA The Wreath D T CCEPT AA18_intermediate_FAL_cleanindd 4-5 FRM TR ER home BEFRE DARK Pretty familiar, right? You hear these warn fm people who love you and want you to be safe Jesus advice in today s ospel was like that He loves us and wants us to be safe All of us have to be alert for ts that can make us lose our focus on od ome of us need to be careful about what movies we see ome need to watch what friends we make or the websites we vit or the pces we go where we might get into tue Advent a good time to take an honest look at our lives and make whatever chaes are necessary to be always ready to meet od For what do you need to be alert? What are the temptations in your life that can pull you away fm od? 4 RDE H VE C LL WHE DTME, BUT BE YU ET C REFUL! THERE U C E The most familiar symbol of Advent the Advent wreath Usually made fm evergreen boughs, the Advent wreath holds three violet-colored candles and a se-colored one There will be a wreath at church ts week, and the first candle will be lighted Perhaps your family has a wreath at home where you gather each day to pray as you wait for the Chrt Cld A wreath s circle J M shape has many positive mean Circles symbolize unity, perfection, eternity, equality, never-endi love all attributes of od and heaven n the Advent wreath, the se candle symbolizes joy t lighted on the Trd unday of Advent Do you know why? To find the answer, start with the J and, movi clockwe, write every other letter as you go aund ts wreath BE pray Help me to be st enough to make these chaes in my life so that am always ready to meet you, Lord want to stay alert Amen 5 7/9/18 9:51 AM

4 ymbols FRT UD Y December 2 F THE EA U DARK Pretty familiar, right? You hear these warn fm people who love you and want you to be safe Jesus advice in today s ospel was like that He loves us and wants us to be safe All of us have to be alert for ts that can make us lose our focus on od ome of us need to be careful about what movies we see ome need to watch what friends we make or the websites we vit or the pces we go where we might get into tue Advent a good time to take an honest look at our lives and make whatever chaes are necessary to be always ready to meet od For what do you need to be alert? What are the temptations in your life that can pull you away fm od? AA18_intermediate_FAL_cleanindd 4-5 FRM TR ER home BEFRE C 4 RDE E The most familiar symbol of Advent the Advent wreath Usually made fm evergreen boughs, the Advent wreath holds three violet-colored candles and a se-colored one There will be a wreath at church ts week, and the first candle will be lighted Perhaps your family has a wreath at home where you gather each day to pray as you wait for the Chrt Cld A wreath s circle J M shape has many positive mean Circles symbolize unity, perfection, eternity, equality, never-endi love all attributes of od and heaven n the Advent wreath, the se candle symbolizes joy t lighted on the Trd unday of Advent Do you know why? To find the answer, start with the J and, movi clockwe, write every other letter as you go aund ts wreath H VE C LL WHE DTME, BUT BE YU ET C REFUL! THERE BE D T CCEPT The Wreath pray Help me to be st enough to make these chaes in my life so that am always ready to meet you, Lord want to stay alert Amen 5 7/9/18 9:51 AM

5 FRT MDAY December 3 ADVEw FEAT F T FRAC XAVER Today s ospel» MATTHEW 8:5-11 A centurion came to Jesus and said, Lord, my servant paralyzed and in terrie pain Jesus said, will come and cure m (8:5-7) magine how the centurion must have felt to hear Jesus say, will come and cure m When you pray to Jesus, do you hear m say, will come and help you? You may not actually hear Jesus speak to you, but he does come to help whenever you ask He comes in many ways Look at these situations How might Jesus come and help in each of them? You are struggli with math and a test comi Your piano recital just a few weeks away, and you are havi tue with the music you are sposed to py You re new in school and haven t made any friends yet 6

6 December 6 F E A T F T C H L A Today s ospel» MATTHEW 15:29-37 There were thousands of people but only seven loaves of bread and a few fh Jesus gave thanks, bke the food, and fed all the people Everyone ate until they were full, and there were still seven baskets of leftovers (15:35-37) ot everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kidom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven (7:21) 4 =A P in the T =T D in a Y Before he fed the people, Jesus gave in a BB D in L Jesus was preac by the ea of = =F = H in a D =H TC = L in the A = =D E in a D To dtribute the food, Jesus had help fm s D in a R Write the letters inside the loaves and fh in these boxes to see what Jesus did that day = D in a W =W in a C =K DECE MB ER Fill in the correct letters for the nbers to dcover what we need to enter the kidom of heaven UDAY MDAY TUEDAY WEDEDAY THURDAY FRDAY ATURDAY =R in the UA There were seven baskets of AA18_intermediate_FAL_cleanindd 8-9 WEEK ADVET There were seven loaves of W in A There were just a few Today s ospel» MATTHEW 7:21, To find out what we need to do to enter the kidom of heaven, complete ts activity t will take work! These pems contain the first letters of words that are associated with a nber Figure out what the words are and then write down the nber (Hint: ome are church reted and others are not The images are clues) Fill in the msi words in these sentences f you need help, refer to the ospel readi Jesus was preac on a December 5 FRT THURD Y FRT WEDED Y /9/18 9:51 AM