Christmas story

The Story of the Birth of Jesus

(Images from    wallcoo.net)

Long, long ago,  about TWO THOUSAND years ago - (that's a BIG number)- there lived a young woman. Her name was Mary. She was a good lady who was kind and sweet. She was polite to all who met her and was always willing to help in any way she could. Above all, she loved God deeply.

As was the custom of the time, she was engaged to be married to a kind and good man named Joseph.

Joseph was a carpenter.

(A carpenter is one who makes furniture of wood.) Joseph and Mary lived in a place called Nazareth.

God used to notice the goodness of Mary and decided she should give birth to His Son Jesus. So he sent His faithful Angel Gabriel to meet her.

(Angels are Messengers of God- they do as God asks them to do. They are pure and holy Spirits living with God in Heaven - they are always singing God's praises in Heaven.)

So one day, while Mary was at home, she saw a bright light - and got afraid. The light was infact the Angel Gabriel.

He greeted her  saying, "Hail Mary full of Grace"

Angel Gabriel told her not to be afraid and told her that God loved her very much and she would have a son - God's son and she would name Him Jesus. Jesus being God's Son would always be special and would save the world. Mary accepted God's wish for her life peacefully and happily.

She told Joseph the news but he already knew. An Angel had told Joseph all about Jesus in a dream.

Soon after that Joseph and Mary got married and they prepared for the Birth of Jesus.

When it was almost time for Jesus to be born -Joseph had to take Mary to his hometown of Bethlehem , so Joseph put  Mary on a donkey and began their journey to Bethlehem.

When Joseph and Mary got there, they could not find any place for Mary to rest. All the inns were full.

Wherever Joseph went - the story was the same. They all told him there was no room in the inn.

Mary was very tired and really wanted to rest. Eventually, one kind inn keeper saw Mary and told Joseph that he had no room in his inn but could let Joseph use his Manger. This was where he kept his animals. They were welcome to stay there and rest.Mary and Joseph were both grateful and happy for getting a place to give birth to their baby.

And so, Mary gave birth to Jesus. The King of Kings was born to save the world - and for company he had animals and his dear parents. Mary wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger.

At the same time  in a hillside - an Angel appeared in the night sky to some shepherds who were watching their sheep.

The Shepherds got scared - but again the Angel told them not be scared as He brought them good news. He told them , " A Saviour is born". He told them that they would find him in Bethlehem. Soon a multitude of Angels appeared in the sky and started singing " Gloria, Gloria, In Excelsis Deo"

After this they were eager to meet the King of Kings and hurried to meet this Special Baby. When they saw him, they knelt and were filled with awe and amazement.

Some of Jesus' first visitors were the shepherds. They knelt down and worshiped Him. It was indeed a very special night.

Far, far away in the East were some very wise men. They used to read a lot of books and read the stars.

 One day, they saw a Special Star shining in the sky. these men were very intelligent and used to study a lot so they knew this was special star. They began to follow the star.

This special Star led them to Bethlehem to the place of Jesus' Birth.                            

They too were amazed at what they saw in Bethlehem.They brought gifts for Jesus. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.

    They all worshiped their new King. 

This was the first Christmas ever in the world!!!

May the Christ Child be born in your lives anew this Blessed Season !!

God Bless you!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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

Hail Mary

One of the most common prayer for us Catholics is the Hail Mary.
Hail Mary is a beautiful Prayer where we ask Mary, Our heavenly Mother who is also the mother of Jesus to pray for us.
Mary is a very loving Mother and she always prays for us and our needs to Jesus.
We show our love for Jesus's mother in this prayer.
Please remember we DO NOT WORSHIP to Mother Mary.
We worship only God.

Remember , we say Holy Mary, Mother of God - "pray for us" , 
We do not say  , " Grant us our wishes"   Prayers can be granted by God alone. 

We only respect and love the Mother of Jesus.
We ask her to pray to Jesus for us.
We can pray to Jesus directly - and we always do that.
Like little children who first ask their mommies for something they need from daddy - we too sometimes got our heavenly Mommy first.


Video downloaded from here  and here

Image Courtesy from Mary Pages



For Parents:

Please encourage the Daily Rosary at home. Encourage reverence and fear of God in your kids at a very young age.
It helps leading by example. Our kids learn from us. If they see us taking recourse to prayer, they too will do likewise when they become adults.
There are many attached blessings to family prayers and in particular the Holy Rosary.

The Rosary also offers promises attached to it. They are as follows:

1.	Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
2.	I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3.	The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.
4.	It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5.	The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6.	Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
7.	Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8.	Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9.	I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10.	The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.
11.	You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.
12.	All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13.	I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
14.	All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.
15.	Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

Reminder: these promises mean that, by faithfully and devoutly praying the Rosary, Our Lady will obtain for us the necessary Graces to obtain said promises. It is still up to each individual soul to respond to those Graces in order to obtain salvation.

For more information on promises, click here

How to pray the Rosary, click here

About the origins of the Holy Rosary, click here

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.