MASS GUIDE FOR CHILDREN - 10

At the Sanctus, the bell is rung to make us remember that the most important and holiest part of the Mass has begun, when Jesus, through His priest, will change the bread into His real Body and the wine into His real Blood.

When we say "Sanctus" or "Holy," we repeat the praise and adoration of the angels in heaven to God.  Jesus is God made man.  He sacrifices His Body and pours out His Blood, so He is a man; but He is also God.  We eat His Body and drink His Blood so He is a man with flesh and blood; but we also receive God Almighty in Holy Communion.

When we say "Hosanna in excelsis," or "Hosanna in the highest," we are repeating what the people said when Our Lord entered Jerusalem as the Messiah or Savior.  Jesus is also coming now to our altars as our Lord and Savior.

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - LAST DAY

Meditation for the Ninth Day: On the Fruits of the Holy Ghost

The Gifts of the Holy Ghost perfect the supernatural virtues by enabling us to practice them with greater docility to Divine inspiration. As we grow in the knowledge and love of God under the direction of the Holy Ghost, speaking through the Church, our service becomes more sincere and generous, the practice of virtue more perfect. Such acts of virtue leave the heart filled with true joy and consolation and are known as the fruits of the Holy Ghost. These fruits in turn render the practice of virtue more attractive and become a powerful incentive for still greater efforts in the service of God, "to serve Whom is to reign."

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - 8TH DAY

 

Meditation for the Eighth Day: On the Gift of True Wisdom

Embodying all other gifts, as charity embraces all other virtues, Wisdom is the most perfect of the gifts. Of Wisdom it is written: "...all good things come to me with her, and innumerable riches through her hands." It is the Gift of Wisdom that strengthens our faith, fortifies our hope, perfects charity, promotes the practice of virtues in the highest degree, and makes us to appreciate the beauty and treasures of our holy Catholic Faith. Wisdom enlightens the mind to discern and relish things Divine, in the appreciation of which earthly joys lose their savor, whilst the Cross of Christ yields a Divine sweetness according to the words of Our Savior: "Take up thy cross and follow Me, for My yoke is sweet and My burden light."

 

 

 

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - 7TH DAY

Meditation for the Seventh Day: On the Gift of Counsel
 

The gift of Counsel endows the soul with supernatural prudence, enabling it to judge promptly and rightly what must be done, according to the mind of the Church, especially in difficult circumstances. Counsel applies the principles taught by the Church, and enlivened by Knowledge and Understanding, to the innumerable concrete cases that confront us in the course of our daily duty as Religious, as parents, as members of the Church, and as Christian citizens. Counsel is supernatural common sense, a priceless treasure in the quest of salvation. "Above all these things, pray to the Most High, that He may direct thy way in truth."

 

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - 6TH DAY

Meditation for the Sixth Day: On the Gift of Understanding

Understanding, as a gift of the Holy Ghost, helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy Religion as taught to us by the Apostolic hierarchy of the Church. By faith we know them, but by Understanding we learn to appreciate and relish them. It enables us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths and through them to be quickened to a newness of Life. Our faith ceases to be sterile and inactive, but inspires a mode of life that bears eloquent testimony to the faith that is in us; we begin to "walk worthy of God in all things pleasing, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

 

 

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - 5TH DAY

Meditation for the Fifth Day: On the Gift of Knowledge

The Gift of Knowledge enables the soul to know those truths essential to our salvation as taught by Holy Mother Church and thereby to evaluate created things as to their true worth--their relation to God. Knowledge unmasks the pretense of mere creatures, reveals their emptiness, and makes clear their sole purpose as instruments in the service of God. It shows us the loving care of God even in adversity, and directs us to glorify Him in every circumstance of life. Guided by its light, we put first things first, and prize the friendship of God beyond all else. "Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it."

 

NOVENA TO THE HOLY GHOST - 4TH DAY

Meditation for the Fourth Day: On the Gift of Fortitude

By the Gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to undertake without hesitancy the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample underfoot human respect, and to endure without complaint, the slow martyrdom of an even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved."