Monthly Archives: March 2017

Play, recreation and work

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Play, recreation and work

Recreation is difficult to separate from the general concept of play, which is usually the term for children’s recreational activity. Children may playfully imitate activities that reflect the realities of adult life. It has been proposed that play or recreational activities are outlets of or expression of excess energy, channeling it into socially acceptable activities that fulfill individual as well as societal needs, without need for compulsion, and providing satisfaction and pleasure for the participant.[8] A traditional view holds that work is supported by recreation, recreation being useful to “recharge the battery” so that work performance is improved. Work, an activity generally performed out of economic necessity and useful for society and organized within the economic framework, however can also be pleasurable and may be self-imposed thus blurring the distinction to recreation. Many activities may be work for one person and recreation for another, or, at an individual level, over time recreational activity may become work, and vice versa. Thus, for a musician, playing an instrument may be at one time a profession, and at another a recreation. Similarly, it may be difficult to separate education from recreation as in the case of recreational mathematics.[9]

First Holy Communion Questions 

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 First Holy Communion Questions 

 
1.) What is a sacrament?
A sacrament is an outward sign made by Christ to give grace.
 
2.) Name the seven sacraments.
Baptism, Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, Anointing of the sick.
3.) What sacrament do you want to receive? First Holy Eucharist
 
4.) What is the Eucharist?
The Eucharist is the sacrament of the real Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
5.) When did Jesus give us the Eucharist? Jesus gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last Supper
 
6.) At the Last Supper, what did Jesus do with the bread and wine?
At the Last Supper, Jesus changed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood
 
. 7.) Why can priests today change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus?
Jesus gave this power to His Apostles and they gave it to the bishops and priests who came after them.
 
8.) How can a priest change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ?
When a man becomes a priest, he receives the power from Jesus to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus first gave the power to His disciples when He said, at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of Me”
 
9. When do the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus? The bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus when the priest says the words of Jesus: “This is My Body and “This is the cup of My Blood” over the bread and wine during the prayer of Consecration.
 
10.) What words must a priest say at Mass for the bread to become the Body of Christ? “This is My Body”
 
11.) What words must a priest say at Mass for the wine to become the Blood of Christ? “This is the cup of My Blood.”
 
12.) After the prayer consecrating the Eucharist, is it still bread and wine? After the prayer of consecration, it is no longer bread and wine. It is Jesus really and truly present in the Eucharist.
 
13.) What is it called when the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus? Transubstantiation.
 
14.) What is necessary to receive Holy Communion? To receive Holy Communion you must; 1. be in the grace of God 2. believe it is Jesus you’re going to receive 3. fast for 1 hour
 
15.) Why is Holy Communion a special gift from God? Holy Communion is a special gift from God because, in Communion, Jesus Himself comes to live in us.
 
16.) What is Mass? The Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and the gift of Himself in the Eucharist.
 
17.) What happens during Mass? During the Mass, Jesus comes to earth in the Eucharist. We remember the Last Supper, His sacrifice, and His death on the Cross.
 
18.) Why is the Mass offered to God? The Mass is offered to God to worship Him, to thank Him, to make up for our sins, and to ask for His help.
 
19.) What does Eucharist mean? Eucharist is a Greek word which means Thanksgiving.
 
20.) Why has Christ given Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist? Christ has given Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist to be the life and food of our souls.
 
21.) How can we participate in the Mass? During Mass, we sing hymns, listen to the Word of God in the readings and in the priest’s homily, we offer ourselves in union with Jesus to the Father, and receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
 
22.) What is the Liturgy of the Word? The Liturgy of the Word is the first main part of the Mass when we listen to God’s Word from the readings in the Bible.
 
23.) What is the Gospel? The Good News of Jesus Christ read from the Bible by the priest at Mass.
 
24.) Tell a Gospel story from the Bible, that talks about the Eucharist. Example: The Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26, Luke 22:14-20) or Bread of Life (John 6:22-59)
 
25.) Who is the Bread of Life? Jesus
 
26.) What did Jesus promise to those who eat the Bread of Life? That they will live forever.
 
27.) What is the second main part of the Mass called? The second main part of Mass is called the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This is when the Priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer. The priest does and says what Jesus did and said at the Last Supper.
 
28.) What is the Eucharistic Prayer? The great prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
29.) Who is the Lamb of God? Jesus is the Lamb of God.
 
30.) What does the Lamb of God do? He takes away the sins of the world. Responses to Mass prayers:
 
31.) Penitential Rite Is when we ask forgiveness from God and one another for the times we have sinned. We Say: I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do: (We strike our breast 3 times during the next two lines) through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary, ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and to you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

 

Holy thursday

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Daily Reading & Meditation

 Holy Thursday (April 13): Jesus’ supreme humility
Gospel Reading: John 13:1-15

1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. 5 Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

6 He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “You are not all clean.”

12 When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anothers feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14

1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; 4 and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.

