GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

Bread is a wonderful thing. It is a delicious food, and can be eaten any time of the day or night.

When mom or dad or our guardian or the clever bakers make bread, my, the lovely scent of fresh bread can make us feel hungry!

Well, Jesus loved bread too. Almighty God the Creator had come up with an amazing Plan, so wonderful that the angels cheered in heaven when they heard it.

He made a little seed, a grain. Then when this tiny kernel was pushed into the ground (which, by the way, God ALSO invented!) it popped up through the soil.

It grew green things which God explained to the angels were leaves.

These leaves took the carbon dioxide which we breath out, changed it to oxygen and pushed the clean oxygen out so we could breathe fresh air safely and stay healthy.

What a clever plan. Then when the plant grew tall, it made many many grains. These could be picked by us, God explained, and ground, and baked to make a delicious bread which everyone would enjoy eating.

God always likes to look after us. Well, Jesus took the bread holy God had made possible for us to grow and bake and eat, and made it into an ever bigger blessing. The bread was blessed by Jesus in a special way to become holy communion for us all to eat.

Jesus turned humble bread into holy communion, when He prayed to the Father and then blessed the bread into His holy Self.

This bread is His Body, and helps us to enter everlasting life with Him.

This is a great mystery. 

Jesus taught us to pray in the Our Father for all the things we need every day; for food, shelter, family.

God knows we need Him.

If we are having problems, let us turn to God and pray for all we need.

Let us thank God that He loved us so much that He planned to make us all full sons and daughters of His human family by sending us Jesus to give us the Holy Divine Bread.

How great is God! 

Children, why not watch the great story of how Jesus made the first Holy Communion. This He did at The Last Supper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=997ni1xcmKw 

And colour in a beautiful picture 

http://www.supercoloring.com/pages/the-last-supper-by-leonardo-da-vinci

With thanks to Youtube and supercoloring.com

Angel appears to Shepherds

With thanks to the Flannelboard Artist

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Jesus helps His mom; an obedient Child

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

Jesus teaches us in the Our Father prayer that sometimes we can feel like doing things that can hurt ourselves or other people.

This is not right.

As a child of God, we must try to only do good things.

So we ask God to help us.

There is a very naughty spirit called the devil who does not like God or Jesus, and is happy when we do naughty things.

We pray that we will only do good things.

We also ask God to protect us from anything that can hurt us.

  

God has given each of us a special guardian angel, and this angel helps us to choose to do good things.

At the end of the prayer we say Amen, which means 'So be it.'

THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

God is so wonderful.

He makes a special plan for each one of us when He makes our special soul and gifts us to our parents.

When Jesus was a little boy, his mother Mary and his earthly father Joseph taught Him how to pray.

The beautiful picture shows us Jesus' wonderful mother Mary teaching Jesus how to pray from the Torah, the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is the great Word of God. 

Just the same as any of us, Jesus had to learn how to do things. 

As a baby, He had to learn to crawl and walk. He had to learn how to talk. And He had to learn how to pray.

It is all very exciting that Jesus had to learn the same things as us.

It means that Jesus came to show us the way to being very holy - by learning and doing things as best we can for the glory of God.

It does not matter how talented or clever we are - every person is perfect, just as they are. And so very, very loved by God.

When Jesus teaches us to pray for God's Will to be done, He leads us to pray that we will follow God's great Plan for us.

God only wants the best for us - as little girls and boys, let us pray to God to help us only do good, as we obey His Will.

Pray this prayer, 

"Dear Daddy God, thank you for making me special.

Thank you for loving me.

Please help me with all the things that happen in my life.

Thank you for when I feel happy, and please help me when I am sad. Amen."

BABY JESUS IS BORN

The great ruler in Italy called the Emperor ordered all people to write their names on a list in the town were they were born.

Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus under Mary's heart went to Bethlehem.
This was because they came from the family of King David, and Bethlehem was the city of David.

Bethlehem was full of travellers. 
The inns were all full of visitors from all over Israel who had come to write their names on the list, which is called the census.
There was no place for Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus under Mary's heart at the inns.

Mary and Joseph were terribly worried, because Baby Jesus was ready to be born and they needed a place for Him to be safe and comfortable.

All turned out well, because they found shelter in a stable.
Baby Jesus was safely born.

God was so pleased, He made great celebrations.
A beautiful star shone over the stable.
Three great kings from the East came to honour Jesus.
All the angels sang in honour of Baby Jesus, God's own Son.
Shepherds came to visit the new Baby.

Mary wrapped Baby Jesus in comfortable cloths, and placed Him to sleep in a manger.
The animals breathed gently, keeping the stable warm.
Everybody was happy.
And we, too, are happy that Jesus was born to be our great Saviour.

Why don't you colour in a lovely picture of the Nativity, Jesus' Birth? See link 

http://www.bible-printables.com/Coloring-Pages/Christmas/ 

And watch the story of the Nativity at the link; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YijgnaGk2Us

With thanks to bible-printables.com/ mormonchannel.org 

BABY JESUS

God made a great miracle. 

God sent Angel Gabriel to visit Mary and to ask her to be the Mother of Jesus.

Gabriel told Mary the exciting news that Jesus would be God's   Son, and King over everybody.

Mary was so excited.

She said yes, she would be Jesus' mother.

And so God's Holy Spirit made a miracle; Jesus, God's Son, became Man under her heart.

WHAT IS A TABERNACLE?

A Priest celebrates Benediction in front of a Tabernacle

In some churches there is a beautiful place for the blessed bread of Jesus' Eucharist to be kept safely.

Often a red light burns beside it, to tell us that Jesus is present.

The Christian Tabernacle reminds us of wonderful Jewish times, when Moses pitched a tent for the people of Israel during their long journey through the desert.

This tent was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. 

The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred golden box with beautiful angels decorating it.  

The Ten Commandments were placed inside the Ark.

A plate of the holy manna bread and Aaron's rod was placed before it. 

The Tabernacle in Moses' time was a tent-sanctuary.

Sanctuary means a shelter.

  

We love Jesus in the shelter of our hearts.

Deep within each of us is a special place where we can feel love. 

We call this our heart.

Let us love Jesus and God very much in this special place in our hearts.

We can make a shelter of love inside our hearts for God.

This is a wonderful thing, and makes God - and us - very happy.

We thus become a shelter for the Lord.