Scripture Authentic session Christian Living essentials · Getting Started Gospel Story: Love One...

© 2016 Published by Morehouse Education Resources, www.MorehouseEducation.org. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.

session essentialsP r ima r y

Helps for Catechists◆ More About Today’s Scriptures◆ Reflection◆ The Scriptures and the Catechism◆ The World of the Bible: A New

Heaven and a New Earth

Enrichment◆ Welcome the Good News◆ Singing Together◆ Music and Movement: Daria’s

“Child of God”◆ Washing Feet (dish pan of water,

towels)◆ Info: Love and Children’s Families◆ Prayers of the Mass◆ Info: Children and the Gospel◆ Info: Where You’ll Find Everything

Else

Core Session◆ Getting Started◆ Gospel Story: Love One

Another◆ Invent a Game◆ Praying Together

Jesus teaches us to love one another, as he has loved us.◆ At the Last Supper, Jesus commands his disciples to love one another.◆ Children, like adults, mean many different emotions and actions when they use the word love.

We accept children’s definitions, but hold up the self-giving example of Jesus as our model, for adults and children both.

◆ In today’s core session, we continue to celebrate the season of Easter and explore with children Jesus’ new commandment.

Authentic Christian Living

ScriptureJohn 13:31-35

1Living the Good News | Primary | 5th Sunday of Easter – C

Question of the WeekIf you could give your friends one last message, what would you say?

5 th Sunday o f Eas t e r – C

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Getting Started (5-10 minutes)Gather the children in a circle and explain:◆ Easter day is over, but not the season of Easter. ◆ The Church is still celebrating Easter. ◆ Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter. ◆ In Easter, we celebrate that Jesus, who died, is alive,

now and always.

Help children practice the Easter greeting learned in the previous three sessions. Each child who wants to can take a turn saying the opening line of the Easter greeting to the group. The group answers with the response. Use these words for the greeting:

Greeting: Alleluia! Christ is risen!Response: The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Then prepare children for the story with a short discussion. Ask: ◆ Who loves us? ◆ How do these people show that they love us? ◆ Who do we love?

Invite children to hear some of Jesus’ teaching about love in today’s story.

Gospel Story (5-10 minutes)Love One Another

Jesus looked around the table. How he loved these good friends who broke bread with him: noisy John and James, brave Thomas, honest Peter, who always said just what he thought, and so many others.

But all his friends looked puzzled and worried right now. They were thinking about what Jesus had just said. “I must leave you,” Jesus had said. “I must die on a cross and go back to God. But in a mysterious way, God and I will always be with each one of you.” What did Jesus mean? Peter wondered. How could he go away and still be with him?

Now Jesus spoke again. “I want joy for each one of you. And so I want you to obey a new rule. I want you to love one another, just as I love you.”

Peter said aloud, “I don’t always feel loving. Sometimes I get angry.”

Jesus said, “You may not always feel loving, but I want you to love one another. That means that when you are angry, you give someone another chance.

You forgive one another and you help one another.”

James said, “But what will happen to us when you go?”

Jesus said, “You are my friends. I will always be your friend. I will always be with you, even if you can’t see me.”

Thomas did not understand what Jesus was saying, but he said, “I only want to do what you want me to do, Jesus.”

“This is what I want you to do, my friends,” said Jesus. “I want you to love one another. That is what I will always want my friends to do: love one another.”

Invent a Game (10-15 minutes)Discuss:◆ How do people win at basketball? tag? video games?

(Encourage many examples of ways to win.) ◆ Jesus asks us to work together and help one another.

Games where only one person wins can be fun, but can we invent a game in which everybody wins?

◆ Let’s try changing the rules of a traditional game, such as Tag, Hopscotch or Tic-Tac-Toe, to make a new game.

◆ In the new game, everyone must work together to win.

For example, children could change the rules of Tag by making each person tagged a new tagger who joins—instead of replaces—the old tagger. Play continues until everyone has been tagged. (The last person tagged can be the first tagger for the next game.)