7 Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste.  It is the LORD’s passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever.

Meditation: Does your love waver when you encounter bitter disappointments and injury from others? As Jesus’ hour of humiliation draws near he reveals to his disciples the supreme humility which shaped the love he had for them. He stoops to perform a menial task reserved for servants – the washing of smelly, dirty feet. In stooping to serve his disciples Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of them and that the rest would abandon him through disloyalty. Such knowledge could have easily led to bitterness or hatred. Jesus met the injury of betrayal and disloyalty with the greatest humility and supreme love.

Jesus loved his disciples to the very end, even when they failed him and forsook him. The Lord loves each of us unconditionally. His love has power to set us free to serve others with Christ-like compassion and humility. Does the love of Christ rule in your heart, thoughts, intentions and actions?

Saint Augustine of Hippo in his sermon for this day, wrote:

“He had the power of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose the length of our lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by dying, destroyed death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death. His body did not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be clothed through him in incorruption at the end of the world. He needed no help from us in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to us as the vine to the branches; apart from him we cannot have life.Finally, even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing. Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs provided “the same kind of meal” as they had received at the Lord’s table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us.”

“Lord Jesus, your love conquers all and never fails. Help me to love others freely, with heart-felt compassion , kindness and goodness. Where there is injury, may I sow peace rather than strife.”

Psalm 116:12-13, 16-18

12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your handmaid.  You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

A Daily Quote for Lent: Christ chose to be a servant who offered himself for us, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

“Even though the man Christ Jesus, in the form of God together with the Father with whom He is one God, accepts our sacrifice, nonetheless He has chosen in the form of a servant to be the sacrifice rather than accept it. Therefore, He is the priest Himself Who presents the offering, and He Himself is what is offered.” (excerpt from City of God, 10,20)

Easter Sunday

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Daily Reading & Meditation

 Easter Sunday (April 16): “John saw the empty tomb and believed”
Scripture: John 20:1-9  [alternate readings for Easter: Matthew 28:1-10, Luke 24:13-35]

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; 5 and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Meditation: What was it like for the disciple who had stood at the cross of Jesus and then laid him in a tomb on Good Friday, to come back three days later and discover that the sealed tomb was now empty? John, along with Peter, was the first apostle to reach the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning. Like Mary Magdalene and the other disciples, John was not ready to see an empty tomb and to hear the angel’s message, Why do you seek the living among the dead (Luke 24:5)?  What did John see in the tomb that led him to believe in the resurrection of Jesus? It was certainly not a dead body. The dead body of Jesus would have disproven the resurrection and made his death a tragic conclusion to a glorious career as a great teacher and miracle worker. When John saw the empty tomb he must have recalled Jesus’ prophecy that he would rise again after three days. Through the gift of faith John realized that no tomb on earth could contain the Lord and giver of life. John saw and believed (John 20:8).

John had to first deal with the empty tomb before he could meet the risen Lord later that evening along with the other apostles who had locked themselves in the upper room out of fear of the Jewish authorities (John 20:19-23). John testified as an eye-witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ: What we have seen, heard, and touched we proclaim as the eternal word of life which existed from the beginning (1 John 1:1-4). John bears witness to what has existed from all eternity. This “word of life” is Jesus the word incarnate, but also Jesus as the word announced by the prophets and Jesus the word now preached throughout the Christian church for all ages to come.

One thing is certain, if Jesus had not risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, we would never have heard of him. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and courage. The reality of the resurrection is the central fact of the Christian faith. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us “eyes of faith” to know him and the power of his resurrection. The greatest joy we can have is to encounter the living Christ and to know him personally as our Lord and Savior. Do you accept the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection with skeptical doubt and disbelief or with trusting faith and joyful wonderment?

“Lord Jesus Christ, you have triumphed over the grave and you have won for us new life and resurrection power. Give me the eyes of faith to see you in your glory. Help me to draw near to you and to grow in the knowledge of your great love for us and your great victory over sin and death.”

Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17,22-23

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for  ever!
2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures for ever.”
16 the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

A Daily Quote for the Easter season: The Womb of the Earth Gives Birth, by Hesychius of Jerusalem, died around 450 A.D.

