7th Sunday of Easter Cycle B
**Some dioceses replace the 7th Sunday with the Ascension celebration***
Welcome children to their worship space.
Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.
Introduce yourself and your helpers.
Review
Say: Today is the 7th Sunday in the season of Easter. Can anyone tell me the name of the church feast that we celebrated last Thursday? <the feast of the Ascension of Jesus> What does “Ascension” mean? <that Jesus went back to heaven> So then, the Apostles were all alone because Jesus was really gone.
Ask: Next week, we celebrate another feast. Does anyone remember what it is? <Pentecost> Pentecost is the feast where the Holy Spirit came to help the Apostles (and us!)
Ask: There is a symbol on the banner for Ascension Thursday. Can anyone tell me what it is? <the cross with a globe> Do you remember what it means? <it stands for Jesus’ message to the Apostles – to go tell the whole world about him>
Explain: We have learned several things that would help the Apostles build the new church. What are the things we have heard in Scripture in the last few weeks? <to have peace between each other, to read the Bible to understand what God wants us to know, how our leaders take care of us, and remembering that our strength comes from Jesus> And then we learned that Jesus wants us to tell everyone about his message of love.
Introduce symbol
Say: Today our symbol is praying hands. What do you think this symbol might mean? <discuss>
Say: On this Sunday, the Apostles are waiting. Their leader and friend, Jesus, has gone back to heaven, but he has promised that the Holy Spirit will come to help them. They are waiting and praying so that they will be ready.
Ask: Do you ever have to wait for anything? <discuss – maybe when a parent or teacher says, “just a minute”> Do you like to wait? Something that you can always do while you are waiting is pray. Pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Say: Let’s look at today’s poster. What does it say? <The Lord has set his throne in heaven.> This is our Responsorial Psalm for today. The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.
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 from the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26) In this reading today, St. Peter talks about how they will need to replace Judas in their group. Does anyone remember who Judas was? <the Apostle who betrayed Jesus, turned Jesus in to the Roman authorities> The way that they chose each other to be Apostles was kind of like the way we choose some of our church leaders today – they prayed a lot and then selected the name of someone they thought would do a good job. Let’s listen and see how they did this.
Have the reader read the first reading.
Ask: Who did they choose? <Matthias> Jesus tells us to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit when we are confused or don’t know what to do next, and especially when we have to wait.
Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm. Your part is to say:
The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
Say: Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of St. John. (John 17:11). This reading tells us what Jesus asked God to do for us. Do you remember a word that we use that means “ask God for something>? <to pray>
Say: Now we will stand and get ready to hear the Gospel
(hold up card) Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”
Read: Read the Gospel
Say: Let’s give each other the sign of peace that shows God’s love to each other.
Give the sign of peace.
Ask: What did you hear Jesus ask for? <for God to watch over us and keep us safe> He wanted us to be one with each other – to love each other.
Hand out the poster cut-outs of a hand so that the children can write their names on them for the poster.
Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is praying hands). Ask the older children to write one thing they can do this week to add prayer to their lives.
Explain: Color this symbol of praying hands and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!) to show what we have learned about the need for prayer.
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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| Use this small graphic for the attendance poster |
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| Use this graphic for the banner symbol and the Offertory gift |
Parent Letter
7th Sunday of Easter B
Dear Parents,
Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The children listened to two of the same readings you did: Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 and John 17:11.
Symbol: praying hands
To reinforce at home:
Today we talked about waiting and about prayer. The Apostles were lonely after Jesus went back into heaven. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to guide them. They believed Jesus and had to wait. So they waited and they prayed that they would be ready when the Holy Spirit did come.
During the Easter season, we have discussed different things Jesus told the apostles to have in the church. We have listened to Scripture and learned that to build the church Jesus wants, we need to do what he asked the apostles to do. We need to have peace between each other – no fighting, we need to continually read the guidebook God gave us – the bible, we need to take care of each other – like the shepherd, we need to have love – the kind of love that Jesus has. We need to share the good news about Jesus with everyone and, as we learn today, we need to talk to God – or pray.
Activities to do at home:
*Set aside a time each day to pray with your child. Bedtime is an especially good time to be together and talk to God.
*Brainstorm with your child some of the different ways that we can pray. Direct conversation with God, formal prayers (like the Our Father), service to each other, and reading Scripture are some ideas.
Thank you for sharing your children!
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