Easter for children: how to live and explain

Veronica has two children under the age of three who accompany her in the celebrations of

Holy Week

. "I explain to you that it is the most important week of the year and that Easter Sunday is the most important day, because Jesus is risen to save us all and to go with him to heaven. "

For parents, it can be difficult to tell their children what is happening at this time of year. Therefore, more than talking about
Holy Week, priests and catechists propose to live it.

Quijano side, parish priest of Tigre, at first suggested to attend child-friendly celebrations, if possible. Then you will think about the experience and find a way to integrate it into everyday life. Below, a guide day by day.

Holy Thursday

Father Matías Barutta, parish priest of Our Lady of Luján (military), offers an explanation to the children: "On this day, we remember that Jesus met his friends at a dinner that He did not want to leave, he did a miracle: he turned the bread into his body and the wine into his blood, and he told his friends the apostles that, they did the same, he would stay with them forever. " It's a good time to talk to them about the most important part of Mbad: when the priest spends bread and wine, Jesus makes himself present.

Another gesture to share with children is to wash their feet. After the last supper, Jesus cleaned his friends' feet to show them what they had to do: serve others.

Good Friday

It's a sad day: Jesus was unjustly condemned and died on the cross. Children may notice that there are no flowers in the churches and the lights are dimmed. Côte Quijano recommends not to dwell on the cruelest aspects of Holy Week, but to convey three key ideas:

• Jesus is our light, helps us to be good and shows us good.
• Jesus is alive. He did not stay on the cross. He is risen and lives forever.
• Jesus is the good shepherd. He takes care of us and gives his life for us because he loves us very much.

Father Matías recommends doing a
Via Crucis with the children. "Like Jesus on the way to the cross, we find people who love us, people who share our pain and others who help us to wear it so that it is less heavy." Similarly, we can relieve the pain of others when we listen to their problems, we look for ways to help them, we play with them or we visit them when they get sick, "he compares.

Holy Saturday

It is a day of waiting and prayer. "When a friend arrives, we try to make sure everything is clean and tidy." To purify the heart, it is necessary to ask for forgiveness, for example, to make fun of others, to fight or to say things that hurt, "illustrates Gilda Maradan, teacher Manuel Belgrano and catechist.

"We can pray a rosary with a family or friends and light a candle for each Ave Maria," he suggests.

Easter Sunday

"We are coming together to celebrate the life of Jesus," says Gilda. He explains to his daughters that rabbits are part of God's creation and that at Easter they go out to share chocolate eggs everywhere, to celebrate the beautiful news.

More ideas to live this holy week

Cote Quijano proposes simple but significant gestures to make with the family:

• On Holy Thursday, bake bread, invite friends, family or neighbors and everyone to bring something to the table. An adult can read the story of the Last Supper and bless the food with the help of a child.
• Make cardboard breads and spread them among the children. Write what they are willing to share in them. On Easter day, they can bring bread to mbad and give it to their friends.
• At home, make small crosses with ice sticks, where we write everything we want to stop doing: fights, caprices, lies. During the whole holy week, we can bury them in a pot.
• Place the cut sheep with the names of all members of the family on a cross at home. Point out that Jesus on the cross has open arms as he wanted to make us the biggest hug of the world. Jesus is the good shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
• On Holy Saturday, you can pray to Mary and bring her flowers wait for Easter with her.
• On Easter Sunday, remove the buried crosses from the pot and put in its place a burning candle, for Jesus is the light that beats death and darkness.