BACKGROUND NOTES FOR THE EUCHARISTIC TOPICS

From the earliest days the Christian community has come together to celebrate the Eucharist and will continue to do so in order to fulfil the command of Jesus to celebrate in memory of him. The Church calls the Eucharist the ‘source and summit’ of its life. The strength we need to live as Christians flows from it and it is the highest form of prayer and praise. It is at the heart of Catholic faith and life and as Catholic communities we need to do all we can to help one another understand this great mystery ourselves and to share our insights with our children at an appropriate level, according to their age and backgrounds. For this reason you will find the notes for this topic are much fuller than usual.

As well as using these notes to help develop your own understanding and to help prepare your assessments, we would encourage staff to come together to discuss their content and help colleagues with any questions. It is essential that staff read all the Background Notes rather than just their individual year group as this will give them a more developed understanding of the Mass.

It is important to acknowledge that many teachers will find this a particularly difficult topic to teach. This is a sacramental topic and therefore the focus of lessons will bean exploration of the different parts of the Eucharistic celebration with little, if any, reference to scripture. Consequently it can be difficult to have a creative approach to the subject matter.

At Key Stage 2 particularly, the children will be focusing on the text of the Mass(it may be helpful wherever possible to explore some of the text in literacy lessons).The Eucharist is so full meaning, depth and mystery that even for adults it is difficult to understand. Having a familiarity with what happens and why through experiencing the celebration of the Eucharist will support adult and child understanding, although it is acknowledged that many teachers and children will have had limited experience of this other than in a school context.

TheThemes

‘Comeand See’isdevelopedthroughthreethemeswhicharegradually exploredeachtime at greaterdepths.Theyare:

  • Communityoffaith - Church
  • Celebrationinritual - Sacraments
  • Wayoflife - ChristianLiving

The assessment tasks for Spring 2014 are linked to the Sacramental theme.

What are Sacraments? – a reminder

A sacrament is something that uses signs – usually a combination of words and actions. By interpreting these signs correctly we can find out what the Sacrament is doing for those who receive it. The signs are not just words and actions that have a message for those who are celebrating it; they give those who receive them a gift. They actually do what they say they are doing. They are effective. This gift (which Catholics call grace) is given by Jesus whom they meet in the Sacrament, to deepen and develop their relationship with him. Through the Sacraments God helps Catholics grow in friendship with him.

Sacramental Themes in Come and See

In Come and See a Sacramental theme is studied each term.

  1. Autumn– Belonging ~ bornintoChrist’slife.

Pupils study Baptism at Key Stage 1.At KeyStage 2pupils will learn about theSacramentofConfirmation, the SacramentofOrdination and theSacramentof Marriage.

  1. Spring– Relating ~ God’sloveinourlives~ Eucharist.

In theSpringterm afterlearning about thelocal Churchcommunity, theSacramentoftheEucharistisexplored.Thisisthe Sacramentofcommunionwith Christand theChurch.Thissacramentisat theheartof‘Come and See’sinceit isat theheartofChristnourishinghispeople.

  1. Summer– inter-relating~ servicetothecommunity ~ Reconciliation.

At Key Stage 1 pupils study theSacramentof Reconciliation.At KeyStage 2childrenwill learn about theSacramentoftheAnointingof theSick.

The Eucharist – The language of the Eucharist

Theinexhaustiblerichnessofthe Sacrament of the Eucharistisexpressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspectsofit. It iscalled:

  • Eucharist:(Thanksgiving) because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. It reminds us of the thanks that Jesus made to his Father at the Last Supper when he gave us the central action of what we now call the Mass.
  • TheLord’s Supper:because ofitsconnectionwith thesupper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion.
  • TheBreakingof Bread: because Jesususedthisrite,part ofa Jewishmeal, whenasmasterofthetable heblessed and distributed the bread, above all at the Last Supper. It is by this action that his disciples will recognise him after his Resurrection.
  • Thememorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.
  • TheHoly Sacrifice: because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Saviour and includes the Church’s offering.
  • HolyCommunion: because bythissacramentweunite ourselvestoChristwhomakesussharersinhisBodyand Blood and to one another to form a single body.
  • HolyMass, (Missa) because the liturgy concludes with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfil God’swill intheirdailylives.

Each year this theme offers the opportunity for us to introduce the children to a different aspect of the Eucharist, the Mass, in each year group.

Structure of the Mass

The Basic Structure of the Mass has four parts: two main parts (the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist) and two framing rites (Opening Rite and Concluding Rite):

Introductory or Opening Rites: WE GATHER

We lead those gathered into an awareness of God’s presence who has assembled a community of faith.

Procession and song

Sign of the Cross

Greeting

Penitential Rite (when we say sorry to God)

(Gloria) – a song of praise used on Sundays and feast days

Opening Prayer or Collect

Liturgy of the Word: WE LISTEN

We listen and respond to the Readings and the Homily.

