We need (enough for 2 small bread loaves, if you want more, increase the amounts accordingly)

§ 500g plain flour

§ 4g yeast

§ A pinch of salt

§ 325ml lukewarm water

We will learn that

· We need one another, several persons are involved in the making of bread

· When we remember others and share what we have, we would be doing what Jesus would want us to do

· Just as the bread becomes part of us when we eat it, Jesus too would like to come to us through the Eucharist

Activity

Step one: we mix all the ingredients in a bowl

We make a list of the people who are involved in providing us with bread, for example the farmer, the baker, the shopkeeper. We pray for these people and thank God for their work and sacrifice.

Step two: we knead the dough

God has a wonderful plan for each of us. Let us imagine a potter, when he starts, the clay has no form or shape, but in his mind the potter already has a good idea of the finished product. Similarly, God wishes that the beautiful plan he has for us becomes a reality. But for the potter to reproduce what he is imagining, he works the clay, he shapes and rolls it. Even the wheat, it passes through a process of grinding to become flour. If they could feel, the clay and the wheat would feel the pain of this process! Likewise, to become what God would like us to become it is not always easy, there will be times when we will need a lot of courage, because our friends would think differently to us, when we obey God, we suffer because we cannot always do what we would like to do. Can we mention times when we passed through situations like this?

Step three: we wait!

Divide the dough into two and put in separate bowls. Cover with cling film and allow to rest for two hours.

The yeast needs time to prove. Presently we are living in a time when we need to wait, we need to wait before we can meet and play with our friends, we wait before we can go to our grandparents and hug them and kiss them, we have to wait to go to a birthday party, we wait to celebrate our birthdays with friends. This is not easy. But Jesus can give us patience and courage to wait, because he loves us, and we too need to love others.

While we wait we can listen to this:

Step four: bake the bread. Heat the oven at 200⁰C. Grease a baking tray with butter or line with baking paper, put the dough in the shape of bread loaves on the tray. Bake for 30 minutes or until you see that it is ready.

We need to wait again! It could be that after some time, we start to smell the sweet smell of bread, but that does not mean that it is ready. If we take the bread out of the oven before it is ready, it would not be good to eat. At times we want things to happen immediately and we are not ready to wait. Has anyone told us that we are impatient! Talk about times when we had to wait, but we did not, with the consequence that the result was not what we wanted. Let us also remember that when we pray, God always hears our prayers. We would like him to grant us want we pray for that very same moment. But just as we must wait for the bread to bake properly, we need to wait for God to answer our prayers, because only he knows when it is the right time.

Step five: we enjoy eating the bread together and let us not forget to give the other loaf to someone else, so that we can share what we have and our love with others.