Allow time for children to play, modify and play again their new game.

Praying Together (5 minutes)Remind children that Jesus asks us to love one another. Invite children to exchange the peace, as a sign of love.

Then close by praying:◆ God, thank you for Jesus and for all the people who

love us. Thank you for our friends, especially each friend here today. Amen.

Note: Distribute this week’s At Home with the Good News to the children before they leave or e-mail the papers to their families.

Living the Good News | Primary | 5th Sunday of Easter – C


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Welcome the Good News (5-20 minutes)In Welcome God’s Word, found on page 1 of today’s Welcome the Good News, you’ll find a playful discussion starter based on a “recipe” for love.

On page 2 of Welcome, you’ll find questions children can use to interview one another. Explain:◆ Jesus invites us all to be close friends with

one another.◆ Use these questions to learn more about

one another.

Children will also find an activity called With Your Family that they can lead at home.

Singing Together (5-10 minutes)From Singing the Good News, sing together:◆ “Love as Jesus Loves” (songbook p. 16)◆ “God’s Love Is Forever” (songbook p. 45, also

available as an MP3)

Note: To access both the songbook and its attached MP3 files, open your Spring-C Seasonal Resources folder, then click on Singing the Good News.

Music and Movement (5-15 minutes)Daria’s “Child of God” Play for children Daria’s “Child of God.” (Open your Spring-C Seasonal Resources folder, then click on Companion Music for options on obtaining this music.)

In the sessions for the 2nd and 4th Sundays of Lent we suggested that you invite children to invent movements for the first and third verses of the song. If they did so, we suggest you invite them to finish out their chore-ography by reviewing those movements and inventing movements for verse 2.

Daria Marmaluk-HajioannouThe singer known as Daria was born in a Rus-

sian-American family living in Pittsburgh. She travels around the world, collecting music from countries and cultures that range from South America to the Middle East to the former Soviet Union.

Not only does she strive to perform the music she collects in authentic style, but frequently uses such native instrumentation as the finger cymbals of the Middle East or the shell rattles of Native American music.

With a focus on preserving and celebrating the diversity of languages and cultures, Marmaluk-Hajioannou hosts hands-on musical experiences for families both here and abroad. One recent project in northern Israel provided an opportunity for her to work both with an Arab community in Nazareth and a large Jewish collective farm. The work was interrupted by an outbreak of hostilities between Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel, a painful reminder of the obstacles to peace that remain.

Note: You can find more information about Daria, together with interactive musical activities, at her website: http://www.dariamusic.com.

Washing Feet (5-15 minutes)Activity Soundtrack: Play The Prayer of St. Gregory. (Open your Spring-C Seasonal Resources folder, then click on Companion Music for options on obtaining this music.)

In the session for the 5th Sunday of Lent, we suggested you invite children to wash one another’s feet. In today’s session, we suggest you reenact this ritual to help children understand the context of today’s gospel.

Tell children that today’s story took place at the meal we call the Last Supper. Before Jesus sat down to eat with his disciples, he washed their feet. Jesus wanted to show his disciples how to help one another in every way they could think of.

Invite the children to take turns washing and drying each other’s feet. Let the children wash your feet, too! If possible, do the foot-washing next to a sink so that you can fill and empty a dish pan for each person. If foot-washing is done on Maundy Thursday in your congre-gation, invite children to remember foot-washing they may have seen done in worship.



http://www.dariamusic.com

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Love and Children’s FamiliesIn today’s session, children talk about love by thinking about the people they love and the people who love them.

As you talk with the children be sensitive to the possibility that some of them may live in unhappy families. Children this young often believe that even abusive parents “love” them, which gives them a confused understanding of what love means. Some children live with parents who, while not abusive, may not be mature enough as parents to offer their children consistent, unconditional love.

