Jesus, Be My Valentine Sunday Service Children s Story Materials: Picture of St. Valentine Pictures of Jesus with Children and Jesus Sacred Heart Preparations: Prepare any necessary materials. Invite children up to steps of altar. Reader of story sits in a chair with children sitting on floor in front of her. Include children s story, even if there are no children in your congregation, to welcome families who may come to the service. You can add your own creativity to the stories. You may feel comfortable using puppets, props or presenting them just as they are written. Feel free to adjust the content to fit your time frame. However, for the spiritual development of the child, we encourage keeping as much of the Ascended Master s Teachings as possible. Good morning and welcome. Today our story is about love: the love of Jesus for us and our love for Him. This week we will be celebrating Valentine s Day, a day when we celebrate love. This is one of the most popular holidays celebrated around the world. It is named after a real person, Valentine. Who is this St. Valentine that has such a popular holiday named after him? He was a Roman physician who was also a Christian priest during the days of the early church. At that time the Roman Emperor was imprisoning Christians for not worshipping the Roman gods and for preaching about Jesus. But St. Valentine loved Jesus very much and continued to teach 1
about Jesus. There are many legends about St. Valentine. Here is one of them. The Legend of St. Valentine When the Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine realized the injustice of this decree. He went against Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young Christians in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be arrested. During his trial the Court officials asked Valentine, What do you think of the Roman gods Jupiter and Mercury? Valentine answered, They are false gods. The God that Jesus called Father was the only true God. The Romans did not like this answer so they threw him in prison for insulting the gods. While in prison Valentine continued to minister to others and teach about Jesus. He witnessed to the guards. One of the guards was a good man who had adopted a blind girl. He asked Valentine, Can your God help my daughter? Valentine knelt in prayer and eventually the girl was given her sight. The guard and his whole family were converted and believed in Jesus. They even were baptized. Because these people had come to know Jesus, Valentine praised God right there in his prison cell. Valentine knew that he might get caught in his Christian activities. But he continued, because he loved Jesus and his fellow humans so much. He was willing to risk his life to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to those who needed to hear it. And that is why this holiday of 2
love is named after Valentine. To be able to love that much takes a very caring heart. Can you think of anyone who loves God and all people in a similar way like St. Valentine did? (Allow children to answer.) Yes, Jesus is very loving and cared for everyone he met. Jesus especially loves children, like all of you. There are many stories in the Bible that teach us about Jesus love for children. Let s hear these stories. Jesus Love for Children The child may have been four. He may have been five. Nobody really knows. His name may have been Amos or Enoch or Benjamin. Nobody really knows his name and the name is not important. In this story, we will call the boy John. For one brief hour he was the most favored boy in all the world. Jesus selected him from a crowd of children and told everybody around him to become like this little boy or they would never enter His kingdom of love. Let me begin the story. There were many people around Jesus and they were all listening to him. The Bible says, And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them. Unexpectedly, the boy heard his name called. John, He said, please come here. Little John, blushing and smiling, ran toward the Master Jesus, while all the other children pressed near to see what would happen next. 3
Then, with one hand placed gently on little John s head, Jesus said to the grownups who were listening to Him, Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. One of his disciples then asked Jesus, Who will be the greatest in His kingdom? Jesus answered, The kingdom of heaven is for the humble, the gentle, the kind, the unselfish. Unless you stop wanting the best things and the best places for yourselves, you will never see heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, Jesus said, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Then Jesus went on to say something else that was on His heart. And there was sternness in His voice as he said to the adults, Adults should never lead a child into sin. Jesus went on to say to the adults, See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. It is not the will of My Father that one of these little ones should perish, he said as he pointed to John and all the little children standing there. All the blessed children surrounding Jesus and hearing Him say such things, came to love Him more and more as they felt the love Jesus had for them. He was their hero and they wanted to be with Jesus. 4
Mothers loved Jesus too, because they felt His love and knew that He loved their children. They brought their babies to Him and begged Him just to put His hands on them and bless them. The Bible tells of one such happy scene. Boys and girls were crowding around Jesus as usual. There was fun and innocent laughter. Jesus smiled as He cuddled the babies in His arms, whispering gently to one after another, Bless you, darling! Bless you, little sweetheart! To the mothers I am sure He said, And mind you bring them up right. Be sure to teach them to love God and keep His commandments. But, then something happened. Suddenly someone spoiled it all. Get away, get away! yelled one of the disciples. Leave the Master alone! Can t you see He s tired? He has more important things to do than bless your children. Get away! Hurt and disappointed, the mothers and children looked around, wondering what they had done wrong. But then Jesus spoke up and rebuked the disciples for acting like this. Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. - Meaning let the children alone and do not stop them from coming to me. And Jesus continues to love you and all of us today. He wants us to be one with his Sacred Heart. The mystics and saints like Saint Valentine loved the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The flow of devotion from our heart to Jesus opens the door to Jesus' return devotion, as he is 5
devoted to our Christ Self. As Jesus returns his love to you, he is also returning to you your own energy, which has now passed through his Sacred Heart. Here is a picture of Jesus Sacred Heart. (Show picture.) If you have picture a picture of Jesus Sacred Heart on your altars, then when you pray to Jesus, you can meditate on his Sacred Heart. So let us end by reciting, Oh, Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. (Recite 3x with children in a devotional manner and hold up picture for children to see.) Let us remember when we write out our valentines this week to give one to our beloved Jesus who loves us very much. Thank you for participating in our children s story. Have a wonderful day and a Happy Valentine s Day this week 6
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