“Hidden first in a womb of flesh, he sanctified human birth by his own birth. Hidden afterward in the womb of the earth, he gave life to the dead by his resurrection. Suffering, pain and sighs have now fled away. For who has known the mind of God, or who has been his counselor if not the Word made flesh who was nailed to the cross, who rose from the dead and who was taken up into heaven? This day brings a message of joy: it is the day of the Lord’s resurrection when, with himself, he raised up the race of Adam. Born for the sake of human beings, he rose from the dead with them. On this day paradise is opened by the risen one, Adam is restored to life and Eve is consoled. On this day the divine call is heard, the kingdom is prepared, we are saved and Christ is adored. On this day, when he had trampled death under foot, made the tyrant a prisoner and despoiled the underworld, Christ ascended into heaven as a king in victory, as a ruler in glory, as an invincible charioteer. He said to the Father, ‘Here am I, O God, with the children you have given me.’ And he heard the Father’s reply, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Psalm 110:1).” To him be glory, now and for ever, through endless ages. Amen.[excerpt from EASTER HOMILY 5–6]

Hesychius of Jerusalem was a priest and a Scripture scholar who worked with Jerome and Cyril of Jerusalem. He wrote a commentary on the whole Bible.He died around 450 AD.

Meditations may be freely reprinted for non-commercial use – please cite: 
copyright (c) 2017 Servants of the Word, source:  www.dailyscripture.net, author Don Schwager

Children today lack vitamin n

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Transcript:

I want to tell you about an essential vitamin you’ve probably never heard of. If you’re a parent, or plan to be one, it might be more important to your child’s growth than all other vitamins combined. And only you, a parent, can provide it.

I call it Vitamin N. The word “No.”   

More and more children, I find, are suffering from Vitamin N deficiency. And they, their parents, and our entire culture are paying the price.

Let me illustrate my point with a story that’s quite typical. A father, I’ll call him Bill, gave his son, age five, pretty much everything the little boy asked for. Like most parents, Bill wanted more than anything for his son to be happy. But he wasn’t. Instead he was petulant, moody, and often sullen. He was also having problems getting along with other children. In addition, he was very demanding and rarely if ever expressed any appreciation, let alone gratitude, for all the things Bill and his wife were giving him. Was his son depressed, Bill wanted to know? Did he need therapy? His son, I told him, was suffering the predictable ill effects of being over-indulged. What he needed was a healthy and steady dose of Vitamin N.

Over-indulgence–a deficiency of Vitamin N—leads to its own form of addiction. When the point of diminishing returns is passed (and it’s passed fairly early on), the receiving of things begins to generate nothing but want for more things. One terrible effect of this is that our children are becoming accustomed to a material standard that’s out of kilter with what they can ever hope to achieve as adults. Consider also that many, if not most, children attain this level of affluence not by working, sacrificing, or doing their best, but by whining, demanding, and manipulating. So in the process of inflating their material expectations, we also teach children that something can be had for next to nothing. Not only is that a falsehood, it’s also one of the most dangerous, destructive attitudes a person can acquire.

This may go a long way toward explaining why the mental health of children in the 1950s – when kids got a lot less — was significantly better than the mental health of today’s kids. Since the ‘50s, and especially in the last few decades, as indulgence has become the parenting norm, the rates of child and teen depression have skyrocketed.

Children who grow up believing in the something-for-nothing fairy tale are likely to become emotionally stunted, self-centered adults. Then, when they themselves become parents, they’re likely to overdose their children with material things – the piles of toys, plushies, and gadgets one finds scattered around most households. In that way, over indulgence—a deficiency of Vitamin N—becomes an inherited disease, an addiction passed from one generation to the next.

This also explains why children who get too much of what they want rarely take proper care of anything they have. Why should they? After all, experience tells them that more is always on the way.

Children deserve better. They deserve to have parents attend to their needs for protection, affection, and direction. Beyond that: They deserve to hear their parents say “no” far more often than yes when it comes to their whimsical desires. They deserve to learn the value of constructive, creative effort as opposed to the value of effort expended whining, lying on the floor kicking and screaming, or playing one parent against the other. They deserve to learn that work is the only truly fulfilling way of getting anything of value in life, and that the harder they work, the more ultimately fulfilling the outcome.

In the process of trying to protect children from frustration, parents have turned reality upside down. A child raised in this topsy-turvy fashion may not have the skills needed to stand on his or her own two feet when the time comes to do so.

Here’s a simple rule: Turn your children’s world right-side up by giving them all of what they truly need, but no more than 25 percent of what they simply want. I call this the “Principle of Benign Deprivation.”

When all is said and done, the most character-building two-letter word in the English language is no. Vitamin N.

Dispense it frequently. You’ll be happier in the long run, and so will your child.

I’m John Rosemond, author and family psychologist, for Prager University.