Mother's Day

In their 6-9 atrium, a group of children wrote a prayer to read aloud in their church for Mother's Day.

God loves us and cares for us like a mother.

The Good Shepherd is like the mother of the sheep. Like a mother, he
takes care of them. He knows them and calls them by name. When they
are lost, like a mother he searches for them. And when he has found
his sheep who was lost, he rejoices. He carries the lambs carefully
like a mother. And if a lamb is ever injured, like a mother he heals it.

God, our mother-- be with us, call us closer to you.

Mother God-- search for us, rejoice with us.

Mother God-- hold us, carry us and heal us.

In the name of your son, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, Amen.

Meredith, age 6, drew this picture in which she created a synthesis of the Resurrection, the Women at the Tomb, and the Pearl of Great Price.

From Catechist Dan Teller:
The priest makes the gesture of epiclesis during the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, by lowering his hands over the chalice and paten, and praying over the gifts, “And so Father, we bring you these gifts…”This gesture is presented to the children as an indication of the first part of an exchange between God and people:  God sending the gift of Himself in the Eucharist; people responding with the gifts of themselves, through the prayer of Offering that the priest makes in elevating the host and precious blood (“Through Him, with Him…)

Uriah (4):  “It's all made of pearls.” (as the glass chalice and paten are brought out, a week or two following a lesson on Jesus' parable, “The Pearl of Great Price”, which indicates the value of the Kingdom of God)

On the Pearl of Great Price:
Tristan, age 5: It SEEMS like he went for the least. But he went for the MOST.

During a presentation of the Pearl of Great Price I asked how the kingdom could be like a pearl?
Quinn, 5, said, "It's beautiful!"
Edward, 5, said, "You love it!"

A five year old in the Atrium for her first year.
After the lesson of The Pearl of Great Price I asked what the children thought that Jesus might want us to know about the kingdom? She said, "I think we are the pearls and Jesus is the merchant who gives everything to have us?"

After hearing the Parable of the Insistent Friend, a seven-year-old said that we are the person who comes in the darkness. It is Jesus who welcomes us and then goes to the Father and asks for the Bread.

While doing the Parable of the Insistent Friend, Fred and I read the maxim, "Ask and it shall be given you." At the end I asked him, "What door do you think this is?" He said, "The door to the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God."

It's the Holy Spirit

After the presentation of the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, the children were asked, "What do you think the oil could be?" Daria, 6, responded, "It's the Holy Spirit - you have to go and get it yourself, no one can get it for you!"

Everyone, Everywhere

Dorian, age 7, said, "My neighbor is everyone, everywhere."

Life

During the meditation on the Good Samaritan with a group of 6-9 year old children we thought about the idea that the Samaritan knew the beaten man was a Jew and an enemy. I asked, "Was it important to the Samaritan that the Jew was an enemy?"
"No," the children answered.
"What was important to him?"
Penelope, 7, immediately answered, "Life."

Ursula, 8, had this to say about the tax collector: Maybe the tax collector stayed back because he was afraid. He'd been hated for so long, he couldn't admit he was any good.

Lovable in his heart

Dottie, age 8, during her reflection on the Publican and the Pharisee:
The tax collector was unlovable in his job, but lovable in his heart. The Pharisee was lovable in his job, but unlovable in his heart.

Too Humble

In a discussion of the Pharisee and the Publican:
Catechist: I wonder why Jesus told this parable?
Dorothy: So no one would think he's BETTER than everyone else.
Katya: AND so no one would try to be TOO humble.

God In Us

Darla's reflection on the Maxims in her 6-9 atrium:

Pray for our persecutors

From Dan Teller's atrium:
In the 3-6 atrium, a foundation for living the moral life is prepared as the child enters into a personal and loving relationship with Jesus, our Guide and our Shepherd.  In the 6-9 atrium, this indirect preparation for moral formation leads to a more explicit emphasis on behavior in light of our call to follow Jesus. 
One way that we offer this to the children is through meditation on the “Maxims.”  The maxims are brief Scripture passages, mostly from the Gospels and particularly the Sermon on the Mount, that exhort us to live the life that Jesus calls us to live.

Recently, we were discussing two of the more difficult maxims:  “Love your enemies,” and “Pray for your persecutors.”  Two children's revealed their interior response with their comments:

Bradley (age 7) remarked on praying for our persecutors:  “We need to pray for our persecutors, because if they are persecuting us, then they won't be ready to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Don't waste your time trying to become rich or beautiful

Elizabeth's (age 12) written reflection on the Maxims:
What is life all about?
The sun comes up, the sun goes down.
The tide comes in, the tide goes down.
You wake up, you go to sleep.
Is life just a routine?
Our purpose in life is not to see who becomes the richest.
It is not to see who is the most beautiful.
But it is to serve the Lord and learn to love Him.
So don't waste your time trying to become rich or beautiful,
spend it on learning to love the Lord and serve him.

Thank you for all the world

After the presentation of the Adoration of the Magi, as the class was leaving, Mira, 5,  came back to the material, which was still set up. She bowed at the waist and said, "Thank you, God, for all the riches." She turned to leave, then turned back, bowed again, and said, "Thank you, God, for all the world."

He is like the fire!

It was early Epiphany so we had the Advent Wreath with its four candles and the added white one in the center for the Christ candle. It was getting dark outside and in the semidarkened room I lit each of the candles announcing that the center candle was the Christ candle. The blaze of all five candles overcoming the darkness was rather spectacular - causing Branson, age 6, to jump up with arms flung wide open - almost like a dancing prophet. He joyfully proclaimed his sudden insight and awareness of the often heard phrase that Jesus is the Light of the world. He literally danced about saying:

"Now I know why we use a candle to represent Jesus. He is like the fire! He starts small in one place of the world and spreads all over the world growing greater and greater everywhere he goes. It's like a campfire - you start with one little match and it catches fire to htis enormous pile of wood and blazes into a huge bonfire."