Eucharistic Congress Spring/Summer 2011 Primary School Resources Theme: Christ gathers us to hear, to be nourished and to be formed into community by God s Word. Class Level: Junior and Senior Infants Lesson Plans and Resources Pack
Introduction and Background to the Eucharistic Congress and School Resources A Eucharistic Congress is an international gathering of people which aims to: promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church help improve our understanding and celebration of the liturgy draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist Ireland has been chosen as the location to host the 2012 Eucharistic Congress. Ireland previously hosted the Eucharistic Congress in 1932. The theme of the 2012 Congress is, The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another. Over the course of the next year and a half (2011-2012) this theme will be explored in four distinct Stages of preparation. These Stages will occur seasonally. This will help to better prepare for the Eucharistic Congress itself. Stage One Autumn/Winter 2010: Christ gathers us as a Eucharistic Community. Stage Two Spring/Summer 2011: Christ gathers us to hear, to be nourished and to be formed into community by God s Word. Stage Three Autumn/Winter 2011: Christ gathers us to be nourished by the Bread of Life. Stage Four Spring 2012: Christ gathers and strengthens us for Mission by the Word and the Bread of Life. The Eucharistic Congress itself will be a series of week long events linking faith and culture, helping all to experience in a deeper way the transforming power of the Eucharist. The opening ceremony of the Congress will be celebrated in the afternoon of Sunday 10 th June 2012 (The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord). The key events of the IEC program will include the daily sessions of catechesis given by bishops from different parts of the world, as well as testimonies offered by Catholics who have a story of faith to share. The closing ceremony and Statio Orbis will take place on Sunday 17 th June 2012. For further information check out: www.iec2012.ie
Explanation of Resources Pack The Eucharistic Congress Schools Committee have created a Resource Pack which contains five lesson plans and resources for your class level based on the second stage of the Eucharistic Congress Christ gathers us to hear, to be nourished and to be formed into community by God s word. We would suggest that you have a Eucharistic Congress themed week using the lesson plans provided during your religion classes. Further lesson plans and resources (including project work) will be sent to you for the third Eucharistic Congress stage in autumn/winter 2011. 3
Eucharistic Congress Theme 2 - Junior/ Senior Infant lesson plans Lesson 1 Introduction (Movement One Attend and Reflect). We are all going to stop, fold our arms and close our eyes. We re going to listen. I want you to think about all the sounds that you can you hear inside the classroom. Maybe you can hear clock ticking/ someone breathing... What sounds can you hear outside the classroom? Traffic/ animals/ children on the corridor... Sometimes you have to be very quiet and still to hear all the sounds around you. Now, you can open your eyes. What kind of things do we like listening to? Music/ songs/ poems/friends chatting... What noises do we not like listening to? Traffic/drill/car alarms/alarm clock in the morning... Are there people who cannot hear very well? Maybe these people wear a hearing aid to help them to hear well. Do you know anyone who wears a hearing aid? Do you know anyone who cannot hear at all? We say that someone who cannot hear is deaf. What would life be like if we were deaf? How would life be different? Not able to enjoy music/more dangerous to cross the road/more difficult to learn to talk/ need to learn sign language... Development God gave us our bodies. He gave us ears to hear with. Being able to hear is a gift from God. What is a gift? When might you get one? What should you do when you get a gift? A gift is a present. I get gifts for my birthday (link with pg 28/29 Alive-O Junior Infant book). I thank the person who gives the gift. When you look at a gift or use it, it reminds us of the person who gave you the gift. When we use our ears to listen we are reminded of God who has given us the gift of hearing. We should remember to thank God for being able to hear. Tomorrow you will listen to a very interesting story that is in the Bible about a man who was deaf and who met Jesus. I want you to be thinking about what you think happened when
Jesus met the deaf man. But before we get to tomorrow s lesson I want to teach you a very simple song. This song tells you about how much Jesus loves you. Song Listen to and learn the song: Jesus loves me this I know. Listen and join in the song (which has a lovely child-friendly presentation with children singing the song) at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwmhgvviqmg&feature=related For those without YouTube access you can get the tune for the song at: http://www.dltkbible.com/jesus_loves_me.htm Lyrics to the song Lyrics Jesus loves me this I know For the Bible tells me so Little ones to him belong They are weak but he is strong Yes Jesus loves me (x3) The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me He who died Heaven s gate to open wide He will wash away my sin Let his little child come in Yes, Jesus loves me (x3) The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me He will stay Close beside me all the way He s prepared a home for me 5
