Advent

We are at the season of Advent.
Advent is a special time set aside by the Church to prepare.
We are preparing for the Birth of Our Lord Jesus.
When we go for Holy Mass - we will see how we prepare with the rest our Community through Mass and other traditions.
In our Parish we also have the lighting of the Advent Wreath.
The Advent Wreath is only of the many traditions we follow.
We too can anticipate, prepare for Jesus in various ways in our own homes.

During Advent, we will find that the Priests wear Purple Vestments during Mass.
The Priests wear Purple because it is also a time for Adults to fast and pray in preparation of Jesus' Birth and to remind us, little ones to keep in in mind that  Jesus is waiting to be born in our homes and our hearts.



NOTE: The following is for information only and the children are not required to learn  it. It will be  nice, however,  to make the Christmas Tradition come alive in our families by trying at least some of the below:



At home, we can ask our parents to make an Advent wreath for us.

ADVENT WREATH: 

An Advent wreath is made up of a wreath and has 4 candles.
There are 3 Purple Candles & 1 Rose or Pink Colour Candle.
We light one Candle every week.
The light of the Candle represents the Light of Christ.
On the first Sunday of Advent the Wreath is Blessed. (This can be done at home with a Simple Prayer)
Then every every day - one candle is lit on correspondence with the week of Advent we are in.
There are many prayers and hymns that you can look up and make personal for your family.

A simple and easy tway to make a paper Advent  Wreath

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/mpaperadvent.htm

How to make an Advent Wreath: 

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=954

ADVENT CALENDAR

An Advent Calendar is a Special  Calendar made to count the days to Christmas . Children will especially enjoy this tradition as it will help build up their excitement to Christmas. 

There are many different creative ways to make an Advent Calendar - they can either have pockets opening to something or windows that show something. 

The pockets or windows generally open up to a Verse or Thought or a small prayer or even Christmas Images  leading up to Christmas. 

Here are some links for free printable Advent Calendars  or ideas to make your own:

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/madvent-tree.htm

http://www.sermons4kids.com/santa_advent_calendar.htm

http://www.craftinterrupted.com/2010/11/advent-countdowns.html

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/advent_calendar.htm




Wishing you a Blessed Season!!

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

AIM: To teach us to be humble. God does not like proud people. If we humble  ourselves, God will exalt us.  Jesus tells us a story of two people, one a pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." First of all Who was a Pharisee? Pharisees were people from Jesus's times, who followed the Law of God very strictly. In fact  they followed them so strictly that they forgot the original purpose of the law. They were so caught up with "following the law" that they forgot to be human  good and kind.They thought they were very "holy" and were careful not to mix with anyone who may make them "unholy". They were also very proud and rarely cared for others. Who was a Tax Collector? Tax Collectors were Jews who used to work for the Roman Government. they used to collect taxes on behalf of the Romans. They were very unpopular with the Jewish people , because often the taxes were rather hard to come up with. Many tax collectors were also dishonest and would collect extra money in the name of taxes and kept the extra money for  themselves. This story is very simple, but what does it really mean?  Jesus clearly says that the prayer of the tax collector was more acceptable to God than the Pharisee!! But how can that be? The Pharisee used to follow God's law while the Tax collector was by nature not good!! What Jesus was telling us was that God hates pride. He does not like a boastful look. God can read our hearts and our minds. He knows what our thoughts are. We must not judge by outer signs or by what we see of a person from the outside. So even though visible a Pharisee was a good man, his heart was not good. While the Tax Collector seemed bad to others but in his heart he was God loving and God fearing.  The Moral of this Parable is  1) Be humble. God loves a humble heart.  2) Never judge a person by appearances. God can see his heart.

Prayer: 

Lord, help me to be a child- pure and kind. 

Help me to tell wrong from right. 

Make my heart like yours dear Lord - Big and good. 

Keep me from pride and vice. 

May I be close to You and Do what Your Heart tells me to do. 

Amen.

Action Song: 

Give me oil in my lamp. 

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning

Give me oil in my lamp, I pray - Alleluia!!

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,burning, burning

Keep me burning 'til the break of day

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, praising, praising

Give me joy in my heart, I pray - Alleluia!

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, praising, praising

Keep me praising 'til the break of day

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Parable of Dives and Lazarus

AIM: The aim in this parable is to make children sensitive to the sufferings of others, even though we enjoy many pleasures and good things. God wants us to share and care. Sharing is Caring.

















Jesus told a parable to his followers:

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham said, " Remember  when you were alive- you had lot of luxuries and comforts while Lazarus suffered, but now in this life he is comforted but you are suffering" 

It is not wrong to have a comfortable life.It is not wrong to have food , a house , clothes. But anything, that is excess and without a care or thought for those who have nothing is not right. Like us, even the poor and suffering are God's children.  God gave us these comforts - but at the same time- we must remember that God gave us all this not for us to hoard for ourselves but to care for those who are less fortunate than us. 

Prayer: 

Dear God, I love you. I love you with my whole heart. Help me to love you more and more. 

Thank-you dear Lord for blessing me and my family. Help dear Lord to have a caring heart. 

Teach me love and compassion.Help me help those in need. 

Bless all  the children around the world today who need help and care. 

Amen. 

Action Song: 

 This little guiding Light of mine. 

This little Guiding light of mine, 

I'm gonna let it shine, 
This little Guiding light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine, 
This little Guiding light of mine, 
I'm gonna let it shine, 
Let it shine all the time, 
Let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, oh no. 

I am gonna let it shine. 

Hide it under a bushel, oh no. 
I am gonna let it shine. 

Hide it under a bushel, oh no. 
I am gonna let it shine. 

Let it shine all the time, 
Let it shine.

My Resources

As Catechists we teach the Catechism as approved by the Catholic Church. 

All material taught by us has to be approved by The Church- most of the material has already been advised to us by our superiors. Additional material - if used - has to be approved by the Catholic Church. 

Below is some of the books i refer to for my Lessons. 

1) The Holy Bible  (NRSV Version)

    2) Kid's Bible (Illustrated) 

3) Picture Book of saints & 

4) More saints for you. 

 5) YouCAT - Youth catechism - 

basically our Catechism explained in a lingo that the younger generation can understand and appreciate.

 6) CCC - or Catechism of the catholic Church - HH Pope John Paul IInd

 7) CCCC - or Compendium of the Catholic Church

8) Word Quest for Standard 1. 

These are Bible Stories for Grade 1. Provided by our Vicariate. 

 9) The Catechism in Pictures - Our whole Catechism explained in lovely , lovely pictures

one of the pages in the book.