First Reading (from the Old or New Testament)

Responsorial Psalm (a Psalm from the Old Testament)

(Second Reading) (from the New Testament)

Gospel Acclamation ( to prepare to greet the Gospel)

The Gospel (from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John)

Homily (a short address by the bishop, priest or deacon)

(Creed) – a profession of faith

Prayer of the Faithful (bringing our prayers for different needs before God)

Liturgy of the Eucharist: WE GIVE THANKS

We offer bread and wine and all that we have.

Preparation of the altar and the gifts (the bread and wine)

Eucharist Prayer (including the words of Jesus and prayer of consecration)

Communion Rite:

Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father)

Sign of Peace (offering a gesture of peace to others)

Breaking of the Bread

Communion (distribution of the Body and Blood of Christ)

Concluding Rite: WE GO OUT

Blessing

Dismissal (sending out)

EYFS- Gathering

In EYFS during the topic ‘Gathering’ the first thing children will explore is people coming together to celebrate. Catholics are united in that they believe that coming together for Sunday Eucharist or Mass, is important. They come together as followers of Jesus knowing that

‘Wheretwoorthreecometogetherin my name,I am therewith them’.

(Matthew 18:20)

So, children in EYFS in Week 1 focus on the gathering element of the Introductory Rites. The purpose of these rites is to form the people who have gathered into an assembly, a community. They will learn about the joy of gathering together to celebrate at Mass.

Within Focus Week 1 the pupils learn about the Parish family gathering for Mass.

Use the pictures in Church’s Story 1 p12-13

What do you see? (people, altar servers, priest, crucifix, hymn books, benches)

What is happening? (gathering song is being sung, servers and priest are processing in)

What is the same when we go to church? What is different?

What is the name of the priest(s) in the parish to which the school belongs?

What hymn/song do you like to singing church.

Use the pictures in Church’s Story 2 p6-7

Help children to identify the variety of people arriving at the church and the two welcomers.

Encourage children to think about how the people have got ready and travelled to church and how the welcomers have prepared for what they have to do.

By providing the children with opportunities to re-enact and role play the procession and welcome they will begin to recognise some elements of how Christians gather to celebrate Mass

YEAR 1- Meals

In Year 1 in the topic ‘Meals’ the children focus on the Eucharist as a meal – the last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples. Within Learning Focus 2 pupils will learn about the preparation of the altar and the gifts. It is important for us as adults to understand exactly what happens here and why so as to be able to explore this simply but accurately with the children, using appropriate words and phrases.

There are two main parts of the Mass – the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

With THE PREPARATION OF THE ALTAR AND THE GIFTS the Liturgy of the Eucharist begins.

The gifts of bread and wine which are needed to celebrate the Lord’s Supper are brought to the altar. Ideally, these gifts should come from the assembly, and as a sign of this they are brought forward and presented by members of the congregation. It is no longer the custom, as it was in the early Church, for people to bring bread and wine from their homes to present: instead they now bring money or gifts for the poor or for the Church.

After this in procession, people bring the bread and wine forward with the people’s offerings. It would be better not to call this part of the Mass the ‘offertory’, because it may be confused with ‘offering’; the moment of offering comes later, in the Eucharistic prayer. Here the gifts are simply presented to the priest, who receives them in the community’s name.

When he has received the gifts the priest prepares them, reciting prayers patterned on the ancient Jewish Kiddish (traditional Jewish grace) of the Passover meal:

“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you,
fruit of the earth and work of human hands.
It will become for us the bread of life”.

Everyone responds, “Blessed be God forever.”

Offering the wine the priest prays:

“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,

for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you:

fruit of the vine and work of human hands.

It will become our spiritual drink”.

Everyone responds, “Blessed be God forever.”

The priest then washes his hands as did the Jewish leaders before the ritual meal. This action has also taken on symbolic significance. The priest prays, “Lord wash away my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins.” The priest invites the people to prayer: they respond. The rite concludes with a short prayer over the gifts.

In the role-play we want children to use religious words and phrases such as ‘gifts of bread and wine’, people, priest, altar, giving, taking, receiving, blessing, ‘blessed be God forever’, etc. (Level 1).

To achieve Level 2 the pupil needs to use religious words and phrases to describe what is happening – reference to what the priest and people are saying and doing, e.g. ‘the people take up the bread and wine’, ‘the priest blesses the bread and wine’ etc. Remember not to use the phrase ‘the offertory procession’!

YEAR 2- Thanksgiving

Read the Notes for Church’s Story 2 p83-86 before teaching this lesson.

This task is to be completed in two ways:

Option 1 – cumulatively from Learning Focus 2-6.

