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For a better understanding of the Last Supper of Jesus
Louise-Marie Niesz
A group of parents asked: "How can we bring the liturgy alive for our children, so that it will HAVE MEANING for them?" The experience described here is an attempt to answer that question.
This Celebration took place with a group of twenty children (5.11 years old), together with their mothers.
I - To prepare the children to listen to the reading of the biblical text of THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT (Ex. 12:1-14)
we studied together the significance of the three key words in the text. One by one they were written on the blackboard in Hebrew characters, together with the transliteration. The children copied them as they would a picture and were proud of being able to pronounce them.
1) "PESAH" — PASSOVER = passing over (journey)
God prepares a great journey for his people.
The story is told of the hard life endured by the Hebrews, their situation as slaves in Egypt.
Some slides are shown of Egyptian wall-paintings to show where the STORY takes place.
The slaves cry out to God, and God prepares to make them GO OUT from Egypt. Ile calls MOSES to whom he gives his orders — and to whom he explains HOW each one must PREPARE for departure.
2) MATZAH — UNLEAVENED BREAD = flat biscuits
Teacher: how is bread made? What is needed to make bread?
Child: Flour, water and yeast (leaven).
And it takes time for the dough to rise.
Teacher: Yes! It takes time and when there is no time?
Child: It is not worthwhile using yeast.
Teacher: Good! That is exactly what the Hebrews did: they simply mixed flour and water; they cooked it quickly and therefore they had flat biscuits: in other words, unleavened bread (show unleavened bread).
3) MAROR — BITTER HERBS
Teacher: When you eat something bitter, you make a face and show that you are unhappy, that it is not good.
This is the way the Hebrews showed they were not happy in Egypt.
II. Reading about the going out from Egypt (Ex. 12:1-14).
The children RECOGNIZE the things that have been talked about and they arc AWARE of those that were not mentioned: the LAMB offered in sacrifice and shared by each family.
Teacher: God asked the Hebrews to remember ALWAYS this great journey that he had made them undertake because they were SLAVES in a foreign country, and they became FREE MEN in a country of their own.
So that they would NEVER forget it, God told them to prepare this special meal each year, on the anniversary of the great event. Jewish families still do this TODAY.
When he was a child, JESUS also celebrated this anniversary with his family and all their friends. In the last year of his life, in JERUSALEM„ when the feast of PESAII drew near, he wanted to celebrate it with his disciples.
III. Reading of the Preparation of the PASSOVER of JESUS (Mt 26:17-19).
IV. The children and their mothers were invited into another room,
where a long table had been prepared, decorated with flowers. At each child's place there was a candle and a leaflet "For a better understanding of the Last Supper of Jesus", together with a reproduction of the Last Supper.
The children were asked questions.
Teacher: Jesus asked his disciples to PREPARE the PASSOVER, but we are not told what they prepared. Have you any idea what they prepared?
The children MAKE UP the gospel story for themselves; their spontaneous answers are evidence of this. illhey had to find a house.
A room.
A table and chairs.
They prepared special things to put on the table. UNLEAVENED bread.
A plate with three MATZOT is put on the table. ChiId: Why three biscuits?(anleavened breads) Teacher: As a REMINDER that the WHOLE people
was delivered from Egypt.
a) priests
b)levites — chose who help the priests
c) the rest of the people.
And then?
Child: Bitter herbs.
A dish of horseradish is put on the table; the children taste it -- making faces!
Teacher: Is that all?
Child: What about the Iamb?
Teacher: Yes! They also prepared the lamb. Today, in order not to forger the lamb, families put on the table at least a shank hone, with a little roast meat left on it.(1) This is what we will do.
The shank bone is brought.
Child: What k there to drink?
Some wine.
Teacher: Yes! Wine is drunk at a festive meal TN ORDER TO REJOICE TOGETHER. Jews always have one cup of wine for a festive meal, but the Passover fees: is so important they take four cups. All the wonderful things God has done are remembered and enumerated. starting with the creation of the world. This is done in a song, and after each marvel the Hebrew word DAYENU is sung, which means: It would have been enough!(2)
Teacher: The third cup is nor drunk "to the dregs"
You leave a drop of wine, deprive yourself of a little joy, because you recall the death of the Egyptians, and you must never rejoice at the death of your enemies, because they also are children of God.
A fifth cup, an empty one, is added to the other four; this is for a guest who is expected — the prophet ELI JH
Two other things are also put on the table on this particular night. The first is another reminder of history, of the time when the Hebrews were obliged to make bricks for the Egyptians: this is a mixture of apple and chopped nuts, flavoured with wine and cinnamon. This paste recalls the clay for the bricks and thus the "rime of misery when we were slaves in Egypt". (It is called &racer.)
The second is a hard-boiled egg.
Teacher: What happens when a hen sits on an egg? Child: A little chicken is hatched.
Teacher: But if I cook the egg?
Child: The egg is dead.
Teacher: Yes! The egg is dead; this is why it is a sign of mourning and sadness: it is a reminder of all the evils which happened to the Hebrews, because it is very difficult to become free when you are a skive: you even have to he ready to pass through death, Many times the Jewish people thought they would die, hut they had such a strong faith in God that God always gave them life.
V. Each child lights his/her candle.
Teacher: It was while celebrating the meal of the Hebrews, in MEMORY of the EXODUS from EGYPT that JESUS rook unleavened bread, that he took the fourth cup of wine — the cup of blessing, of thanksgiving, and he said to his friends:
THIS IS MY BODY,
THIS IS MY BLOOD,
DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.
IF YOU EAT THIS BREAD, IF YOU DRINK TINS WINE,
YOU WILL HAVE LIFE — FOR EVER, Child: It is just like at Mass.
Teacher: Yes! The Last Supper of Jesus has become the Mass for us.
We prepared everything in order to understand it better.
Following the apostles, only priests can reproduce for us the real Last Supper of Jesus.
The children stand and sing:
When we eat this bread and drink this cup
we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus,
until you COME AGAIN!
VI. They leave the room with their lighted candles and the leaflet.
The whole experience lasted more than an hour without any signs of boredom. It was suggested to the mothers that they should take their children to certain churches on the following day, Holy Thursday, where they would find the big table prepared. We know that some of them "participated" in a very real way at the great evening liturgy. The Mystery had become "interesting" again.
The celebration has also been used with 12-15 year olds.
" Sr. Louise-Marie Niesz, N.D.S., who is in charge of SIDIC-Paris and a Consultant to the S1DIC Review, has had many years of experience in the catechetical field.
1. The shank bone replaced the lamb after the destruction of the Temple, 70 CE. The egg (see further) also comes from this time.
2. A simplified form of the Dayenu may be found, for example, in: Clive A. Lawton, The Seder Handbook, Board of Deputies of British Jws, Woburn House, Upper Woburn Place, London WCIH OEP, 1984.
