May begins and we are still in the season of Eastertide. As we continue to celebrate the Risen Jesus, we are invited to get to know Him; to recognise Jesus in our lives, listen to His voice and follow Him.

We also celebrate Mary our Mother, as May is traditionally the month of Mary. Many parishes and schools will be honouring Our Lady with spring flowers in May Processions and opportunities to pray the Rosary.

This newsletter shares some of the content children will experience in school throughout May, and suggests ways for you to engage with them about it. We hope it is a useful resource for your family prayer time. 

NEEDS AND FEEDS

This assembly for the first week in May celebrates our ongoing friendship with the risen Jesus. Children start with a food quiz and consider why we need food. Then our focus is turned to Jesus, our friend, who wants to feed us and give us all we need. 

Through the Gospel story of Jesus sharing a miraculous breakfast with His disciples, children will learn that they can trust Jesus to provide for their needs– because He loves them!

With your child/ren, you might like to…

• Prepare a favourite family meal and talk about how food provides energy, helps us to grow and keeps us healthy.

• Talk about the Eucharist with older children, and the spiritual energy, growth and health Jesus provides. You might want to share your thoughts and ask children about their understanding of this spiritual food.

• Encourage children to bring their needs to Jesus in a family prayer time.

PRAYING THE ROSARY

The Rosary is a meditative prayer that uses beads (Rosary beads) to help us to keep track of the various repeated prayers. The repetitive nature of the prayers allows us to reflect on the life, ministry, and death of Jesus and also on His Blessed Mother, Mary.

Praying the whole Rosary, including focussing on each of the four parts or ‘mysteries’ can seem daunting, especially for younger children but the prayer can be easily simplified by focusing on one mystery or even one focus event within the mystery and limiting the prayer to one decade.

We’ve created a Rosary resource that we hope will support families with this prayer.

With your child/ren, you might like to…

• Access our Rosary Resource in the Parent Portal which gives full explanations and guidance to help you pray the Rosary at home with your child(ren).

• Focus on one of the Mysteries and talk to your child about the stories and events that make up each of the five elements.  Perhaps a good place to start would be the Joyful Mysteries which contain stories and events that may be the most familiar to children e.g. the Annunciation and Jesus’ birth.
• Share the prayers between members of your family or split each Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be into two parts with different voices saying each part.

PILGRIMS WHO PRAY

In the Sunday Gospel for the week beginning 19th May, Jesus gives His new commandment - to love others as He has loved us. Jesus loves us as much as it's possible to love someone - He gave His very life out of love for each of us.

These prayers remind children, especially in this Jubilee year, that one of the most loving and powerful things we can do for others is pray for them. Through these intercessory prayers, children reach out to the sick, the homeless and those in situations of war and conflict.

As a family, you might like to make up your own prayers of intercession using the prayer guide below:

We pray for those who ….

Help them to ….

Give them comfort/courage/hope to…

We pray to the Lord.

Lord, in your mercy.

All: Hear our prayer.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen