Week Nineteen–Our Second Review

We Process In and Read

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4 from USCCB.Org

The Temptation of Jesus.
“1
* a Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
2
b He fasted for forty days and forty nights,* and afterwards he was hungry.
3
The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
4
* He said in reply, “It is written:c

‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”
5
* Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
6
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you’
and ‘with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”d
7
Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”e
8
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
9
and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”*
10
At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:
‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.’”f
11
Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.”

We Read from The Catholic Bible for Children

Abraham and Isaac, Pages 24-25

The children hear the story of the three travelers to Abraham’s and Sarah’s tent. When one of the travelers tells Sarah, “This time next year you will have a baby.” Sarah laughs. The traveler states, “Nothing is impossible with God.” When Abraham hears this message, he realizes the travelers are angels.

The Children Hear More about Angels

In Saints and Angels, a beautiful book by Claire Llewellyn, pages 48-49, we hear, “Angels are holy beings that were created by God and have direct contact with the creator.” The previous week, we also talked about angels as being invisible. This week we talked about angels who were visible to people, including Gabriel, who comes to Mary in the Annunciation; “The angel of the Lord” at the birth of Jesus; and the travelers at Abraham’s tent.

The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism

For our “open floor” free-for-all review, the children are invited to share their knowledge. The material from First Communion is very clear and helpful. We talked about the Sacrament of Penance from Lesson 9, on pages 40-44.

Second Review Before Reconciliation

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Our First Confession “Run-Through”

Thanks to the moms who each took four to six children to read through the Confession Cue Cards for the order and prayers of Confession. This was our last practice, as First Reconciliation will be on this coming Saturday.

We used the Reconciliation Practice Cards from CatholicIcing.com

Our Art Project-“Gifts from Reconciliation”

This idea also came from CatholicIcing.com

The Children’s Lovely Work

Excellent Catechism CD–Catholic Songs for Children

This cd first was a record from the 1950s. It is a great accompaniment for the traditional The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism. We have played it each of the past four classes during “Art Time.” Now, I shout out a question, answered by the song being played, and the kids all shout out the answer. It’s working great. I find myself singing “These are the Spiritual Works of Mercy. They number seven.” I hope the children are singing the songs, too!

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