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Module 4 - Living Church
Part 1:
Eucharist as a Family Meal
The Church is your home!
When you come to church, we want you to know that you and your family are welcome here. This is your parish home! You are not a guest or a visitor, you are part of our family!
The Eucharist in the church is not that unlike what we do in our family home. The Sunday Eucharist is very much like having a family meal!
Check out Fr. John's video to find out more!
Check out Fr. John's video below!
Part 2:
Church Tour!
There are many important and sacred items in our church, some that are used at every Mass and some that are used on special occasions.
After a weekend or weekday Mass, spend a few minutes with your family and see if you can find everything on this list! Do you know what these items are? Do you remember what they are used for?
Tip: Make this fun! See who can remember first, your child vs. you (or and older sibling!).
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Host
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Ambo
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Monstrance
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Altar
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Tabernacle
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Paschal Candle
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Book of the Gospels
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Chalice
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Sanctuary Lamp
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Ciborium
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Crucifix
Need help? Getting stuck with some of these items?
Part 3:
We Follow in Jesus' Footsteps
Remember the story of the boy with the loaves of bread and fishes? (We watched this video at the beginning). God used that boy to show what it means to share the gifts you have.
Jesus teaches people what it means to be a true follower, how to walk in his footsteps.
Watch these two videos and then read the questions below.
What would you do?
What would you do in these situations to follow in Jesus' footsteps? (Parents: There are multiple appropriate answers)
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Your parent makes your lunch for you, but when you open it up you find a vegetable you don’t really like. When you get home from school would you say thank you for the lunch or would you tell your parent what you didn’t like about your lunch? Or both?
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Sara is new at your school. When it is lunchtime she is not sure of what to do. You want to help Sara, but a few of the kids in your class tell you not be friends with her. What would you do?
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Your friends make fun of you for being friends with Sara, the new girl at your school. What would you do? Would you stop being friends with Sara? Would you tell your friend that you can be friends with both them and Sara? Would you tell your friends it is not nice to make fun of other people?
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In all of these situations, what would Jesus want you to do?
Following Jesus and doing what he wants us to do isn’t always easy.
Following Jesus means we listen and follow Jesus with our heart and our actions. How we treat others is showing others how much we love Jesus and how we treat him.
Part 4:
Good deeds!
Jesus can work miracles, even with you! He does this every day. Jesus said, let your light shine before others. When people know we believe and follow Jesus they see the good deeds we do, because Jesus wants us to let our light shine by doing good deeds for others. Jesus wants us to love and care for other people.
We have seen how Jesus shows his wonderful love to us in so many ways. As the children prepare to receive Jesus in their first Holy Communion, we encourage them to try to live and love like Jesus did. Jesus gave a gift of Himself. We can give the gift of ourselves to others too!
Over the next few weeks we encourage you and your child to think of some good deeds they can do at home. For example, helping a family member, sharing a new toy, being kind a sibling, working together to do chores. There are lots of ideas of good deeds!