Option 2 – at the end of Reveal

Option 1

During the teaching of Learning Focus 2 to the children will be introduced briefly to what happens during the 4 parts of the Mass. The children will learn more about each part in subsequent lessons. As their ability to do this task will increase with each lesson, it is recommended that in Learning Focus 2 the children stick pictures in their books in the right order and write/talk about what happens during the Gathering. After Learning Focus 3 the children can return to ‘We Listen’, after Learning Focus 4 and 5 to ‘We Give Thanks’ and Learning Focus 6 to ‘We Go Out’. In this way the task will be spread out over a number of lessons.

Option 2

Complete this task at the end of ‘Reveal’ after the completion of Learning Foci 1-6.

To achieve Level 2 the children have to simply describe what is happening during the 4 parts of the Mass. This is covered in Church’s Story 2 p6-17 and the notes on p83-86.

To achieve Level 3 children need to give reasons for some of the things that happen during the 4 parts of the Mass.

Below are some simple reasons for some of the things that happen during the 4 parts of the Mass which will enable some children to achieve Level 3.

We Gather:

The parish family gathers together to give praise and thanks to God who is with them. Jesus said, “ Where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there among them”.(Matthew:18:20).

They sing a hymn of praise and thanks to God and singing helps the people to feel united. At the beginning of Learning Focus 3 it says,The parish family pray with the priest in thanksgiving at Mass. They reply to his words by saying certain responses. At the beginning of Mass, the priest may say, “The Lord be with you!” and the parish family reply, “And with your spirit.” By saying this, they are asking the Lord to be with the priest, too

We Listen:

At the end of the first reading, the reader says, “The Word of the Lord!” and the people reply, “Thanks be to God!” The people are thanking God for giving them the words of Scripture which help and guide them in their lives.

Everyone stands up to greet the Gospel. At the end of the Gospel, the priest or deacon says, “The Gospel of the Lord!” and the people reply, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!” They say this because they are praising Jesus for all he showed us in his lifeand his words. (Learning focus 3). Catholics listen to the Scriptures because they teach about God’s love for his people and it is one way in which Catholics believe God speaks to them today.

We Give Thanks:

The word, ‘Eucharist’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘Thanksgiving’. In Learning Focus 1 the children learn at Mass everyone is gathered around the altar with the priest to do what Jesus did with his disciples at the Last Supper. In a special prayer called the Eucharistic Prayer the parish listen again to Jesus’ words thanking and praising God saying, “Takeandeat. Thisismybody,given for you.Do this in memoryof me.” Then, “Takeanddrink. Thisismybloodshed for you.” This is why, ever since then, Jesus’ friends have met together to celebrate the Eucharist in thanksgiving as they remember him and do again what he told them to do. There is more about the Eucharistic Prayer in Learning Focus 4. In Learning Focus 5 the children learn about Holy Communion. The priest uses the words Jesus used at the Last Supper. His words about the bread and wine are Jesus saying to us, ‘This is my living presence, this is myself, it is me’. The bread and wine become theBodyand Blood ofJesusChrist.CatholicsreceiveJesus inHolyCommunion.Jesusbrings usclosertohimself,toGodHis Father and to one another. When Catholics go forward in churchtoreceiveJesusinHolyCommunionit isa veryspecial time of thanks and praise. The priest holds up the host “Amen!”Afterwards,people returntotheirbenchesand intheirhearts, say “Thank you!” to Jesus and want to be very close to him.

We Go Out:

In Learning Focus 6 the children learn that at the end of the Eucharist, the priest gives the parish family a blessing. He then will say e.g. “Go in peace” and the people reply “Thanks be to God!” (There may be other endings to the Mass. The one used here is the simplest.) The Eucharist ends with the people being sent out to followJesus’examplebyhowtheylivetheirlives. During the week, people try to remember to live in peace and friendship with others, to be kind and thoughtful just like Jesus.

Please refer to the notes on Structure of the Mass.

YEAR 3- Listening and Sharing

Within Learning Focus 5 the pupils focus on the EUCHARISTIC PRAYER. As you may recall ‘Eucharist’ is derived from a Greek verb meaning ‘to give thanks’. The entire prayer is a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving.

The missal offers a variety of Eucharistic prayers but they are all inspired by the words spoken by Jesus over the bread and wine during the Last Supper he shared with his disciples on the night before he died.

The elements in the Eucharistic Prayer are:

  • Introductory Dialogue
  • Preface/Thanksgiving
  • Holy, holy
  • Epiclesis(which is the invocation or calling down of the Holy Spirit)
  • Institution narrative and Consecration (the words of Jesus at the Last Supper)
  • Memorial Acclamation or Anamnesis or ‘making memory’ (this means making present the past and future, e.g. ‘We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again’.
  • Elevation/offering - raising up of the consecrated bread and wine
  • Intercessions for the Church
  • Final Doxology (a prayer of praise) and Great Amen.

In order to achieve Level 3 rather than just describing the actions and symbols used in Eucharistic prayer (which the children will see in the video clip or read about in Church’s Story 3), the children need to give reasons for these.