Sunday
​ 25 MARCH
PASSION SUNDAY (PALM SUNDAY)

29 March
HOLY THURSDAY
30 March
GOOD FRIDAY
31 March
​EASTER VIGIL
Palm Sunday 
Gospel:  Mark 11:1-10, 14:1 – 15:47
The confession of the gentile centurion - ‘In truth this man was a son of God!’ - we have the dawning light of the new order of things. 
The mood is set for Holy Week - Reflective awareness of what God has done.
Teacher Background
​Easter Customs - starting with Palm Sunday

Monday
26 MARCH
Echo Prayer:
As we prepare for the coming of Easter and the season of hope, we should reflect on and pray for our own hopes and the hopes for others.
  • We pray in stillness.
  • ALL: We pray in stillness. (Pause for 20 seconds)
  • We pray in the silence
  • ALL: We pray in the silence. (Pause for 20 seconds)
  • We pray for peace
  • ALL: We pray in the peace. (Pause for 20 seconds)
  • Continue to add to this last prayer e.g. hope, love, joy.
  • If time is available this week, look ahead to Holy Thursday and Good Friday to help support the learning around these two days in preparation for Easter.
  • There is also some Easter resources for Term 2.  
  • The most appropriate time to teach a unit on Easter will be in Term 2, as Easter is not just a single day but a period of time that lasts for about 6 weeks until Pentecost.  These units provided show explicit links to the curriculum for each year level, and ensure that students are not all doing the same thing for Easter every year. There are  excellent theological resources included too.

Tuesday
27 MARCH
Project Compassion - Psyche Mae's Story
Psyche Mae helped launch Project Compassion with some of our schools at the Cathedral of St Stephen precinct. 
When Psyche Mae featured in Project Compassion 2008, she was living in a squatter settlement, on the edge of a giant rubbish dump outside Manila in the Philippines. Her family was forced to pick through the rubbish to sell what they could to survive.In 2018, Psyche Mae is now a young social worker, achieving her dream of helping others struggling to leave poverty behind them – with plans to study a Master’s degree.
Prayer of Hope and Strength

Wednesday
28 MARCH
Mindful Walking
  • Lead students in a mindful or prayerful walk for 10 minutes. This can be done in the physical sense of actual walking or in the imaginative-meditative sense.
  • Encourage them to stop and wonder, pause and give thanks for creation.
  • Invite them to breathe in the air, feel the ground beneath their feet and notice the sky.
  • Questions for them to consider include:
  • What do I see? What do I hear?  What do I smell? How do these wonders of creation make me feel?
  • Conclude this walk with a time to respond in prayer and gratitude with the coming of Easter.

Thursday
29 MARCH
holy thursday
The Washing of Feet
The highly symbolic Easter ritual of washing the feet commemorates the rite that Jesus practised with his Apostles before his Crucifixion.
John 13:1-17; John 13:34-35
Lord God,
You sent your Son into the world, and before his hour had come, he washed his disciples’ feet. You had given all things into his hands. He had come from you, and was going to you, and what did he do? He knelt down on the floor, and washed his friends’ feet. He was their teacher and their Lord, yet he washed their feet. Lord God, help us learn from his example; help us to do as he has done for us. The world will know we are his disciples if we love one another. Strengthen our hands and our wills for love and for service. One God, now and forever
Amen.
Pope Francis washes the feet of immigrants
In 2016 Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 immigrants during Holy Thursday celebrations, hoping to bring together different religions and cultures in a gesture that comes two days after the Brussels attacks stirred anti-Islam attitudes. "All of us together: Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Coptics, Evangelicals. But all brothers and children of the same God," the pontiff said at a Mass at a migrant reception centre that houses nearly 900 asylum-seekers in Castelnuovo di Porto, north of Rome. "We want to live together in peace."

 Friday
30 MARCH
​good friday
Good Friday prayer
Today we pause to remember Jesus' sacrificial love
that shone light into the darkness; that bore life from such emptiness; that revealed hope out of devastation; that spoke truth through incrimination; that released freedom in spite of imprisonment and brought us forgiveness instead of punishment. Thank you that we can now walk in the light of your life, hope, truth, freedom and forgiveness, this day and everyday.
Amen.
Gratitude Prayer
  • Pray with the song Grateful by Josh Blakesley.
  • Listen for the words Josh uses to describe who God is for him.
  • Notice the grateful messages that people are holding in the video.
  • Spend time in silent prayer and name in your heart what you are grateful for.
  • Write a prayer of thanksgiving for this past term.
The Liturgy background of Good Friday and prayer ideas for families over Easter.