Feast of Christ's Body and Blood B

Feast of Christ’s Body and Blood  Cycle B

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 Sunday             

Say: Today is the Feast of Christ’s Body and Blood.  Sometimes people call it the Feast of Corpus Christi.  Corpus Christi is Latin for Body of Christ. 

Ask:  When we talk about the Body and Blood of Christ today, what are we talking about?  <the Eucharist, the consecrated bread and wine>

 Say:  Our symbol today is the chalice and host that we usually see at Mass as the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Explain:  During Mass, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus.  Why is this important to us?  <so that we remember what Jesus did for us, so that we remember that Jesus becomes part of us and shares in our life in even the smallest level, that Jesus nourishes and strengthens us>

Ask:  Today is a celebration of LIFE.  Without a body or blood, we can’t live.  The body and blood of Jesus made sure that we have heaven.  Christ fulfilled God’s promise for us.

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:  I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.  Can you say this with me?  <Have the children repeat it.>

Introduce the readings

Say:  The first reading today is from the Old Testament book called Exodus.  (Exodus 24:3-8). 

I don’t know if you noticed but usually at Mass there are three readings, one from the Old Testament, one from the letters the Apostles wrote after Jesus went back to heaven, and one from the Gospels.  During the time between Easter and Pentecost, this was different. There were no Old Testament readings during the time when the Apostles were figuring out the new church.  They were replaced with readings from the Acts of the Apostles.

The first reading today we hear again about Moses   Do you remember that God gave some rules to Moses?  What were they called?  <the commandments> When he came down from the mountain, he and his people prepared an animal sacrifice which was their custom.  They were celebrating the covenant that they had made with God.  Listen to the reading and see if you can remember what the Israelites promised to do.

Have the reader read the reading.

Ask:  First of all, does anyone remember what a covenant is?  <promise>  What did the people of Israel promise to do?  <follow the rules God gave them>  Can anyone tell me what God will give to those who follow his commands?  <eternal life, heaven>

Say:  Now is the time for the Responsorial Psalm that we practiced.  <have a volunteer hold up the poster> Repeat after me:  I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the name of the Lord.

Have the reader read the psalm.

Say:  Now it’s time to read the Gospel.  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the New Testament book written by St. Mark.  (Mark 14:12-16, 22-28)  This reading is St. Mark’s version of what happened at the Last Supper.  Does anyone remember the Last Supper?  <discuss>

St. Mark tells how Jesus and the Apostles were preparing to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover.  Jesus and his friends got together to celebrate this feast and something new happened.  Pretend that you are one of Jesus’ friends celebrating this feast.  Listen to what St Mark tells us and think about how you feel about it all. 

   

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

Read the Gospel.

 Ask:  How do you think Jesus’ friends felt?  <discuss>  What sacrament did Jesus give us at the Last Supper?  <Eucharist> Thinking of the two readings today, one about Moses and the commandments and one about Jesus at the Last Supper, can you think of anything the two readings share?  <they are both about God’s promise to us.  God made a promise to the Israelites when he gave the commandments to them – and Jesus help fulfill God’s promise when he died and rose>

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 (chalice and host) for the children to color and the smaller symbols (chalices) for the children to put their names on for the poster.

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 promises God made to us and how they are fulfilled by Jesus.  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.

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.

Give out parent letters, coloring hand-outs and stickers.

Use this graphic in the small size for the poster

Use this graphic for the mid-sized banner symbol and the full-sized Offertory gift

 

Parent Letter

Feast of Christ’s Body and Blood  Cycle B

             Today is the Feast of Christ’s Body and Blood.  Your children have heard a simplified version of two of the same reading you heard:  Exodus 24:3-8; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26.

Symbol:  Chalice and Host

To Reinforce at Home:

Today we talked about the Eucharist.  The Old Testament reading in Exodus talks about the animal sacrifice that Moses made along with the Israelites after God gave him the commandments.  This reading clearly foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice for us.  The Gospel reading in Mark describes the events of the Last Supper.  We talked about the ideas that tied the two Scripture readings together, reviewing the covenant (promise) between God and us that is fulfilled by Christ.

Activities to do at Home:

*Go over the concept that without body or blood, we have no life.  By the same token, the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood ensured our eternal life.

*Bake or buy a loaf of bread to share at your meal together.  By physically sharing bread with you at a meal, your child will have a better understanding of the significance of sharing the life-giving gift of Eucharist each Sunday.

*Try getting some different types of bread from different countries to show that bread is an important food item in all cultures.  The concept of bread as a staple life-giving food is universal.

Thank you for sharing your children!