Weekly Liturgical Activities

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Sunday, May 11
This Sunday is, of course, Pentecost Sunday. Besides being the day when the church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the Blessed Mother, Pentecost is really the birthday of our church. We always celebrate (of course we do) with a birthday cake, but there are dozens of ways to remember this special event. And because the Holy Spirit is the fire that never blows out, you might want to pick up some of those trick birthday candles!

For children, I think the Holy Spirit is really a great mystery. For that matter, sometimes it's a great mystery to adults. When I was reading in The Divine Intimacy this morning, I read this:

"He, the breath of love of the Father and the Son, is a Person, and a divine Person. He is a complete being. He is God and wholly God, not a part of God; although absolutely equal to the other two divine Persons. He is distinct from them; He is subsistent in Himself, knowing and loving. Because the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, we can have relations with Him just as we do with the Father and the Son."

I think it is helpful to explain to children that the Holy Spirit is a person. Since the symbol of the dove or the ball of fire is frequently associated with the Holy Spirit, I think we often don't think of Him as a person. He is the comforter.

It's also o.k. to admit that the concept of the Holy Trinity is a little confusing, but that faith is needed to believe.

● Here are some wonderful online stories to help children learn about the Holy Spirit.

Coloring pages
● For younger children, here, and here.

● For older children: here.

● For online coloring, go here and scroll down.

● This is a clever craft where you can easily create the tongue of fire over the apostles, and make the tongues move.

● There are many dove crafts available. Here is one. I think it's alright to use the dove as an illustration, as long as children understand that the dove represents how the Spirit moves, not who He is.

● Here is a page of dove crafts for littles.

● Here is an interesting craft to illustrate how the spirit moves and is always present (no. 1). And here is another.

● Here are some word puzzles:
For younger children: here, here, and here.
For older children: here, here, and here.

● You'll find an online word puzzle for a variety of ages, here.

● For an art history lesson, you'll find links to many works of art here.

● For a music lesson, listen to and learn "Come Holy Ghost."


The feast of Our Lady of Fatima is this coming week, but I'm just so busy now, I'll try to post activities over the weekend.
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