Begin with a few moments of quiet.
Invite all present to sit comfortably.
When sitting comfortably, take three deep breaths, as you breathe in feel your lungs filling all the way up, when they are full slowly release your breath and feel your lungs emptying out fully. Repeat this three times.
Now return to breathing normally.
Opening ourselves to the Presence of God in our lives
Have a conversation, allowing each person present a few moments to think about and to reply to the following.
Thinking back over the week, let us share with one another
What is it that I want to say thank you for?
What is it that want to say I am sorry for?
Use a piece of quietening music to help come into a space of prayer
Now begin with the following prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that we can celebrate Jesus
Thank you for all He did for us
And all that He continues to do
Help us to trust in you
Even when we don’t understand what’s happening
We know you work things for good
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Introduce the Gospel
Today is Trinity Sunday
In today’s Gospel , one of the most famous and popular Gospels, we listen as Jesus talks to a Pharisee named Nicodemus. When Jesus and his followers were traveling about and preaching not everyone liked them. One of these groups was called the Pharisees. They were a group of religious leaders who lived in Jesus’s time and they believed that what Jesus was saying was wrong. But one night a Pharisee named Nicodemus secretly met with Jesus and spoke with him, after this meeting he believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Let’s listen to what Jesus said to him.
Read the Gospel John 3:16-18
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its Saviour. Whoever believes in the Son is not judged; but whoever does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in God’s only Son.’
Have a Conversation about the Gospel
What do we remember from today’s Gospel?
Who are the people in today’s Gospel?
Jesus, Nicodemus and God are the people in today’s Gospel.
What does the Gospel say that God does?
In the Gospel today we hear that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son Jesus so that we might have eternal life.
Let’s take a moment and think about the words “God loved the world so much”- what do you think this means? Does he love everybody and everything in the world?
Yes God loves the whole world, everyone and everything in it; he loves you and me and all the people, he loves all the animals and everything in the world. God loves us very very much no matter what, he loves us so much that we can not make him love us any more or any less than he already does.
The Gospel tells us about God’s great love for us, what does it say that God did to show this love?
It says that he gave his only Son to so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
What does God ask us to do?
He asks us to believe in Jesus and that he is the Son of God
What happens if we believe?
If we believe we will have eternal life.
Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Trinity sounds like a hard word to understand and you may think that you do not know what it means. But do you know that we use it each time when we bless ourselves:
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
When we think about God we think of one person, the Father who created everything in the world and loves us very very much. But there is also God the Son in the form of Jesus, who taught us how to live and to save us from sin. There is God the Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s love, who helps us listen to God’s word and to see goodness all around us and to do good works.
Watch this short video on the Feast of the Holy Trinity :
End with a prayer
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
A Parents Prayer To The Blessed Trinity
O heavenly Father, I offer my children to you.
Be their God and Father both now and for eternity.
In your great mercy, make up for whatever,
through weakness or neglect, is missing,
Keep them loyal to your Son, Jesus Christ.
As he overcame the world and conquered sin,
grant that they may resist all temptations
and grow daily in the grace of Jesus,
and in that knowledge which surpasses all understanding.
Pour your love into their hearts:
increase in them the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
O blessed Trinity, you made them in your own image;
preserve and strengthen that likeness in them each day.
Some Activities
Here are some activities you might like to complete during the coming week as a reminder of this Gospel today.
Other Activities and puzzles
Breaking Open the Word in Prayer 