Delia, age 3, was fascinated with the Last Supper (Cenacle) presentation and asked for it on perhaps six successive weeks. When it was presented to her each time, the figures of Jesus and the twelve were taken one by one from their box as they were brought into the upper room and put around the table. Delia, however, when working alone with the material, always carefully lined the figures up behind Jesus and moved them in and out of the room in this way. I finally realized that she was connecting them with the Good Shepherd story and have since watched her move the figures both in the Good Shepherd parable and Cenacle the same way. She had discovered a great theological truth.
One Sunday after several weeks of this, she was listening to the Eucharistic prayer in church. She asked, "Where is Jesus?" I wondered how best to respond. Last fall our beloved dog died. Delia has been trying to understand death.
Leaving church one Sunday during the weeks she was so involved with the Last Supper story, we passed a large crucifix, with the feet of a life-sized Jesus at her eye level. She approached it and felt the nails, carefully tracing each piece. "Are these real?" she asked. I replied that they were part of the statue, a picture of the real nails. Delia caressed the feet, kissed them, and paused for some time.
Then her mood brightened, she said, "But Jesus didn't stay dead." I asked her what happened. "He got up," she said, and skipped off for cookies and milk at coffee hour.
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1 comment:
'Reminds me of a wonderful story our own priest told us last year about a child who was asked to imagine what Jesus must first have said when He rose.
The child screwed up his face for a moment, then broke into a big smile, planted his legs, and spread out his arms to emphasize his answer, which was...
"TA DA!!!!"
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