Let’s begin with the
Sign of the Cross:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of
your faithful. Light the fire of your love in them. Send
forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you will
renew the face of the earth. We ask this through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
We're going to begin with some
exercising and some singing. We're going to do the
"We Are Marching" song, and you can stand up
and move your arms and move your head. Here goes. (Start
the video below, and have some fun.)
We Are Marching in the Light
of God!
Before anything else, let’s look at
the angel in the Christmas pageant! She did really well.
We can see a picture of her and the other children here,
and we can hear Father Giese read the Christmas story. CLICK on the picture, and you will see and hear video
from the Christmas pageant:
We have a class web site, and I want to show it to you: HERE. It lets you find old coloring sheets that we
used, and it allows there to be a way that you can have a
lesson in case we are not able to meet in person, as we
were not able to for the last two weeks. Let me show you
how it works.
Every class is listed on the main page, by date. Under each date, about a day after
the class date, there will be the words,
"SCRIPT" and "AUDIO." If you click on
those words under the date for the class, you will go to
a page with the lesson for that class. CLICK HERE, and you will see the page for the lesson for
last week's class.
You can hear my voice, and you can see the lesson that I
prepared. In case this happens again where we cannot meet
in person, with your textbook and with the lesson I
prepare for you online, you can have the lesson and keep
up.
Now, back to class: Remember what color chasuble the
priest was wearing at Mass this weekend? Green. We are in what is called “Ordinary
Time" now, and the color for Ordinary Time is green.
We’ll be in Ordinary Time until Lent begins. The
time of Lent will begin a few weeks before Easter.
A Wedding at Cana At Mass this weekend, the Gospel reading was from the
Gospel of John. Let us read the story that the priest
read from the Gospel on Sunday. It is in the children's bulletin. The title of the story is at the top of the
front page. You can read it with a little help: A Wedding at Cana
Jesus and His disciples went to a wedding in Cana. When the wine was gone, Jesus told the servants to
fill 6 jars with water. The water turned into fine wine! This was Jesus’ first miracle.
There is a little more to the story
than those few words say.
(1st) Mary had total trust that Jesus would solve the
problem, and Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus
told them to do.
(2nd) Jesus was able to do things that cannot normally be
done: He turned water into wine. That was a miracle
— his 1st miracle. He had not planned to do it, but
his mother, Mary, asked for his help.
(3rd) The water was better than just average wine: It was
the finest of wine. That suggests how good things can be
with Jesus and when we do what Jesus wants us to do.
When Jesus turned water into wine, that was his 1st
public miracle. It is an important one in the story of
Jesus’ life. Because of that, many artists have
painted pictures that are their versions of what happened
that day. We do not know much about what happened that
day. All we know are the few facts in the Bible, but
artists make up their own versions. We shall look at some
of those paintings, and watch a little bit from actors
portraying the story the way that a writer thinks things
happened, and then there will be a coloring sheet for
you.
Wedding at Cana art: Many artists have painted their versions of the
Wedding at Cana. No one was there to photograph what
happened, of course. Any painting is just an artist's
representation of the event. Here are copies of some of
those paintings.
If you click on any picture, it will open to a larger
size. Then, if you click again, some of the pictures will
get even bigger. The # 3 painting is in a museum in
Paris, France. The museum is called the Louvre. The
painting is as big as a room. It is 22 feet high and 32
feet wide. Click on that picture; click again and make it
even bigger. See if you can count how many dogs and cats
are in the painting.
What is the Catholic Church? The textbook lesson last week was
“How do we become members of the Church?” If
you were able to hear the lesson from last week, online,
you heard me explain that, when we use the word
“Church” with a capital letter, a letter like
what you begin your name with, the word
“Church” means the entire Catholic Church, all
over the world, and all Catholics, all around the world.
It means not only this parish, St. Jane Frances de
Chantal, it also means the other Catholic parishes in
this area that you may have heard of — Our Lady of
Mercy, Our Lady of Lourdes, Christ the King, Our Lady of
Poland, St. Bartholomew's. All of them. And it also means
all of the Catholic churches all around the world, where
they speak all sorts of languages. The church buildings
all look different, and the people may look different and
may wear different looking clothes and may speak
different languages, but, for Catholics, the same
religion is practiced around the world. The very same
Gospel reading that Fr. Giese read on Sunday was read by
all of the priests at all of the Catholic churches all
around the world. People may speak a different language,
or wear clothes that look different from what we wear, or
look different from us, but if they are Catholic, they
are all hearing the same message, and they are all being
taught the same message that you are taught about what is
right and what is wrong.
In tonight’s Brother Francis video, he talks about
what the Catholic Church is. He explains that the
Catholic Church is more than a building. The Catholic
Church is a world-wide community that has been around for
over 2,000 years. Jesus began the Church. He trusted the
Church to continue delivering his message.
There will be a quiz after the
video. Please listen closely to learn what the word
“catholic” means, and to learn who started the
Catholic Church, and to learn how many Apostles Jesus
chose, and to learn whom Jesus promised to send to the
Apostles, and to learn who was the first pope.
Now, remember our prayer before meals? Join in if you
can.
Bless us, O Lord, and these gifts that we are about to
receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Snacks after prayer!)
Brother Francis video (# 5): What is the
Catholic Church?
This week we’ll do Lesson # 28. It begins on page
229. The lesson is called, "How do we grow as
Jesus’ followers?" So, let's turn to page
229.
Time to say good bye. :-)
We'll begin with the Our Father. You know the words.
And you can read them as we all say them:
Our Father, who art in
heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Saint Michael the Archangel, please
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and
snares of the devil.
May God rebuke the devil, we humbly pray.
And do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by
the Power of God,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits,
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of
souls. Amen.
