Catechesis Programme (Term 1)

Catechesis Programmes 2022/2023

Visit here Sunday liturgy.

  • Reflection for parents
  • Explanation, video and activity for children aged 4 to 7 years
  • Explanation, video and activity for children aged 8 to 11 years
  • Quiz
  • The Gospel in Symbols

Saints for the months of October, November and December for all ages.

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Welcome, getting to know you

Scripture: Mark 10, 13-16

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Aim:

  • Children are to feel welcome and that they are part of a group
  • Children learn the reason why they are attending these meetings
  • They learn that Jesus loves them

Prayer table:

  • Green cloth
  • Open bible
  • Picture of Jesus with the children
  • Candle (light the candle if it is safe)

Sign of the cross (catechist to use the left hand until the children learn how to make the sign of the cross properly)

Thank you Jesus, we are so happy to meet with all these friends and with you today. We want to become your friends. Amen.

  • Introduce yourself
  • Ask the children about their summer. They enjoyed themselves? (thumbs up). They did not? (thumbs down)
  • Allow the children to introduce themselves, say their names and mention something they enjoy doing, their favourite food, what they are good at
  • ASK: Do you know why are going to start meeting regularly? (allow all reasonable answers)
  • SHOW: picture of Jesus
  • ASK: Do you know who this is? (allow all reasonable answers)
  • This is Jesus. We cannot see Jesus, however during the coming weeks and months, we are going to get to know him better. We will learn that Jesus wants to be our friend, he loves each and every one of us. He gives us people like our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, friends, teachers, priests, catechists … and through them, he shows us his love, he teaches us who he is.
  • Show the Bible: we will be using this special book, called The Bible, to learn about Jesus.

Song:

‘Jesus loves me’ choose one : (version 1 / version 2.

Closing prayer:

Sign of the cross / Sinjal tas-Salib

Sign of the cross (catechist may show one of the above clips before the prayer to explain about the sign of the cross)

Thank you Jesus for … (allow children to say their names in turn)

Although we cannot see you, we know that you love us. Jesus we know that you can hear us and you can see us. We know that you are here with us. Jesus we want to become your friends and to love you daily more and more. Amen.

During this meeting, the children learnt:

  • How to make the sign of the cross (send above links)
  • They are part of a group
  • They are coming for these meetings to learn about Jesus, and to know him
  • Jesus loves each and every one of us
  • We cannot see Jesus, but he uses people like parents, family, friends and others to show us that he loves us, to teach us about him, to help us.
  • Today we listened to this song, Jesus loves me (send link)

Scripture: Psalm 139, 14

I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Aim:

  • Children learn that we are special to God
  • I am the child of God
  • God gives special gifts to each and every one of us
  • God does not give us all the same gifts

Prayer table:

  • Green cloth
  • Open bible
  • Picture of Jesus with the children
  • Candle (light the candle if it is safe)
  • A banner/card with the words “God has made me, I am special”

To prepare:

  • Name tags to be given to the children as they come in, help them to put them on
  • A mirror

Sign of the cross (catechist to use the left hand until the children learn how to make the sign of the cross properly)

Thank you Jesus, we are meeting again today to get to know you better and also to meet with our friends. Thank you for helping us during this day, please be with us so that we allow you to speak to us through Ms/Mr (name of catechist). Amen.

  • Today we are going to learn that each one of us is special!
  • Tell the children that you are going to show them who the most important and special people in the world. Let them guess who that could be.
  • Pass the mirror around and let each one look into the mirror.
  • ASK: who did you see when you looked into the mirror?
  • When you looked into the mirror you saw the most important person in the world. Each one of us is important and special in the eyes of God.
  • ASK: Who has a nose? Who has ears? Who has eyes?
  • God gave all of us a body! There are certain things which we all have, like nose, toes, a heart. But then there are things which make us different and special.
  • Do we all look alike?
  • Do we all like to eat the same food?
  • Do we all like to play the same games?
  • Do we all have the same family?
  • Do we all know how to play football? Dance? Sing?
  • Do you know who made you? God has made each and every one of us, because God loves us. God is like our parent is heaven. We are all God’s special children.

