June 29 Feast of St Peter and St Paul

Children’s Liturgy Plan

Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul 

Welcome the children to their worship space.

 Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.

Introduce yourself and your helpers.

Introduce Ordinary Time

Ask:  Does anyone know what season of the church this is?

 

Explain:  When we began children’s liturgy, it was Lent - the time we used to prepare for what feast? <Easter>  And then we began the Easter season when we prepared for another feast. Does anyone remember what that feast was?  <Pentecost>  Then we had the feast of the Trinity. 

 

Ask:  Who was here for the feast of the Trinity?  Who remembers what the word Trinity means? <three-in-one>  And then we had the feast of Christ’s Body and Blood.  And what sacrament did we celebrate then?  <Eucharist>

 

Say:  We are beginning another season today, the season of Ordinary Time.  We aren’t preparing for a great feast right now.  We are simply learning about God’s word and trying to figure out how it applies to our lives. 

 

Explain:  This is a special day in Ordinary Time.  Today’s date is a feast of two special saints, St. Peter and St. Paul.  What do you know about these two men?  <discuss with the children:  St. Paul originally persecuted Christians under the name of Saul, he was blinded and listened to God and became a believer in Jesus, he traveled extensively around the Mediterranean Sea and wrote many letters that are in the Bible today; St Peter was one of the twelve apostles, a friend of Jesus from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus left the infant church in Peter’s care>.

Ask: Does anyone know what faith is? 

Explain:  Another word for faith is Belief.  If we have faith in something, then we believe in it.  St. Peter and St. Paul had great faith in Jesus.

Introduce symbol

Say: Our symbol is a rock.  Faith if often compared to a rock because it is STRONG.

Say:  Now we are going to practice the Responsorial Psalm, that part between the readings where you get to help.  The Responsorial Psalm comes from the Bible just like our readings do.  Today’s psalm is: The Lord set me free from all my fears.  Can you say this with me?  <Have the children repeat it.>

Introduce readings 

Say:  The first reading today is from the New Testament book called Acts of the Apostles.  (Acts 12:1-11). It tells us a story of a time when St. Peter was in prison.  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Romans actively persecuted the Christians.  Can anyone tell me what the word “persecute” means? <let the children respond: to hurt, to arrest, to kill>  Anyone who said that they were Christians might be in trouble!  The early Christians told others about Jesus anyway.  The Romans knew who Jesus’ friends were.  They had been watching Peter.  They arrested him!  Listen closely to the reading to find out what happened next.

 

Say:  Now we will have the first reading (light the candle)

Have the reader read the reading.

Ask:  Did you hear what happened?  <an angel helped St. Peter escape from jail>  How do you think you would feel if you saw an angel?  <confused, afraid, like you were dreaming>  Do you think you would be able to do whatever the angel told you?  Peter had FAITH that the angel came from God to help him.

Say:  Now is the time for the Responsorial Psalm that we practiced.  <have a volunteer hold up the poster> Repeat after me: The Lord has set me free from all my fears.

Have reader read the psalm

Say:  Now it’s time to get ready to read the Gospel.  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the New Testament book of Matthew.  (Matthew 16:13-19) Today we hear about a time when Jesus and his friends were walking and talking.  St. Peter said something to Jesus that showed his great faith.  Then Jesus made a promise to St. Peter.  Listen to the Gospel reading and see if you can hear what St. Peter said and what Jesus promised.

 

Say:  Now we will get ready to read the Gospel.  Please stand and say:  Alleluia, Alleluia.

Read the Gospel.

Ask:  Did you hear what St. Peter said?  <he said that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God>  What did Jesus promise him?  <he promised that Peter would be the head of the church, the rock>

Ask:  Does anyone remember the sign that we give one another to show that there is God’s peace between us?

Say:  Let’s give each other the sign of peace.

Hand out the large Offertory symbols (rocks) for the children to color and the smaller symbols (rocks) for the children to put their names on for the poster.

Explain: We will color the rocks (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about the strong faith of St. Peter and St. Paul.

While they are coloring, go over the procedure for entering the church at the Offertory, how they approach the altar and put their symbols in the basket that the lead child will place at the altar.

Remind the children that the large symbol is to be offered in the Offertory procession to show the congregation what they have learned about the faith of St. Peter and St. Paul.. 

Remind them to put their names on the back and that they can retrieve the symbols after Mass.

Collect the smaller symbols to glue to the communal poster.  Remind the children to bring their parents back after Mass to see it.

Give out parent letters, coloring hand-outs and stickers as the children leave their worship space.

 

Use this graphic for all three symbol uses!

Parent Letter

Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul 

              Today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  Your children have heard a simplified version of two of the same reading you heard:  Acts 12:1-11; Matthew 16:13-19.

Symbol: rock

To Reinforce at Home:

For the first few Sundays in Ordinary Time we focus on two concepts:  receiving earthly life from bread and wine compared to receiving spiritual life from Christ in the Eucharist and on the virtue of Faith.

The symbol for this week is a rock.  We talked about the faith that St. Paul and St. Peter had in Jesus.  Jesus told St. Peter that he was the “rock” that Jesus would build his church on.

Activities to do at Home:

* St. Paul wrote a lot of letters.  Write a card or a note to a person who is sick or shut-in.  Taking the name of a parishioner from the bulletin may make this particularly relevant.

* St. Peter was the first pope.  Teach your child the name of the pope, the bishop of your diocese and your pastor.

* Both St. Peter and St. Paul prayed to God.  Pray with your child for a special intention.

Thank you for sharing your children!