Then someday his face I ll see Yes, Jesus loves me (x3) The Bible tells me so. Conclusion Prayertime Light the candle at the Sacred Space area. The children make the Sign of the Cross. We are going to thank God for all the things that he has done for us. After I say each line I want you to say: Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for making us. Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for the gift of hearing. Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for stories and poems to listen to. Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for music and songs to listen to. Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for the people we can listen to. Thank you God we pray. We thank you God for sounds all around us. Thank you God we pray Teacher and (link with pg 25 Alive-O 2) Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Lesson 2 Introduction (The song Jesus loves me this I know is sung) Can anyone remember what we were talking about in yesterday s class? We talked about hearing and listening. What are your favourite things to listen to? What kind of sounds do we hear at school? What sounds/noises would you hear in the zoo/ farm? What sounds does a cow/lion make? etc Pupils (make the animal noises) Who gave us the gift of being able to hear? God did! In the last lesson we said that hearing is a gift from God. Can you think of any other gifts He has given to us? Life/ sight/ speech/family/friends... Development Do you remember what we call people who cannot hear? People who cannot hear are deaf. Jesus once met a man who was deaf. Some people who knew him brought Jesus to him and asked if He could help. We will all now listen to this wonderful story. The teacher takes the Bible from the Sacred Space area and starts to read from Mark 7 v 31. (Movement Two Hear the Story) Once there lived a man who couldn't hear. He was deaf. The man could not speak very well either. People couldn't understand him when he tried to speak to them and he could not hear people speak to him. When Jesus came to town, the people got excited. They wanted Jesus to heal this man. They took the deaf man to Jesus. They asked Jesus to heal him. "Lay your hands on this man and heal him", they said. Jesus looked at the deaf man and then took him away from the crowd. When they were alone, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. 7
Then Jesus looked to Heaven and said out loud, "Be opened!" Immediately, the deaf man could hear and he could speak clearly. Jesus asked the people not to tell anyone that he had healed the deaf man. But the more that he asked them not to tell, the more they told all their friends and neighbours. The people were amazed at what Jesus had done. "Everything He does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak they said. Teacher (questions to ask the children about the healing of the deaf man): Did you think that Jesus would heal the man? Why do you think Jesus looked up to Heaven when He prayed? (He was prayed to his Father in heaven) How did Jesus heal the deaf man? (through his own power, he is God so he is able to do everything) What might the deaf man have said to Jesus after he had been healed? (Thank you Jesus, Praise you Jesus, You are wonderful Jesus, I can t wait to tell my family!) Why do you think Jesus didn t want the man who had been deaf to tell everyone that he had been healed (He didn t want people to think that he was just someone who would heal them, he had a message of salvation that he wanted to preach and for everyone to know about too) Optional extra activity: The children could dramatise the healing of the deaf man by Jesus. Prayertime The teacher lights the candles and makes the Sign of the Cross. We thank you God for all the gifts you have given to us. For the gift of being alive. Thank you God For the gift of being able to hear Thank you God For the gift of being able to see Thank you God For the gift of being able to walk and talk Thank you God For the gift of other people around me Thank you God Conclusion
Picture to colour Jesus Heals a Deaf Man Mark 7:31-37 www.sermons4kids.com 9
Lesson 3 Introduction The teacher organises the children to play the following two games. Tell the children that they will be practising their listening skills! Play Chinese Whispers. The children sit in a circle. The teacher turns to the right and whispers a message to this child. The message is whispered by that child to the next child and so on until all the children have heard it. The last child says the message out loud. Chances are the message will not be the same as the original one! Odd one Out The teacher will call out a number of items that belong to a certain group e.g. clothes. Add one word somewhere in the list that does not belong to the group and see if the children can identify the odd one out. Do you think you are a good listener? Do you think it s important to listen? Who do we have to listen to? (Mammy and Daddy, the teacher, doctor, the Garda, the priest...) Why? To keep us safe and happy. Development People travelled to hear Jesus speak. He told them many parables (stories with an important message) to tell the people what God was like and to tell us how we should live. Even when He was only a boy Jesus spoke to adults about God and His love for us. Everyone loved to listen to Jesus (who is the Son of God) telling stories and teaching them about God his Father. Some of Jesus friends wrote these parables down. They also wrote about how Jesus healed people. We