Faith To Go Podcast: Learning From Mary Magdalene
Hosted each week by the Faith Formation team at St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego, David Tremaine, Maya Little-Sana and Jackie Pippin, the Faith To Go Podcast highlight themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your conversations throughout the week
Activity Time: Emptiness
Hide and Seek - No supplies needed.
Have one child hid while the other search. For each place they search, have them yell HE IS NOT HERE! Continue to play as time allows.
Egg Hunt – Supplies: Plastic Easter eggs.
Set up a designated area for child/children to search for eggs. Have most of the eggs be empty and tell the children to see how many empty eggs they can acquire.
Both of these activities have the importance on the emptiness. While emptiness is normally associated with something negative, here is something so incredibly positive. When Mary Magdalene, and Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Salome went to anoint Jesus’ body, they found the tomb as empty. They knew in their hearts that this emptiness would wipe away death, and would save them, and us all.
Story Time: Gospel Reading and Reflection
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
1) I wonder who went to visit the tomb of Jesus.
2) I wonder why it is amazing that the stone was rolled away.
3) I wonder who couldn’t be found in the tomb.
4) I wonder what they needed to tell the disciples.
5) I wonder where they will see Jesus next.
Dinner Time: Allelulia
Below is a prayer with which to start your meal and then discussion questions to explore this week’s topic with your family while you eat.
Prayer-
Alleluia! You have risen! Alleluia!
It is a mystery.
You were nailed on a cross.
You died.
They put you in a tomb and sealed the door.
It is a mystery.
The tomb is now empty.
You are alive.
Death is nothing to you.
It is a mystery.
You have opened a door for me.
Continue to show me the way to God.
Help me remember the joy of this day.
Alleluia! You have risen. Alleluia!
Questions:
I wonder what Alleluia means.
I wonder what you words you say when you’re happy.
I wonder when we like to use the word Alleluia in church.
I wonder how you celebrated Easter.
I wonder what Jesus wants us to do to celebrate Easter for the next 7 weeks.
Bedtime: Reflections for Children at the End of the Day
During your bedtime routine, invite your children into a time of reflection about their day, maybe by saying, "Did you know that God really wants to know what happened in your day today, and that God is always listening whenever you need to tell God something?" Then continue with these questions:
1) What are some things that happened today that you want to tell God about?
2) What is one happy thing that happened today? What is one sad thing that happened today?
3) Did you see God or feel God with you when those things were happening? Where did you see or feel God when those things happened today?
4) Read to your children this week’s scripture selection, then ask the questions that follows.
John 20:1-18
Early on Sunday morning, before the sun even came up, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where they had laid Jesus' body. She saw that the stone they'd rolled across the entrance had been removed. She wasn't sure what had happened so she ran to find Simon Peter and the other disciple that Jesus loved and said, "Someone has taken Jesus out of his tomb, and I have no idea where they've taken him."
Peter and the other disciple went running right away to check things out. The other disciple beat Peter to the tomb. He looked in the tomb and saw the cloths they had wrapped Jesus in, but no Jesus. Peter caught up with him and walked right into the tomb. He saw the cloths lying there too, but also saw the cloth that had been on Jesus' head rolled up in the corner by itself. Then the other disciple came in, and when he saw what was in there, he believed. At first they didn't understand what they'd been told in the scripture about Jesus rising from the dead.
They left the tomb and went home, leaving Mary standing there crying. When she looked inside the tomb, she saw two angels sitting where Jesus' body had been. They asked her why she was crying. She told them, "Someone took Jesus away and I have no idea where his body is." Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing right in front of her! But she didn't recognize him. Jesus said to her, "Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" At first she thought he was the man in charge of the tomb, and she said, "Sir, if you took him somewhere else, let me know where he is and I'll take him away with me." Then Jesus said, "Mary." She recognized his voice and turned around and said "Teacher!" (That's what she used to call him.) "It's really you!" Jesus told her not to grab him to keep him here, that he was going to go to his Father. "Go tell my brothers that I'm going to be with our God, the father of us all," he said. So she ran to find the disciples to tell them that she had actually seen Jesus and talked to him. And she told them what Jesus said.
Did the story remind you of anything that happened in your day today?
5) What are some things that you want to tell God that you are grateful for today?
Share some of your conversations in the comments below: