Again this week we’re going to start with an Old Testament reference and look at how Jesus instructs us to live it out under the New Covenant. The most obvious change is the day we celebrate (now Sunday instead of the original Jewish Sabbath on Saturday).
Our parish priest has been known to teach that we were created ON the 6th day, but FOR the rest and worship on the 7th, so how do we honor Him on that day? The Lord’s Day is meant to be the high point of our week where we not only worship but we bring all our offerings (good deeds, acts of love and sacrifice, etc.) from the prior week with us. When your priest is lifting up the offerings of bread and wine to God and praying that they will be acceptable, you should also mentally lift up your own offerings from the previous week and imagine them on the altar with everything else being given to God.
May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good, and the good of all His holy Church.
Shortly after that, as you receive Holy Communion, you will get the graces you need to go out again and start the cycle all over. Hearing God’s Word, a good homily, and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ equip you to do more acts of love that you will bring back to Mass the next Sunday, and so on. It’s really a pretty amazing set-up!
The activity for this lesson is a game that will help your whole family learn about some ways to cooperate with those available graces by keeping the Lord’s Day holy. The preparation is simple – just gather a small token for each player and cut all the cards apart and mix them up, face down. From there, simply take turns drawing a card and following the instructions. “Spend your time during Communion in prayer thanking Jesus for the gift of the Eucharist,” move forward 6 spaces. “Don’t look for your lost shoe until just before it is time to leave for Mass,” move backward 3 spaces.
You get the idea.J
“Our families loved going to Adoration together on Wednesday! Most of our parents had never gone to Adoration before—so this was a new experience for many. We are going to do more of this for sure!”
To begin with, take a look at the big-picture overview. The My Holy Week Story Wheel is perfect for your little ones and you can refer to it over and over throughout the week. If your child likes to color, let him decorate the two pages before it gets assembled. If coloring is not her thing, either have another family member do it, or just assemble it uncolored. It’ll just take a couple minutes to cut out the two circles and poke the brass fastener in place, but seeing the succession of events will help your little one put everything in its place.
Holy Saturday – There are no Masses during the day on Holy Saturday, but after sundown some very memorable things happen at the Easter Vigil Mass. Thousands will become Catholic and many more adults will receive the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation for the first time. This liturgy is filled with drama and things we only experience once a year and you’ll come away with the feeling of just how great it is to be Catholic. (A word of warning though: all of this awesomeness takes time, so don’t expect this Mass to be over in the typical Sunday hour.)
Local friends:
