Activity

We ask:

· What was today’s reading about?

· Do you think we would have managed to feed all those people with five loaves and two fishes?

We know that we are to share. What can we in fact share with others? (apart from the obvious examples of food, sweets and giving money to the poor, help the children to realise that they can share their time and their talents. As parents we need to help. If for example our children have a good voice, apart from involving them in competitions, we can encourage them to take part in the parish choir and take part in philanthropic concerts).

· Can you imagine, how the apostles felt, when Jesus asked them to give the people food?

· What did Jesus do with the bread and fish, before giving them to the apostles to distribute to the people? (pray)

· Does this remind you of another time, when Jesus did something similar? (the Last Supper)

· Does it remind us of a prayer which is said during mass? (the Eucharistic Prayer)

That day, Jesus healed the sick, he taught the people and gave them to eat. Today Jesus still does the same things. During mass, he teaches us, he heals us from our sin, he forgives us and give us to eat. The food he provides, through the Eucharist, is food which gives us strength and courage to make good choices.

The way Jesus does his Maths is very strange. When in Maths we have to share something, we need to divide, like for example we share a cake among ten persons. But instead of dividing, Jesus multiplies, he multiplied the bread and fish! We are surely not able to do this. But we believe that when we do something good, Jesus will repay us in a big way, amongst other things, by sharing we will feel happy and we can also make new friends. Jesus is so generous that he does not divide the good that we do, but instead he multiplies it.

We ask:

· What can we share?

During the last few months, we spent a lot of time inside because of the Corona Virus, we heard and saw many people share with others. Can you name some of these actions? It could be that you yourselves or your family did some of these good deeds (the doctors and nurses helped the sick, some did not even go home to protect their families, a number of parishes and groups provided food for those who lost their job or could not go out of their homes, many families did the shopping for their relatives or elderly neighbours, many children called their grandparents so that they did not feel alone).

After this discussion, we give the children the cut outs of the five loaves and two fishes. On each one (on the back) they write one good deed that they will do (for example, clear their room). They give the card to their parents or person concerned (if the card says, clearing the bedroom, they give it to their parents). It does not stop here! The card is given and the deed has to be carried out. The pictures of the loaves and fish may be coloured in. Whilst they are doing the colouring, we can listen to Loaves and Fishes