The Mass and Taste Testing the Bread and Wine

Today we had a very eventful class! We focused on the Mass and we each brought home our very own Mass Book. These books are great to bring to Mass on Saturday/Sunday to help follow along. We practiced using the Mass books as we went through class today. Miss Stephanie was the "priest" and we all practiced saying the parts of Mass together.

Miss Stephanie's view of us from her "alter" (chair) as we followed along!

Most of us took our turn saying the Our Father in front of the class today. A few of us decided to take our turn at our last class on March 13. Those of us that took our turn today did an awesome job!

We also brought home our rosaries today. We have practiced using our rosaries throughout our year. We talked about the proper way to hold a rosary as well as practiced saying the Hail Mary and the Our Father.

The most anticipated part of the class today was having the chance to taste the bread and wine before our first communions. EVERYBODY tried the bread AND the wine. Miss Stephanie was very proud of us. We practiced the important parts of taking communion:

-stand quietly in line thinking about Jesus
-hold your hands together in front of your chest (left over right)
-bow your head before you receive communion
-say "Amen" after the minister says "The Body of Christ"
-say "Amen" after the minister says "The Blood of Christ"
-sit down in your seat quietly and say a prayer

We encourage everyone to take the wine during the First Communion. Also, Miss Stephanie encouraged everyone to sip the wine out of the chalice.

Check out the slideshow below. There is a picture of each of us tasting the bread or the wine!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Homework:
-Review the "Lent" and the "The Three Days" chapters
-Keep practicing the Our Father.

Next Class:
Don't forget! Our next class on March 6 will be at Church of the Holy Spirit for a family Mass. Mass will be from 9:00-10:00 and attendance will be taken.

First Communion Books
A note went home from the Religious Ed office with all kids today with an invitation to bring your child's completed First Communion book to our last class on March 13 (please excuse the typo on the date). Books will be checked on that day and also at the Reconciliation Masses.

March 13 is our last class!

Liturgy of the Eucharist

Click here for the note sent home on February 13th.

At class this week we reviewed Chapter 18 - The Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Last week we learned that there are two main parts of Mass: The Liturgy of the Word and The Liturgy of the Eucharist.

We learned about the important parts of the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
-It is the second major part of Mass.
-The bread and the wine become the body and blood of Jesus.
-We give money for our church and those in need.
-The Eucharistic Prayer is said. It is the most important prayer at Mass.
-We bow when the priest kneels.

We talked about some of the responses that we say during Mass. We circled those responses on pages 158 and 159 in the book.

The Lamb of God:
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

There are a few different versions of the Lamb of God that we say at Mass, however, the important thing to remember is that we are asking for Jesus' forgiveness and peace.

We also circled what we say after the Lamb of God.
The Priest says, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those whoa re called to his supper."

We respond, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."



Ms. Rosi the Coordinator of Liturgy came to talk to us about Liturgy.

She reviewed with us the two different parts of Mass. We learned that Mass is when we come together as a family and a community. We thank and praise God. God sent his son to bring us together. At Mass we celebrate the sacrifice and the meal.

During the Liturgy of the Word, it is like when you go to your grandparents' house and they tell stories about relatives from long ago and stories about about aunts and uncles and your parents. Just like that, we hear stories from the Old and New Testament and the Gospel.

After that, someone processes in with the gifts. The priest consecrates the bread and the wine and transforms it to the body and blood.

Just as Jesus celebrated with his friends, we celebrate every Sunday at Mass. Every Mass and on Holy Thursday we remember what Jesus did at the last supper.

We learned about all of the important people that work together to make the Mass happen. The people that work together are also gifts from God. They use their gifts to bring the Mass to everyone. Some of the people that work together are: Priest, Deacon, Minister of Communion, Lector, Mass Coordinator, and alter servers. The community is also another important part of the Mass.

Rosi told us that after we make our first communions we can volunteer to be alter servers. Being an alter server is a special honor. Alter servers serve the Mass just as Jesus' apostles served him. We always need more alter servers! Please contact the office if you are interested.

Homework:

-Pages 160, 161, 162

-Review the Chapter about Lent (starts on page 171)

-Continue using First Communion Book

NEXT WEEK:

On February 20th we will be taste testing the bread and the wine for First Communion candidates.

We are also beginning a contest about the Our Father. Each student will have the opportunity to come to the front of the class and recite the Our Father next week and March 13th. Please make sure you are practicing at home!

First Communion Notes:

We held up the tan First Communion book in class. Half of the class said that they had never seen the book and had not been using it. The other half of the class was very familiar with it. Please make sure you are going through this book regularly with your child. The book must be completed in order to complete first communion.

Liturgy of the Word

Today at class we did Chapter 17 about the Liturgy of the Word.

We learned that Mass has 2 parts: The Liturgy of the Word and The Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Today we talked about The Liturgy of the Eucharist.
We learned:
-It is the first part of Mass.
-It is listening to God's Word
-It has 3 readings. The first reading is from the Old Testament. The second reading is from the New Testament. The third is the Gospel.
-In between the 2 readings we sing the psalm.
-Before the reading of the Gospel we sing the Alleluia
-After the Gospel, the priest gives the Homily (the part where he explains the readings in words that we understand)

We also tore out the "My Prayer Book" part of our books and practiced some of the prayers together. After that we watched a video about the Mass.

What we learned from the video:

-It is important to attend Mass every week

-Celebrating Mass is like celebrating a holiday with your family

-If you pay attention you will understand more about Mass

-It is good to be "ready to listen"

-You should only miss Mass for an emergency

Homework:

Pages 112, 113, 114