Pentecost Sunday Cycle A
Welcome children to their worship space.
Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.
Introduce yourself and your helpers.
Introduce
Say: This it! The great feast Pentecost! Does anyone remember what it is that we celebrate today? <the coming of the Holy Spirit> Who did the Holy Spirit come to? <at that time, the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles – now the Holy Spirit comes to each one of us>
Ask: Can anyone tell me what we talked about last week? <show symbol of the praying hands OR if your parish celebrated Ascension instead of 7th Sunday, the cross with globe> Remind the children that they need to spend time in prayer alone and together with each other.
Introduce symbol
Say: Today’s symbol is a Holy Spirit.
Ask: What do you know about the Holy Spirit? <let the children respond> The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons in one God. The Holy Spirit is often compared to the quality of wisdom. Can anyone tell me what wisdom is? <like being smart> Part of wisdom is being smart, but the greatest part of wisdom is understanding what you know.
Say: Quite often we know a lot of things, but we still don’t know what to do with that knowledge. Wisdom helps us figure it out. The Holy Spirit brings us wisdom.
Say: Let’s look at today’s poster. What does it say? <Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.> This is our Responsorial Psalm for today. The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.
Ask: Renew means to make new again. How would the Holy Spirit do that? <let the children respond>
Introduce readings
We have two readings today.
Say: Let’s light the candle to show that we are ready to listen to the Word of God.
Say: Today’s first reading is again from the New Testament book of Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 2:1-11) In this reading we hear what happened to the Apostles on Pentecost. They were all gathered again, probably in an upper room. They were still probably trying to figure out how to get Jesus’ message out to the whole world. They were probably still a little afraid of the soldiers. Pretend like we are the Apostles, gathered to gether here, and see if we can understand what happened to them.
Have the reader read the first reading.
Ask: What happened to the Apostles? <let the children share> What did they see? <tongues of fire upon each of their heads> And then everyone who heard them could understand them – all in different languages. When we pray to the Holy Spirit to help us do what God wants us to do, we receive the strength and the ability to do it.
Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your part is to say:
Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of St. John. (John 20:19-23). The Gospel reading today tells us how Jesus sent the Apostles out to spread his word among all people. There is a Sacrament mentioned here too. See if you can figure out what it is.
Say: Now we will stand and get ready to hear the Gospel
(hold up card) Alleluia! Alleluia!
Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”
Read: Read the Gospel
Ask: Did anyone hear which Sacrament Jesus mentioned? <Reconciliation> He gave the Apostles the ability to forgive sins in Jesus’ name.
Hand out the poster cut-outs of a flame so that the children can write their names on them for the poster.
Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a Holt Spirit dove). Ask the older children to write one they could ask the Holy Spirit to help them with this week.
Explain: Color this symbol of the dove and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!) to show that we have learned about needing the Holy Spirit in our lives.
If there is time, ask questions and go over the lessons one more time to help the children remember.
Give out stickers and hand-outs as they leave.
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| Make small cut-outs in light yellows and oranges for the communal poster |
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| Use this dove symbol for the banner. The dove is done in white over layers of yellow, orange & red |
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| Use this dove graphic for the coloring sheet used in the Offertory |
Parent Letter
The Feast of Pentecost A
Dear Parents,
Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Your children listened to two of the same readings you did: Acts 2:1-11 and John 20:19-23.
Symbol: Holy Spirit
To reinforce at home:
The readings today tell us about the Holy Spirit coming to the Apostles and how then people of all nations were able to understand the Apostles speaking in their own languages. The Holy Spirit was sent here by Jesus to be with us until he comes back again. We talked about ways to recognize the Holy Spirit in your life and about the special gifts he gives us so that we can more ably do God’s will.
Activities to do at home:
*Celebrate! Have a family party to celebrate the Holy Spirit.
*With your child, think of one special gift that the Holy Spirit brings each of you and how you can use it to glorify God.
Thank you for sharing your children!
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