The New Catholic Magazine for Children!

Yesterday was the feast of Corpus Christi, which is Latin for Body of Christ. We celebrated the gift of the Eucharist. Although the Eucharist looks like bread and wine, It is really the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised He would give us Himself as the bread of life.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.

John 6:51–52 (DRC)

At the Last Supper, He kept this promise.

This picture is from an old illuminated manuscript, the Codex Bruchsal. On the top, we see Jesus raising the chalice. He is consecrating the wine, as the priest does today at Mass.

And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body.

And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it.

And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.

Mark 14:22–24 (DRC)

On the bottom, we see what happened after the supper: Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.

Then after he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, being set down again, he said to them: Know you what I have done to you?

You call me Master, and Lord; and you say well, for so I am.

If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.

Amen, amen I say to you: The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is the apostle greater than he that sent him.

If you know these things, you shall be blessed if you do them.

John 13:12–17 (DRC)

A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Read more: The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey

Magnets are used in many things. Compasses, engines, generators, and even some of your favorite toys use magnets. The whole Earth is surrounded by a gigantic magnetic field with north and south poles!

Read more: Magnets and Their Poles

When boys live some distance apart, it is pleasant to be able to communicate with each other by means of signals. Many and ingenious have been the methods devised by enthusiastic boys for this purpose. But it can be brought much nearer perfection than has yet been done, by means of a very simple system.

Read more: Talking by Signals

"Be quiet now," said an old Nurse to a child sitting on her lap. "If you make that noise again I will throw you to the Wolf."

Now it chanced that a Wolf was passing close under the window as this was said. So he crouched down by the side of the house and waited. "I am in good luck to-day," thought he. "It is sure to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven't had for many a long day." So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail. But all the Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the dogs of the house came rushing out. "Ah," said the Wolf as he galloped away,

"Enemies' promises were made to be broken."

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

Kindness effects more than severity.

Everyone likes Easter eggs. What kind of eggs did you hunt this Easter? Did they look like this? Or maybe this?

Public domain by Tortilovsky

CC-BY-SA by Mystaric (derivative)

Well, what if they looked like this?

CC-BY-SA by Luba Petrusha

Read more: Pysanky: Easter Eggs Like You've Never Seen

©2009 Ben Hatke

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden.

It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. “How happy we are here!” they cried to each other.

One day the Giant came back.

Read more: The Selfish Giant