Feast of Pentecost Cycle C

Pentecost  Sunday   Cycle C

Welcome children to their worship space.

Explain: Today is Pentecost Sunday, the feast we have been preparing for, the birthday of our church.

Ask:  Does anyone remember what our symbol was for last Sunday? (praying hands)  And what did it symbolize? (praying for the Holy Spirit to come to us)

Explain: So we have learned several things that would help build the new church.  What are the things we have read in Scripture in the last few weeks? We know that our work is needed.  We have learned that we have leaders to help us and that we are supposed to be leaders for others. We have learned about the love that Jesus wants us to have for each other.  We have also heard the message that Jesus wants us to tell everybody about what He had to say and that we need to pray while we wait for guidance.

Introduce symbol

Say:  Our symbol today is a dove which represents the Holy Spirit.  The dove has some colors around it - red, orange and yellow.

Ask:  What do you think these colors might mean? (Fire) 

Explain:  In the readings today, the Holy Spirit appears to Christ’s followers in the symbols of wind and fire.  What does fire do?  (burns old things away to make room for new, kills germs that spread disease) What does wind do? (blows things away, brings new things in)

Ask:  What might these symbols tell us about what the Holy Spirit would bring to the Apostles’ lives?  What about our lives?  (clear away wrong thinking - promote understanding, give us strength to share Christ’s teachings, make us receptive to new ideas)

Ask:  Jesus’ friends, the apostles, were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come to them like Jesus promised.  Why do you think they would do that? What would the Holy Spirit do for them?  (try to lead the children to think of the qualities that the apostles needed to spread Christ’s word - strength, wisdom, understanding, love, patience, etc.)

Explain:  Today, Pentecost, is the birthday of the church.  This is the day that we celebrate the beginning of our work on earth spreading Jesus’ teachings with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Say:  Let’s look at the 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.

Introduce readings

Say:  Let’s light the candle to show that we are ready to listen to the Words of God.

Say: Today’s first reading is from the New Testament book the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 2:1–11) The first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles.  This is the reading that tells what happened that night in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ friends.  What happened there is the basis for the Sacrament of Confirmation that you will receive when you are older.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask: What happened to the apostles? <the Holy Spirit came, they were all able to speak different languages>  Why do you think they were speaking different languages?  <so that they could tell everybody about Jesus>  Jesus is for everybody – not just a certain special few.

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 John.  (Jn 20:19-23)   It tells us about how Jesus sent His friends out to spread His word among all people.  There is a Sacrament mentioned here too.  See if you can figure out what it is.

Pretend you are one of Christ’s friends gathered together trying to figure out what you are supposed to be doing.  By this time, Jesus had visited several times so you are hoping to see Him again.  Listen closely to all the readings and see if you can remember the two Sacraments that are referred to in today’s readings.

Say:  Now we will 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:  What  sacraments did you hear about? <Confirmation and Reconciliation>  Do you think the Holy Spirit is working with us today?  Why or why not?  <discuss>  Remember, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would remain with us – so, yes, the Holy Spirit is still here helping us to understand.

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

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

Allow a few minutes for the sign of peace.

Ask children to add their names to the cutouts (flames) provided.  Remind the children that we are making a poster for each Sunday and that they will sign a cutout and glue it on when they are here.  The flames represent the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a Holy Spirit dove).

  

Explain: Color this symbol of the Holy Spirit and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about how the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles and how the Holy Spirit helped them <and us!> to go out and continue Jesus’ work by forming the church.

If there is time, ask questions and go over the lessons one more time to help the children remember.

Parent Letter

Pentecost Sunday  C

Dear Parents,

              Today is the feast of Pentecost.  The children listened to the same readings you did:  Acts 2:1-11 and John 20:19-23.

To reinforce at home:

           

Happy Birthday to the church!  Today’s discussion centered around the receipt of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We talked about the Holy Spirit coming to the Apostles that night in the forms of wind and fire.  We talked about the meaning of the wind and fire – destroying the old and making way for the new. 

We talked about the fact that the Holy Spirit empowers us to use the gifts God gave us to continue the work of his son, Jesus.

Activities to do at home:

*We have been called by our Baptism to use our gifts to do Jesus’ work.  Help your child discover his or her own particular talents to share with the community.

*This is a good time to review the meaning of the sacraments with your child.  Today’s readings describe both Confirmation and Reconciliation. 

 *Celebrate the birthday of the church with a small party at your Sunday meal!

Thank you for sharing your children!