There is no easy solution for these children’s problems, but we can help by accepting the children’s own understanding of love when we invite examples. For example, instead of telling children that Mom or Dad loves them, we can ask, “Who loves you?” and accept the children’s answers, which may range from a beloved aunt to a pet cat.

Prayers of the Mass (5-15 minutes)This week, we continue a series of activities designed to encourage primary children to explore and learn prayers from the Mass. This week’s prayer phrase is:◆ We believe in one God.

Remind children that Jesus says he is like a shepherd, because he wants to care for God’s people, the way a shepherd cares for sheep. Invite children to share their thoughts about God and Jesus. Ask:◆ What do you think God is like? ◆ What do you think Jesus is like? ◆ Can we trust in God? Why?

Explain: ◆ When we come together to share bread and wine we

call this service the Mass. ◆ The Mass is a special meal we share to remember the

death and resurrection of Jesus. ◆ One prayer we make during the Mass uses the words

We believe in one God. ◆ When we pray these words, we say that, together, we

trust in God and try to understand who God is and what God wants for us.

Gather around the Prayers poster, attached to this document. Draw attention to today’s prayer. Encourage children to read aloud with you the prayer words from the poster.

Children and the GospelToday’s gospel is taken from Jesus’ teaching to his disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus tells his disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus’ love was generous, healing, sacrificial and, above all authentic. All Christians, adult and children, can look to Jesus for a model of love, but each of us will learn to follow Jesus’ leading by a unique path.

Where You’ll Find Everything Else

◆ Attached to this Session Plan you will find:— Backgrounds and reflections for today’s

readings, titled More about Today’s Scriptures.— An optional activity titled Mock Interviews, in

which children better get to know a number of “friends of Jesus”—each other!

— An optional art activity titled People We Love, inviting children to celebrate people they love.

— An optional activity exploring Who Helps Us?— A mini-poster titled The Last Supper, which

illustrates a moment in today’s story.— This week’s At Home with the Good News to

distribute to group members or e-mail to their families.

— The Prayers poster, to be used in today’s Prayers of the Mass activity.

◆ Open your Spring-C Seasonal Resources folder, then click on Seasonal Articles to find:— Information on Spring-C’s Models of the Faith.— An article for catechists titled The Book of

Revelation.— An article for catechists titled The Gospel of John.— The Introduction for Primary for Living the

Good News.




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More about Today’s ScripturesToday’s readings picture the love and encouragement to be found in Christian community. In Acts, Paul and Barnabas encourage new believers to persevere in the faith despite persecution. Revelation describes how God, in tenderness, descends to live among God’s people, removing sorrow and pain. In the gospel, Jesus gives us a new command—love one another; by obeying Jesus, we show our discipleship.

Acts 14:21-27Paul and Barnabas courageously revisit the churches in Iconium, Lystra and Antioch of Pisidia, cities from which they had been violently expelled on their first missionary journey. Their concern to encourage these newly planted churches outweighs the concern for personal safety.

“The faith” was a commonly used term for the Christian beliefs that provided the bond of unity (Latin, fides) for the new community.

Paul and Barnabas encourage and reassure the new disciples by revealing that opposition and trials are to be expected if they are to follow Christ’s way and carry on his mission in the world.

Revelation 21:1-5a Once the first creation has disappeared and the wicked have been driven off to punishment, all that remains is to wonder at God’s eternal magnificence, reflected in the new creation. Because of its association with brutal storms, raging waters and myths of primeval chaos, the sea no longer exists. Such violence is not compatible with the peace of the world to come.

God then provides a new Jerusalem—a holy city because God dwells in it—that suggests the intimate union of God with the chosen people. “The home of God among mortals” fulfills God’s promise to “be with us” (Exodus 3:12) and Jesus’ assurance that “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

John 13:31-33a, 34-35 The gospel readings for this and the next two Sundays of Easter are taken from Jesus’ Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper (13:31–17:26), in which he explains the significance and implications of his glorification.

