This Sunday the Children’s Liturgy will take place at St Alphonse during Sunday morning Mass for the first time since March.

For more details: click here.

If you cannot attend the Children’s Liturgy in person, you can still download the worksheet here:

Click here for more information about the Children’s Liturgy online.

The Children’s Liturgy will recommence at Sunday morning Mass this coming Sunday 4 October 2020, starting at 11:15 – i.e. 15 minutes before Mass itself – in the Garden Room at St Alphonse.

In light of the public health restrictions currently in place due to Covid-19, a framework has been developed following the guidelines set out by the diocese for catechesis during the pandemic and after consultation with both the catechists and the team responsible for sanitary measures in church: 

• ​​The Children’s Liturgy will take place in the Garden Room in the courtyard behind the Church.
• The Children’s Liturgy will start at 11:15. This is 15 minutes before the start of Mass in order to allow parents to leave their children at the Garden Room, enter the Church and find their places in good time.
• The number of places at the Children’s Liturgy is limited to 30 children.
• Children will wash their hands at the start of the Children’s Liturgy (hand sanitiser will be provided). They will be seated at tables and any materials used will be disinfected beforehand.
• Children up to the age of six years are not required to wear a face mask but may do so if they wish. Children above the age of six years must wear a mask except when seated. The catechists, helpers and any other adults present must wear a mask at all times. 
• Parents of children up to the age of four years will be welcome to stay if they feel it necessary. Parents of children above that age will unfortunately not be able to stay unless agreed with the Children’s Liturgy coordinator (e.g. in case of special needs).
• Places in Church will be reserved for the catechists and any other adults accompanying the Children’s Liturgy. 
• The children will return to Church at the Offertory. They will enter from the sacristy door. Parents will be invited to remain in their places but to stand in order for the catechists and helpers to return the children to their families.

Click here for more about the Children’s Liturgy in the International English-speaking Community of the Parish of Luxembourg Notre-Dame.

If your mum or dad asks you to help with a job, what do you say? Yes or No?

More importantly, what do you do?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us about a father who asked his older son to help in his vineyard. The son at first said “no”, he didn’t want to. But then he changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard.

Later in the day, the father asked his second son to help in the vineyard. He said “yes, of course”… But then he went off and did something else instead.

Which son do you think did what his father asked?

The one who said he would help or the one who actually went and helped in the vineyard?

Jesus’ message for us today is that it doesn’t matter what you SAY, it matters what you DO.

What can you do to help others like God the Father asks us to?

Click here for more information about the Children’s Liturgy online.

That’s not fair!!!

How many times have you said that…?!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story about some workers who thought their boss treated them unfairly.

The boss gave some of them jobs to do first thing in the morning. Then he gave some more workers jobs to do later in the day. Finally, he gave some workers jobs to do just one hour before the end of the working day. And then he paid them all the same amount of money.

The ones who started first thing in the morning were very upset and complained that the boss was treating them unfairly.

But the boss told them that he had paid them what he had promised. If he was generous and paid the others the same amount, he said, that was up to him.

“In this way,” Jesus said, “those who are last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Sometimes things can seem unfair. But what if the workers who worked only one hour had not been given a job to do? They would have earned nothing and had to go home empty-handed. Would that have been fair?

God is GENEROUS … and he wants us to be too.

Click here for more information about the Children’s Liturgy online.

A story from the Gospel of St Matthew:

Peter came to Jesus and asked him, “How many times must I forgive someone who does me wrong, Lord? Should it be as many as seven times?”

Jesus answered, “Not just seven times, Peter, but as many as seventy-seven times!”

Then Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of heaven: “There was once a king who had many servants. One servant owed the king a great deal of money, but he had nothing to pay him with. ‘I will sell you and your family as slaves and use the money to pay for your debts’, said the king. The servant fell to his knees and begged for another chance. ‘Somehow I will repay everything I owe’, he pleaded. The king was a kind and generous man and, taking pity on the servant, cancelled his debts and let him go. Later that day, the same servant met another man who owed him a small amount of money. When he could not pay what he owed, the servant had him thrown into jail. When the news reached the king, he sent for the unforgiving servant. ‘Could you not forgive someone just as I forgave you?’ he asked. Then he had the servant thrown into prison until he could pay back all that he owed the king.”

Jesus said, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat you unless you forgive others with all your heart.”

Every Sunday we remember to say sorry to God for whatever we have done wrong. And God forgives us:

When we doing something wrong to someone else, it is important to say sorry.

And when someone else says sorry to us, it is important to forgive them.

That is how we all stay friends and share in God’s love for all of us.

Click here for more information about the Children’s Liturgy online.

Adapted Gospel reading from “The Liturgy of the Word with Children” by Katie Thompson from Twenty-Third Century Publications.