Year
A, B, C
Pentecost
Sunday
Image
Birthday
of the Church
Points to note
For this Sunday, the Gospel is not used and the
more vivid story of the descent of the Holy Spirit from the Acts of the
Apostles is used instead.
The emphasis is on a beginning of the Church. It is from the day of Pentecost that the
mission of the Church began. Armed with
the Holy Spirit, the Church now had the courage to take Christ’s message to the
world. It is important to convey this to
the children.
As such, this feastday is sometimes known as the
birthday of the Church. This may be
something that can be played up as birthday is something that children identify
with. Discussions, I feel, should go
beyond birthdays.
Stories of missionaries may be used. Perhaps, the stories of the apostles as used
in Easter 2 could kick off the story telling.
Liturgy
Reading
As
the Gospel is not read, the Acclamation is omitted being the birthday of the
Church, we could welcome the reading with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to
the Church instead.
The Lord be with you.
All: And with your spirit.
A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles
(Ac 2: 1-11)
When Pentecost day came round, the apostles had all
met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind
from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were
sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these
separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from
every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one
bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. “Surely”, they said, “all these men speaking
are Galileans? How is it that each of us
hears them in his own native language?
Iranians and Syrians; people from Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Turkey, Egypt
and Libya; as well as visitors from Rome - Jews and converts alike - Greeks and
Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.
This is the Word of the
Lord
Discussion
Has anybody just celebrated a birthday? Or been to a birthday party? Discuss
what is a birthday, and that it happens once a year and it celebrates an event
that took place once before on the same day.
Explain that that first birthday is a beginning of a life.
Do you know that the Church has a birthday? Do you know which day? Discuss
that the Church also has a beginning.
Discuss the story of Pentecost.
Emphasise the fear the apostles had after the resurrection and contrast
it with the courage they had after Pentecost.
Explain that after Pentecost, the apostles went out to preach the Gospel
to all the people all over the world.
You may wish to revisit some of the stories of where the apostles
went. The following stories are not
biblical:
The apostles
drew lots to see where they would go.
Peter went to Rome and became the first bishop of Rome. Once, when he was running away to escape from
soldiers, he saw Jesus walking the other direction. When he asked Jesus where he was going, Jesus
replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified again. Peter was so ashamed of himself that he ran
ahead of Jesus and was arrested. He told
the soldiers that he should be crucified upside-down as he was not worthy to be
crucified like Jesus.
Thomas was
chosen to go to India. He didn’t want to
because it was so far away. Jesus
visited him in a dream, but still he told Jesus, “Anywhere Lord but India”. The next morning, Jesus was at the harbour
and asked the captain of a ship if he needed a slave, pointing out to him
Thomas. The captain called Thomas over
and asked him if Jesus was his master.
When Thomas said yes, the captain said he had bought him and Thomas was
going to India. Thomas went and made
many Christians there.
Of all the
apostles, only John lived to an old age but in exile in the island of
Patmos. Andrew was crucified on an
X-shaped cross in Greece. James was
martyred in Spain and Matthew in Ethiopia.
Philip was crucified in Turkey.
Bartholomew was whipped to death in Armenia. Simon and Jude were killed for the faith in
Persia.
St Paul,
according to the Acts of the Apostles, made four missionary journeys. He probably made more, one of which was to
Rome where he was martyred.
In addition
there are thousands of other people who may not be saints, but are devout
nevertheless and have brought the Gospel to all the places of the world. These people are called missionaries. Discuss those who the children may know
personally.
St Francis
Xavier is famous in parts of Asia. He was
a Spaniard, who left his family, home, country, and all things familiar to him
to a faraway place to tell people about Jesus.
Get the children to imagine having to do that and go to a place where
they did not know anyone, know the language, the costumes, the customs, the
food, to do something which people could kill you for. St Francis went to India, then Melaka, and
then Japan. Along the way, he made many
people Christians. He wanted to make
teach Chinese about Jesus but he died near Macau, before he could set foot into
China.
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