For John, “glory” means a visible revelation of God’s presence and holiness. Jesus’ suffering, death and resur-rection manifests God’s glory in the fullest sense. The cross is not a humiliation but a glorification and the revelation of God’s plan for salvation.

The love commandment is new, not as a commandment, but in that Jesus’ love becomes the model for all love and the basic obligation of the new covenant. God’s uncon-ditional love has been revealed in a new way in Jesus. He is more than the standard for Christian love; he is its source. His love is both affective and effective, bonding the Christian community and bringing salvation.



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ReflectionIn today’s gospel Jesus takes the tone of one who must break bad news to children: tender, yet honest and respectful. The mature parent finally learns not to protect their offspring from all life’s hardships. First, it’s impossible to do. More importantly, it is in struggling through those hardships, which increase in difficulty throughout life, that people learn and grow.

Jesus begins as if he’ll tell a “bad news, good news” joke. The bad news is, I’m leaving. The good news is, I’ll be with you more potently and completely than I could be within a human body limited to a specific time and space. For John, the ultimate meaning of faith is a mystical union with Jesus, incarnation of divine love. He portrays that union now as achieved through other human beings, as in one letter he asks, “how can we love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the people we can see? (1 John 4:20)”

The night before Jesus died, he encouraged us to imagine and build a world where love replaces violence. He asked us to care for each other as he cared for us. He assured us of a final victory: good news over bad, hello over goodbye.

The Scriptures and the CatechismToday we note the “apostolic” character of the Church (CCC, #857–65). From their vital union with Christ, all Christians, both clergy and laity, share in the mission of the Church to evangelize and bring salvation to the world. Every Christian, by his or her baptism, is entrusted to carry on the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus (CCC, #897–913). Although there are a variety of forms that this apostolic action takes, love is the foundation of all.

The World of the BibleA New Heaven and a New EarthJesus’ resurrection prompted the early Christians to await eagerly God’s total triumph over evil and the resulting foundation of a new order—a new creation (heaven and earth, that is, the visible universe)—which would be free from oppression, injustice, violence and suffering.

They believed that God’s final transformation of our disordered world into a rightly ordered one was just around the corner. This belief also inspired the author of the Book of Revelation, who wanted to imagine for his audience just what this transformation would be like.

Contrary to what is often commonly thought about the Book of Revelation, it is not about the end of our world by a divinely-induced catastrophe but rather the end of the world as we know it—dominated by evil and destructive empires—by God’s judgment.

Once this current world is ended and evil has been removed, the new world will be the world that God originally intended from the beginning of creation.

The clue to this is that the book’s ending describes a new world in which God’s heavenly presence and throne now dwell in our midst and the results of evil (suffering and death) are no longer found.


©2016 BY MOREHOUSE EDUCATION RESOURCES • ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDPermission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for use in the purchasing congregation only.

Spring• Year C

Children celebrate people they love through art.

Before the session gather materials: con-struction paper in assorted colors, scissors, white or colored glue, crayons or felt pens, magazines.

In the session, remind children that Jesus asks us to love others. Invite children to celebrate people they love.

Offer these directions:◆ Choose one person you love or like a lot.

This person can be a friend or a family member…or even a pet instead of a person.

◆ Choose a sheet of paper in a color you like for your picture.

◆ Put the person’s name in the middle of the picture. One way to do this is to write the name with colored glue. Another way is to cut letters from paper and glue them onto your picture.

◆ Around this person’s name, put pictures or words that you think your friend will like. You might make cut-outs that show things your friend likes to do.

You might write words that say what you like about your friend. Use your imagination!

Invite volunteers to share their finished pictures. Encourage children to take these pictures home, either to give to the people whom they celebrate or to keep as mementos of these people.

People We Love

PR-SC-EA05-DL-A-People We Love


Spring• Year C

Love One AnotherJesus looked around the table. How he loved these good friends who broke bread with him: noisy John and James, brave Thomas, honest Peter, who always said just what he thought, and so many others.

