BIRTH TO 5
Resources and activities for families with young children.
Dear Parents,
We have gone through the forty days of Lent and now comes the time to celebrate the Easter Season, when Jesus rose
up to a new and glorious life. The resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of our Christian faith. By
his death, he frees us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all
justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life."
Your toddler most probably woke up Easter morning to a basket full of eggs. We hope that this tradition will remind them of their friendship with Jesus. Drawing on the analogy of the mother hen sitting and sitting until her eggs hatch, you can explain to your child that Jesus loves us, is with us always, and wants to be our friend. Jesus cares about us that much. Introduce the concept of faith, encouraging them to use the word often. Faith means believing. They believe, for example, that when Mom or Dad puts a band aid on their scrapes, it will feel better and eventually heal. That’s faith. We believe it will get dark at night, and we believe it will be daytime after night. That’s faith. The mother hen believes if she sits on her egg long enough, it will hatch into a baby chick. That’s faith. We are able to believe because we’ve seen it happen before, or because someone told us. We don’t know for sure that something’s true, but we believe it is. That’s faith.
We believe some things about God and God’s son, Jesus: that God made us, that God invited us to be Jesus’ friend, and that Jesus is always with us, that he takes care of us, and that we belong to Jesus. Because an egg belongs to the mother hen, she takes care of it. Because our clothes and toys belong to us, we take care of them. And because we belong to Jesus, Jesus takes care of us. We can’t know this for sure, but we believe it. That’s our faith! God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus to be our best friend. A mother hen so loves her chicken that she sits for days, keeping it warm until it hatches. Share with your child your excitement and awe that Jesus is always there, steadfast in his love and care for us. This is our faith!
May you live this Easter Season at home and with us at Prince of Peace Parish.
Tips for Bringing Your Little Ones to Church
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