24th December 2007 Christmas Eve Mass
1st july 2007
Children's
Liturgy Christmas Mass. |
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| Christ
is among us
The candles in the ring
remind us that our Saviour
will light up everything.
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last Christmas is here! The children process into church, some of them
dressed as characters from the Christmas story. They carry stars which
bear the words, 'Happy Christmas' in different languages, so that we can
remember all the countries we have been thinking about during Advent.
Prayers will be said for all children of the world. |
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| Children
carry the figure of the baby, Jesus, to place him in the manger. |
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Father
John explains to us why it is we make up our cribs in this way. We know
that Mary and Joseph, the baby's foster-father, are in Bethlehem, where
Jesus is born. Saint Luke writes about the shepherds visiting the Holy
Family probably because one shepherd stands for Abraham, the father of
the Jewish nation; one stands for Moses, the most important of the prophets;
and one shepherd stands for David, the greatest Jewish king. Making them
present at Jesus' birth reminds everyone that the baby comes to make sense
of what has gone before in the history of the Jews.
It was Saint Francis who had the idea to create the first crib, so that
everyone would remember the story. He decided to include the ox and the
ass, because he liked animals. Also, he knew that in the book of Isaiah,
the Bible tells us about the ox and ass praising God.
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| We
say prayers for the Holy Land, especially for peace after the long struggle,
between the Jewish and the Arab people who live there. The Jewish people
call the Holy land Israel; the Arab peoples call the Holy land Palestine.
We have been learning the words for peace in several languages. A Jewish
person would say,'SHALOM'- and here is a poem for peace written by a child
of the Holy Land: |
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MY
SHALOM, MY PEACE.
My Shalom, my Peace, is hidden in every broad smile.
In every cheerful look-
My Shalom, my Peace.
It smiles at me, this Shalom of mine,
From the laughing blue eyes of a child,
From children playing in the streets,
It winks at me, my Shalom, my Peace,
And it is always round, this Shalom of mine,
Like Hope which to the heart is bound,
This Peace of mine everywhere, always will be found.
Margit Cohn, aged 15, Ashdod.
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children of Saint Joseph's send their love and peace to the Holy Land.
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