Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Great Show on EWTN: Feasts & Seasons of the Church

Holy Saturday Cookies

This is a special activity for the evening of Holy Saturday

Before you start, turn the oven on HIGH like gas mark 6 or 400+. This is crucial: it must be done as you all gather, and cannot be left until later.

Now assemble the ingredients.

Three egg whites
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vinegar
1 cup of sugar
A little salt
1 cup of hazelnuts or almonds
A Bible

Put the nuts in a stout plastic bag (or two bags, on inside the other), and let the children beat them with wooden spoons. Explain that Jesus was beaten by Roman soldiers. Read John 19: 1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put one teaspoonful into the mixing-bowl. Read John 19: 28-30, and explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the Cross, he was offered vinegar to drink.

Add the egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave his life for us. Read John 10: 10-11.

Give each child a taste of salt. Sprinkle a pinch of salt into the mixing bowl. Explain that this represents the salt tears shed by Christ’s followers as he was taken up to Calvary. Read Luke 23:27.

Add the sugar to the mixture. Explain that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to belong to him. Read Psalm 34: 8 and John 3:16.

Whip up the egg white mixture until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the white colour represents purity in the eyes of God of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3: 1-3.

Fold in the broken nuts. Drop the mixture in teaspoons on to a well-greased baking tray. Explain that the rocky mounds represent the stone tomb in which Jesus was laid. Read Matthew 27: 65-66.

Put the whole batch into the oven. Have the children seal the doors with some sticking-plaster (adhesive tape used to secure bandages, available at the pharmacy).

NOW TURN THE OVEN OFF! And go to bed. Explain that Jesus died on the Cross and His body was laid in the tomb. Read John 16: 20 and 22. Explain that all the disciples were filled with sorrow and were desolate.

On Easter morning when the oven is opened, and the seals are broken give everyone a cookie and take a bite. Inside the cookies are hollow! Just as the tomb was empty Easter morning! Christ rose from the dead! Read Matthew 28:1-9.

Alleluia

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vincenzo:
I'm making this--very interesting.

Vincenzo said...

Tara,
Cool! I haven't tried it yet - let me know how they turn out. I love how she used the recipe to teach children about Jesus. It's such a wonderful program.

swissmiss said...

I'll have to check out the show. Seems pretty neat. I just learned about the whole vinegar/gall thing and found out that gall has a narcotic effect that would've helped numb Christ's pain a bit. He refused it, in part, to not diminish what He came here for. I had been in the dark about that all these years!

X said...

Thank you so much for sharing! I have copied it and sent it on to many friends and family.