can find these stories in the Bible. (The following links to Alive-O 2 Term 3 Lesson 4 I want a word, pg 41 Alive-O 2 children s book) (showing the children the Bible) asks: Does anyone have this book in their house? The Bible is a very special book because it is God s word. (Teacher writes the above sentence on the board) Can you remember the story I read about yesterday about Jesus healing someone? Can you tell me about the story? (The teacher asks the children to retell the story of Jesus healing the deaf man in their own words). (Movement Three Embrace the Vision) When we go to Mass we hear some of these parables and true stories from the Bible. The priest reads these stories. They are called the Gospel stories. (Gospel means Good News ). We stand up to listen to these stories because they are so important. When he is finished the priest kisses the book with the readings in it to
show our love for the things that Jesus did and said. Then he explains what the Gospel story means and what message Jesus wanted to give to us in the story. We call this a homily. What other things do you hear at Mass / in the church? People praying/ bells ringing/ choir singing/ people walking to the altar... The priest stands at the ambo to read the Gospel story from the Bible. There might be a microphone there so everyone in the church can hear him. Conclusion (link with pg 30 Alive-O 1, Worksheet 22 Alive-O 1, pg 31 Alive-O 2, Worksheet 21 Alive-O 2) I am now going to show you a PowerPoint presentation about all the important places and features of a Church (if you do not have access to a computer and cannot play the PowerPoint presentation, you can photocopy the slides of the PowerPoint below). Draw particular attention to the ambo and Bible. (Sing the song Jesus loves me this I know ) 11
The Church Bells The bell is rung before Mass to tell everyone that Mass is about to start and to invite people to come along! Tabernacle This is a very special place at the top of the Church. The Holy Communion hosts are kept here. Jesus is truly present in these hosts. We should genuflect (kneel down on one knee) towards the tabernacle when we come into the Church. Sanctuary Lamp The red light, called the sanctuary lamp, is beside the tabernacle. It reminds us that Jesus is really present in the tabernacle. Look for it near the altar. Pews After we genuflect towards the tabernacle we find a seat to sit on in the pew (which is a row of seats) and should kneel down on the kneeler to pray. Bible The priest reads from the Bible (called a lectionary) at Mass. This reading is called the Gospel. He holds it up in the air and kisses it when he is finished to show our love for the Bible.
The priest stands here to read the Gospel. Others stand here to read other readings and prayers. Ambo Crucifix The Crucifix hangs on the wall near the altar. It reminds us that Jesus died on the cross for us. Altar The altar is a special table at the top of the church. The priest stands here facing the people. At a very important time of the Mass called the consecration Jesus becomes truly present in the bread and the wine. They are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Candles and a tablecloth are put on the altar. Baptismal Font When a baby is baptised he or she is brought here and Holy Water is poured on the baby s head. The child is welcomed as a member of the Church. Holy Water Font On the way in and out of the church we dip our finger into the holy water and make the Sign of the Cross. 13
Lesson 4 Song Sing the song: Jesus loves me this I know. Introduction Ask the children to take out their lunchbox from their bags. What do you have in your lunchboxes? Sandwiches, apples, yoghurts, drinks (Teacher draws pictures of their answers on the board) Ask the children to put away their lunchboxes. Why do we need food? So my body will work well, we need to eat to be healthy and so that we won t be hungry. Development So, everybody has a body that needs to be fed. Did you know that everybody also has a soul that needs to be fed also? You might wonder what your soul is. Well to help me explain I want you all to close your eyes. Now take your finger and point to you. The real you, where you are (invariably they will point to their chest or their head). So Amy, you are your chest? You are your nose? You are your toe? (The pupils will (probably!) laugh and try to show you where they are inside). (Tell them to close their eyes again and point again to the real them). That is your soul. You are trying to point to the you in you that comes from God, that is not your toe or your eye or your finger, but is really you. Open your eyes So the part of you that is not your body but is the real you (that is, your soul) also needs to be fed! When we listen to God s word (where do we read God s word? the Bible) we are feeding that special place inside us that comes from God. This place needs to be fed just as much as your body needs your lunch to make you feel full. When we listen to God s word in the Bible we think about God, we think about all the things that Jesus, the Son of God, did and all the things that Jesus is still doing in our world. If we are sad we can read about how Jesus made people happy and ask Him to help us. We can say thank you to Him for all the wonderful things he has done for us. We can think about how we can be better girls and boys, how we sometimes do things and say things we shouldn t. We can ask God to help us to be better because by ourselves, without God s help, it can be very hard to be good.