Songs

‘God made me’ choose one : (version 1 / version 2)

Love the way that God made me.

Closing prayer

Sign of the cross

Thank you God for making me special. Thank you for making (allow the children to say the name of the person next to them) special. Amen.

During this meeting, the children learnt:

  • We are all created by God
  • God has made us different
  • God loves each and every one of us
  • We are all special
  • Today we listened to this song (give link)

Dear parents, please make it a habit to praise the children for all the good things they do, for all the efforts they make, even the smallest things. They are still young and they are still exploring and learning about their talents. As parents you can help them in this discovery and you are also important in helping them develop their talents.

Today the children were each given a name tag. Please let them wear it for the coming meetings, so that we all learn each other’s names.

Scripture:

Mark 12, 30

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Aim:

Children learn that

  • saints are those who showed others how much God loves them
  • saints obeyed and loved Jesus

Things to prepare:

  • Pictures of children doing good things: helping others, sharing what they have, friends, children praying …
  • Pictures of children doing wrong things: fighting, stealing, angry, hurting pets ….
  • A St Martin’s bag (a cloth bag will do)
  • A small dustbin or box

Prayer table:

  • Green cloth
  • Open bible
  • Picture of St Martin
  • Candle (light the candle if it is safe)

Sign of the cross.

Thank you, Jesus, we are so blessed to be able to meet with our friends and together we learn how special we are to you. Today we are going to learn about saints. We too want to be good like them, we want to love you and obey you. Amen.

During this year, you are going to learn about different saints. Saints are people who loved Jesus. They also loved others, their families, their friends, their neighbours, they also loved those whom they did not know. They spoke about Jesus with others.

Saints were people like us, they ate, they slept, sometimes they were sad, others happy, they did things which they did not like, and they did other things which they enjoyed doing! They always did their best to do what Jesus wanted them to do. Saints are those people who are now in heaven.

Do you know any saints? (give the children time to name any saints they know)

Apart from these you mentioned, and others like (mention some saints which have not been included in the children’s list) there are many, many others in heaven. All those who die and go to heaven are saints. We do not know all the names of the people in heaven, for sure there are people whom we know, like our friends or relatives who have died.

We said that saints are people who try to do what Jesus wants. Can you name some of these things? (see that they mention: pray, love others, help others, forgive others)

Let us see how we too can become saints, how we can do what Jesus wants.

Show the pictures you have prepared, show also the bag (borza ta’ San Martin) and the dustbin.

St Martin is a saint, so we know that he did good things. When we have food which is not good, we throw it in the dustbin. So I am going to show you different pictures, and you will tell me where to put the picture. If it is a good action, which makes Jesus happy, we will put it in the bag, if it is a bad action we will throw it away in the dustbin! (Play the game)

Very well done, so now we need to remember that to be good children we need to … (get the pictures out of the bag, and show them to the children)

Let us now see the story about St Martin.

  • Did you see Martin sharing his cloak?
  • Have you ever shared anything?
  • What can you share with your brothers, sisters and friends?

When the saints go marching in

or Walking with Jesus.

It is not always easy to obey Jesus. So, we need to pray and ask for his help.

Sign of the cross

Dear Jesus, we want to be like St Martin and share our things, but you know that we do not always find it easy to share what we have with others. Help us so that we become more like St Martin, help us to be generous and to try our best to make others happy. Amen.

During this meeting, the children learnt:

  • That saints are people who loved Jesus
  • Saints choose to do good things
  • Today we listened to this song (note to catechists: give title and link of song used)
  • Next time you go to church, take them round and show them the statues and/or paintings of the saints. Speak to them about these saints. (note to catechists: prepare a handout with short points about the saints in the parish church of your village and give it or send it to the parents)
  • 11th November is St Martin’s feast, read here.
  • Here is another picture, the children may like to colour:
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Download here Year 5Download
Download here Year 6Download

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through our faith. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand your fiath, helping you to connect it in your daily life in a meaningful way.