Double Close

This response for a six-year-old girl became the title for our director, Catherine Maresca's book, DoubleClose: The Young Child's Knowledge of God:
I used Eucharistic Presence as an invitation to Eucharist. This led to thinking about how close one is to what one eats and drinks. One six-year-old girl said, "Oh that's close, very close, double close, a thousand close. That's like being stuck together, like glued. It's as close as your ear is to your head!"
www.cctheo.org/catalog.html#doubleclose

The Holy Spirit!

A child in a 6-9 year-old atrium drew this picture of the altar table set with candles and emblems to symbolize the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost

In his art work reflecting on Pentecost, Kyle, age 7, depicted several scenes. In the first panel, Jesus is on the earth.

The sun is saying to Jesus, "You have so much light I can't see." The sun's eyes are closed.

In the third panel, an angel is holding the Holy Spirit, a dove surrounded by fire and light. The devil saying, "Aaaa," and shakes in fear.

The Holy Spirit, again a dove surrounded by fire and light, descends to the earth.

Jesus is my only power

During a Pentecost celebration. The children had lit small candles to represent the gift of the Holy Spirit they'd like to receive. Afterwards, we were enjoying the moment, singing, or being quiet. Kiaran, age 5, suddenly made this bold proclamation:

Jesus is my only power.

He was born and rose from the dead.

He is the (my) light,

the only son of the Father.

The flame rose

Walter had just finished the Leaven, in which he reflected on the parable of the Kingdom of Heaven and the leaven. In the work, he mixed two bowls of flour, one with yeast and the other without, and waited to see the results. Once he had finished, he moved on to the Baptism work. As he lit a baptismal candle he said, "Look, the flame rose, just like the leaven!"

Wash away the dark clouds

During his second presentation on Baptism in the atrium,  Nick, age 5 said, "Water helps wash the dark clouds inside of you away."

Following his second lesson on Baptism, Sam, age 5, cut out a black cross and asked for yellow paper to make a yellow cross the same size. These he pasted together, one side yellow, the other black. He made about five of these. He took water from the font and traced the cross on the black side. "See?" he asked, and turned it to the yellow. (He was cutting crosses when the children needed to clean up. He refused to come to the prayer table and the catechist was so glad she did not insist.)

Without this light

As she was receiving a presentation on Baptism, Morna, age 5, received a candle and heard the words, "Receive the light of Christ." Morna reflected, "Without this light, we would be in darkness forever."

Beautiful and Precious

During our Liturgy of the Light, we were reflecting on the Women at the Tomb. I asked my group of 6-9 year old children, how the women felt, (afraid and full of joy,) and if it reminded them of any other stories in the Bible. Nan, in second grade, suggested the Parable of the Pearl, because the merchant felt happy about finding the pearl, but perhaps was frightened by how beautiful and precious it was. I had never thought of that parable in this way before.