Feb 2 The Feast of the Presentation

Feast of the Presentation

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

            

Ask:  Does anyone remember the symbol for last week?  <hold up the symbol of the fish> We talked about how Jesus calls each one of us and we must be ready to answer the call.

 Explain: Today is the Feast Of the Presentation.  When we have a special feast day, we take a beak from Ordinary Time to celebrate!  Next week, we will go back to talking about Ordinary Time

Introduce symbol

Say:  Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is a gift.  For today’s celebration, we are going to talk about something that happened when Jesus was a baby, something called the Presentation.  Does anyone know what that is?  <let the children discuss>  This is a time when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to Temple (or church) for the first time. 

Discuss:  When we receive a gift, what do we usually do next? <let the children respond—move toward “say thank you”>.  How do we feel toward the person who gave us a gift?  <good!>  We believe that all good things come from God.  What are some good things in your life?  <family, food, heat, clothing, toys, etc>  If all good things come from God, what do we need to do?  <say thank you!>

 

Say:  Let’s look at the poster we will make to day.  What does it say? <The Lord of hosts: he is king of glory!> This is our Responsorial Psalm for today.  Psalms were originally songs, so make sure you pray the response clearly and loudly.  You can sing it if you like.

 

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 Old Testament book of the prophet Malachi. (Mal 3:1-2b).  One of the most important things that happens in our Old Testament readings is something called foretelling.  In this reading we hear about how God sends messengers to get us ready for good things that God sends us.  THIS story about a messenger gets us ready for the “messenger” we will hear about in the Gospel reading.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask:  Do you think that it is easy for us to be humble?  Why or why not?  <discuss>

Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm.  Your part is to say:

The Lord of hosts: he is king of glory!

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading is taken from the book of St. Luke.  (Luke 2:22-32).  This reading tells about the time that Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the Temple for the first time.  We call this “the Presentation”.  It was a bit like our Baptism.  Mary and Joseph went to thank God for giving them Jesus.  They went to tell God that they knew that Jesus really belonged to God… and that they would take good care of him. 

While you are listening to the Gospel, see if you can hear the name of the “messenger” who was waiting for Jesus.  Remember what this person does.

Say:  Now we will stand and get ready to hear the Gospel

  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”

Read:  Read the Gospel

Ask:  Did you hear the name of the person who was waiting for Jesus?  <Simeon>  When Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms, what did he do?  <let the children respond>  He praised God for being good.  He told God thank you for bringing what he was waiting for.  Simeon shows US what to do when God gives us good things.

Hand out the poster cut-outs and Offertory symbols.

Ask the children to add their names to the cutouts (squares) so that they can be glued onto the poster.

 

Explain: Color this symbol of the gift and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show what we have learned about saying THANK YOU to God.

If there is time, ask the older children to write one thing that they can do this week to show that they are grateful for the good things in their 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.

Parent Letter

Feast of the Presentation A

Dear Parents,

           Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation.  The children listened to two of the same readings you did: Malachi 3:1-2b and Luke 2:22-32.

Symbol: gift

To reinforce at home:

Today we focused on two things.  We learned about the Presentation…. How Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the Temple to thank God for allowing them to take care of him according to Jewish custom.

We also talked about how all good things come from God.  We talked about being grateful and thanking God for the good things in our lives.

Activities to do at home:

*Together with your child, make a list of all the things you can be grateful for today..

*There are many references in the Scriptures about messengers that let us know when good things are coming.  If we are open to good in our lives, we can often spot an event or person that leads the way to goodness for us.  Can you, with your child, think of a good thing that has happened in your life—and look backward to see if you can spot the messenger?

*Read the Gospel narrative about the Presentation again and point out the similarities between what parents do today and what Mary and Joseph did with their baby!

Thank you for sharing your children!