But all his friends looked puzzled and worried right now. They were thinking about what Jesus had just said. “I must leave you,” Jesus had said. “I must die on a cross and go back to God. But in a mysterious way, God and I will always be with each one of you.” What did Jesus mean? Peter wondered. How could he go away and still be with him?

Now Jesus spoke again. “I want joy for each one of you. And so I want you to obey a new rule. I want you to love one another, just as I love you.”

Peter said aloud, “I don’t always feel loving. Sometimes I get angry.”

Jesus said, “You may not always feel loving, but I want you to love one another. That means that when you are angry, you give someone another chance. You forgive one another and you help one another.”

James said, “But what will happen to us when you go?”

Jesus said, “You are my friends. I will always be your friend. I will always be with you, even if you can’t see me.”

Thomas did not understand what Jesus was saying, but he said, “I only want to do what you want me to do, Jesus.”

“This is what I want you to do, my friends,” said Jesus. “I want you to love one another. That is what I will always want my friends to do: love one another.”

Gospel Story

PR-SC-EA05-DL-C-Gospel Story


Spring• Year C

Before the session print all seven pages of this handout. Tape each on the six statements found on the other six pages of the handout to a wall of the classroom, within reach of the children.

In the session, explain:◆ The sheets on the wall have sentences. (Read several examples.)◆ Write your name next to any of the sentences that are true for you.◆ You can sign your name next to more than one sentence.

After 5 minutes, invite volunteers to share stories that go with the sentences.

Who Helps Us?

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Spring• Year C

Invite children to interview each other as “friends of Jesus.” Sit in a circle with the children and say:◆ There are (number of children and adults in the group) important friends of Jesus here today. ◆ Let’s interview them and find out more about them.

Ask a volunteer to be interviewed. Encourage the children to find out more about the volunteer by asking 3-5 questions. For example, children could ask:◆ What’s your favorite color?◆ What’s your least favorite food?◆ Describe a game you like to play.

Continue until every volunteer has been interviewed.

Mock Interviews

PR-SC-EA05-DL-A-Mock Interviews

Living the Good News: Prayers PosterIllustration: Paige Billin-Frye

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Today’s readings picture the love and encouragement to be found in Christian community. In Acts14:21b-27, Paul and Barnabas bring the good news to many places. Revelation21:1-5acelebrates God’s final descent into our

world to bring salvation and a restored world order. In John13:31-33a,34-35, Jesus gives us a new command—love one another; by obeying Jesus, we show our discipleship.

Preschool/Kindergarten children told the story of

the Last Supper with gestures, then used stuffed

animals to act out Jesus’ rule, love one another.

They may have sung, washed each other’s feet, or

begun activities to explore the Eucharist.

Primary(Grades1-3) children discussed people

who love them and whom they love, then heard

Jesus’ teaching about love in today’s story. They

explored cooperative skills by inventing their own

game, since Jesus asks us to work together and

help each other. They may have sung, heard the

song “Child of God,” washed and dried feet, or

studied a eucharistic prayer phrase.

Intermediate(Grades4-6) children shared their

memories and feelings about the Eucharist, then

discussed today’s gospel. They made cards to

give thanks for good people in their lives. They

may have created “Living Statues” picturing the

Last Supper.

Fifth Sunday of Easter • Year C

© 2016 Morehouse Education Resources. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce these pages for use in the purchasing congregation only.

Make a large outline of a hand on paper. Then glue pictures of family members onto it, showing how they are secure in God’s hand.

In today’s gospel Jesus takes the tone of one who must break bad news to children: tender, yet honest and respectful. The mature parent finally learns not to protect their offspring from all life’s hardships. First, it’s impossible to do. More importantly, it is in struggling through those hardships, which increase in difficulty throughout life, that people learn and grow.