Conclusion God speaks many words to us in the Bible. Would you like to write some words back to God? (Movement Four Think it Through).What are some of the things we can say to God? (put their list of ideas up on the board, they may need help to get started!) e.g. Thank you God! Praise you God! You are a great God! I love you God! Help me be good. Sorry God. I worship you. You are my God. You are great. You are my Shepherd. I love to pray. You are my Father. I love the Bible. (Movement Five Judge and Act) The sheet (My message to God) is given out to the children. They can write the words from the board on to the book part and decorate the page. 15
Lesson 5
(Sing the song Jesus loves me this I know ) Introduction Once a year each of us has a special day. We call it our birthday. We celebrate the day that we were born. When you have a birthday what do your parents often do? They have a party for me and all my friends Why do they have a party? Because we are celebrating my birthday, it makes me feel special, it s nice to share important days with my friends, my friends often bring nice presents, my friends like coming because we play games, we sing songs and have lots of fun. Development Just like you send out party invitations, Jesus also invitations us to spend a very special time with him, not just once a year but every week! He invites us to come and visit him every Sunday at Mass. Instead of just sending out a few invitations Jesus invites everyone in the whole world to come to Him at their local Church. Every Sunday Jesus wants us to come to him to share a special hour with him at Mass in the place where he lives, the Church. Just like at our birthday party it is nice to meet our neighbours and friends at Mass. It makes us feel that belong to a big community or group that cares for us. It is nice for Jesus to have so many people who want to come and listen to Him, to pray to him and to receive his Precious Body and Blood at Mass. These are his gifts to us. Just like we would never go to another person s birthday party without a present, we can give God the gift of our prayers. We would always thank our friend after their party for the great time we had. At Mass we can also thank Jesus for looking after us all the time and for all the gifts he gives us. Mass is a special time when we listen to what God has to say to each of us and to all our friends and neighbours. We listen to the reader who reads two readings and the priest who reads the Gospel. Can anyone remember where the priest reads the Gospel? At the ambo in the Church. During Mass people often go from their seats up to the altar e.g. to say readings, to offer some gifts to the priest, to receive Holy Communion. We are now going to have a little procession of our own. We will process with the Word of God, the Bible, up to our Sacred Space area. Procession with the Bible 17
Resources: candle, cloth, vase, artificial or real flower, cushion, Bible, matches (teacher holds on to these). A space around the room is left free. Six children are given the different resources as outlined above in the following order: The first child is given the cloth, the second the candle, the third the vase, the fourth the flower, the fifth the cushion and the sixth the Bible. The child with the Bible holds it up (over his/her head if possible). The teacher starts off the song Jesus loves me this I know. All the pupils join in and continue singing the song until the procession has finished. The children process around the room. At the Sacred Space area the teacher takes the first gift, the cloth, and lays it on the Sacred Space table, then (s)he puts the candle to the side of the table, the vase to the left, the flower in the vase and the cushion on the floor in front of the table. Lastly the teacher takes the Bible and places it on the Sacred Space table. The teacher lights the candle. We thank you Jesus for your Word Thank you Jesus Conclusion As we learnt in today s class, Jesus invites us to his house, the Church, every Sunday. I have here an invitation to the Church for each of you. (Teacher holds up the invitation below). We will look at it together. (The teacher gives out the Invitation to Mass to each of the children). The teacher explains the invitation to the children. The children can then draw pictures of all the different features of the Church that were discussed in the third lesson (ambo etc.) in the yellow box and decorate around the invitation. During the above activity the children can take it in turns to come to the Sacred Space area and kneel on the cushion and say a prayer out loud or in their hearts (if the candle is still lit the teacher needs to be close by for health and safety reasons).
Mass You! The Church This Sunday No, just come! God 19