Children’s Liturgy

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

The children of the parish are invited to celebrate the Liturgy of The Word with their own catechists at Sunday morning Mass. Offering the children a Liturgy of The Word, which is suited to their age and adapted to their stage of development, can become one of the key ways of helping them grow in faith.

The children gather in the church and begin the Mass with everyone else. After the Sign of the Cross and the Greeting, the Priest calls the children forward, presents them with a Bible and the adult leaders process with the children to the “upper room”. The children come back into church at the offertory, where they display what they have done and then some of them take part in the Offertory procession.
This is not a closed group – all primary school age children in the church are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Easter Sunday

Gospel reflection: What do you remember about the gospel reading that we heard today?  

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb where Jesus’s body has been laid, but the stone blocking the entrance has been moved. She thinks that someone has moved Jesus. How do you think this makes her feel? She runs back to fetch Simon Peter and John and tell them that Jesus has gone. When they arrive at the tomb they see that it is empty except for the cloths that the body had been wrapped in. 

The disciples realise that Jesus has risen from the dead and they believe in him.  Jesus is risen from the dead, giving new life to us all. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus is risen? Easter is a time of great joy, happiness and celebration. It is also a time of great hope, because the resurrection of Jesus shows us that nothing is impossible to God. 

 Jesus is risen from the dead to forgive our sins and bring us all new life. It is a day for fresh starts and new beginnings, knowing that Jesus will always be with us. And so today we are filled with joy and we look to the future with hope.  Hope is not just about wishing for things to get better without doing anything about it. We have been told that a person “who has hope lives differently”. They have “been granted the gift of new life.” (Pope Benedict, Spe Salvi) And in this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis has asked us all to be signs of hope to those who are facing difficulties and challenges of any kind.

How do you think you could be a sign of hope to others? How could hope make you live differently? What will you do to help other people who are finding things hard? We live differently because we are trying to change the world, so that it becomes a place where everyone has the chance to live free from poverty. Even when it is very difficult, we cannot give up, because we have hope. 

What makes you joyful this Easter? And what is your hope for the world? Is it peace for all people? Enough food for all? For no one to be lonely? For the world to be a fairer place? Whatever your hope, as we give thanks to God this Easter for all the things that bring us joy, we also pray that our hopes may become a reality. And filled with hope we go out to work towards making this happen.

What will you do this Easter so that with God’s help your hope for the world might become real?

Parents, grandparents and guardians, please feel free to share today’s Gospel with your children and grandchildren alongside the activities.

Look below for fun colouring pages and puzzles