Jesus begins as if he’ll tell a “bad news, good news” joke. The bad news is, I’m leaving. The good news is, I’ll be with you more potently and completely than I could be within a human body limited to

a specific time and space. For John, the ultimate meaning of faith is a mystical union with Jesus, incarnation of divine love. He portrays that union now as achieved through other human beings, as in a letter he asks, “how can we love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the people we can see?”

The night before he died, Jesus encouraged us to imagine and build a world where love replaces violence. He asked us to care for each other as he cared for us. He assured us of a final victory: good news over bad, hello over goodbye.

• “I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

Would others know your family is Christian by your love for each other?

(Notice, the distinguishing mark isn’t how clean your house is!)

If you could give your friends one last message, what would you say?


Spring• Year C

The Last Supper

PR-SC-EA05-DL-A-The Last Supper

Spring• Year C

More about Today’s Scriptures5th Sunday of Easter

Today’s readings picture the love and encourage-ment to be found in Christian community. In Acts, Paul and Barnabas encourage new believers to persevere in the faith despite persecution. Revelation describes how God, in tenderness, descends to live among God’s people, removing sorrow and pain. In the gospel, Jesus gives us a new command—love one another; by obeying Jesus, we show our discipleship.

Acts 14:21-27

Paul and Barnabas courageously revisit the churches in Iconium, Lystra and Antioch of

Pisidia, cities from which they had been violently expelled on their first missionary journey. Their concern to encourage these newly planted churches outweighs the concern for personal safety.

“The faith” was a commonly used term for the Christian beliefs that provided the bond of unity (Latin, fides) for the new community.

Paul and Barnabas encourage and reassure the new disciples by revealing that opposition and trials are to be expected if they are to follow Christ’s way and carry on his mission in the world.

Revelation 21:1-5a

Once the first creation has disappeared and the wicked have been driven off to punishment, all that remains is to wonder at God’s eternal mag-nificence, reflected in the new creation. Because

of its association with brutal storms, raging waters and myths of primeval chaos, the sea no longer exists. Such violence is not compatible with the peace of the world to come.

God then provides a new Jerusalem—a holy city because God dwells in it—that suggests the intimate union of God with the chosen people. “The home of God among mortals” fulfills God’s promise to “be with us” (Exodus 3:12) and Jesus’ assurance that “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

John 13:31-33a, 34-35

The gospel readings for this and the next two Sundays of Easter are taken from Jesus’ Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper (13:31–17:26), in which he explains the significance and implica-tions of his glorification.

For John, “glory” means a visible revelation of God’s presence and holiness. Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection manifests God’s glory in the fullest sense. The cross is not a humiliation but a glorification and the revelation of God’s plan for salvation.

The love commandment is new, not as a commandment, but in that Jesus’ love becomes the model for all love and the basic obligation of the new covenant. God’s unconditional love has been revealed in a new way in Jesus. He is more than the standard for Christian love; he is its source. His love is both affective and effective, bonding the Christian community and bringing salvation.

“Strive to love your neighbors actively and indefatigably, and the nearer you come to achieving this love, the more convinced you will become of the existence of God and the immortality of your soul.”

––Fyodor Dostoevsky


00-SC-EA05-SB-C-More about Today_s Scriptures

ReflectionIn today’s gospel Jesus takes the tone of one who must break bad news to children: tender, yet honest and respectful. The mature parent finally learns not to protect their offspring from all life’s hardships. First, it’s impossible to do. More importantly, it is in struggling through those hardships, which increase in difficulty throughout life, that people learn and grow.

Jesus begins as if he’ll tell a “bad news, good news” joke. The bad news is, I’m leaving. The good news is, I’ll be with you more potently and completely than I could be within a human body limited to a specific time and space. For John, the ultimate meaning of faith is a mystical union with Jesus, incarnation of divine love. He portrays that union now as achieved through other human beings, as in one letter he asks, “How can we love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the people we can see?” (1 John 4:20).

The night before Jesus died, he encouraged us to imagine and build a world where love replaces violence. He asked us to care for each other as he cared for us. He assured us of a final victory: good news over bad, hello over goodbye.

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