28 - The Discovery of the Cross

References
The Sinaxarium.

Notes for Servants
- Does the cross have a place in your heart?
- Does the cross give you cordial inner comfort and satisfaction for your soul?
- Do you believe that the cross is the cause of your satisfaction and the forgiveness of your sins as
the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sins was poured on it?
-  Do youprayto the beloved God who took flesh, became manand was crucified for youand inthis
your spiritualpower willincrease so long as youprayto Him? Repeat this statement many times -
"My beloved Crucified Lord, have mercy on me."

Objectives

General: Our importance of the cross.

Specific:
The children will be able to
A. proud of the Cross as symbol for salvation.
B. explain why should we ware or carry cross all the time.
C. understand why should we hold fast to the cross.

Bible Verse
"I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

(Galatians 6:14)

Teaching Aids
Felt figure and flannel board.

Instruction
(1) Review last week's lesson.

(2) Who remembers the verse?
(3) Remind the children about the church occasions for the coming week.
(4) On 10thof Paramhat (19th of March) of every year, we celebrate The Feast ofthe Cross, on
which we commemorate the discovery of the glorious Cross of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because
thisfeast always fall in the Lent, the church celebrate the Feast of the Cross on17thofTute (27th
of September) in which the church of the holy Cross was consecrated.

Story Time
The Lord arranged that the persecution of the Christians would come to an end by the hands of
King Constantine who worked for the good of the church. He gave his mother a great amount of money
and sent her to the Holy Land to build churches and monasteries.
QueenHelene was 80 years old when she went to Jerusalem to search for the Cross uponwhich
Christ was crucified. At first, she failed to find it. But she knew that the Jews had put a hillofdust onthe
place where Christ's tomb was, and that they had built a pagan temple on it. She gave orders that the
temple should be destroyed and the hill be removed.
During digging, theyfound the tomb ofthe Saviour and three crosses and some nails near it. They
brought a sick womanwho suffered froma dangerous disease for a long time and put the cross onher, but
she was not healed. They put the other cross on he, but she did not recover. But whentheyput the third
cross on her, she was healed at once. When they put the same cross on a dead body of a man, he was
brought back to life. In this way, Queen Helene could recognize the Lord Christ's cross and she was very
pleased to discover it. She built a church there and that day on which she discovered the cross became
a feast in the church. That was in the 4th century.

Discussion
1 - Follow up the story by talking about it with the children.
2 - Continue the discussion while they do the activity.

Learning Activities
Activity Sheet.