Created with Hope

Prayer by a 4th grade boy whose father is in jail and whose mother is dead:

Lord God, you created us with hope. We thank you for all the good things you give to us. Please forgive your children who went against you and help those who don't have any strength or can't see their families any more because of sickness and can't walk, see or hear. God, you have opened up the light and gates to heaven. We thank your son Jesus for dying on the cross for us. You give us sun, earth, land, trees, animals, grass, people. And at the end to our earth there would be hope.

Prayer to the Spirit

Group Prayer from Level II:  

Come Holy Spirit,

Fill us with your love and goodness.

Free us from our sins and help us on our path to heaven. 

We pray that your power will take the evil away from the planet you made us.

Thank you Holy Spirit, thank you.

Amen

Jesus and the Animals

God is Cool

Anna sat in the doorway watching the Fettuccia work in the hall. She said, pointing to the candle lit beside the Bible, "That's my birthday candle" and, pointing to the long ribbon, "That is my birthday present." Then she wrote,

I (heart) God he is cool.
And he is watching us
I believe in him
he is ril (real)
he made me

Helping Hand

On the Fettuccia, towards the end of the ribbon, a figure of a human being and a hand represent the first human beings, created in God's image. Nathan (6), while reflecting on the figure of the human being and the hand, remarked “We help God create!”

Quite a Gift

This was a card, with the "gift wrap" on the outside and the drawing of moon and stars on the inside.

In Order of Importance

Rex (age 9) was working with the figures from the Nativity and the Adoration of the Shepherds. He asked me to look at their arrangement: the Child Jesus was towards the front of the table, on the green felt representing the fields where the shepherds lived. The other figures were also on the green felt, in rows behind Jesus: first, Mary and Joseph; then, the angel and two shepherds; in the back row, the sheep and another shepherd. Rex said they were lined up in order of importance.
The catechist remarked, “It looks as though they are following him.” Rex lifted up the Christ Child to indicate that he could not yet move on his own and remarked, “He would be floating.” [The catechist was struck by this image of the nations following a child who was completely unable to move himself.] The catechist recalled, “It reminds me of the sheep following the Good Shepherd. Do you think this Child is the same Good Shepherd?” Rex said, “Yes.”
After a period of silence he said, “I have always wondered if God, who had no hands or arms or legs but who made the whole world, knew what he would look like when he came to earth.”

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Some prayers of thanksgiving from a Level III atrium:

Thanks for all kinds of life and privileges to you-know-who. (me!)

I would like to thank you for giving me life, family, friends, shelter and food. Without them I would be nothing! I Love U!

Dear God and Jesus, Thank you for all of the love and all the luck that has happened and that we are healthy. (signed, Your Creation)

Thank you for the trees and flowers. Thank you for the beauty of the Earth. Thank you for making me alive.

Thank you for all the talents I have. I also thank you for my parents.

At the Baptism area, Nigel (age 9) re-told the story of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, and the spreading of His light, while lighting, extinguishing and re-lighting the paschal candle, and then lighting a small individual candle. He then told the catechist: “I came here one day by myself and prayed. I thanked God for creation because that’s the greatest gift of all.” Then, recalling the recent Advent prophecies, he added, “And for the little place too (Bethlehem).”

Creation, Redemption, and Parousia

After a presentation on the Mystery of Faith-Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again - Oliver, age 9, drew symbols for Christ has Died, Christ is Risen, and Christ will come again on separate pieces of paper, then made the words of the prayer, also on separate pieces of paper. After laying them out in order he added labels for the three times of Sacred History - "Creation, Redemption, and Parousia" - and placed them along the top.

Jesus is in everything

During bible study we read the passage in John I: All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. I asked what this could mean, and Oliver, age 9, answered, "It means that everything created through Jesus had a little of Jesus as part of it. Jesus is in everything."

Fettuccia Presentation II

From Dan Teller's Journal of Children's Responses
The Fettuccia is a 50-meter long ribbon that gives the elementary child an impression of the vastness and unity of the kingdom of God. The following responses were offered during this presentation to the children:

Una (6): “God gave us the gift of the whole world. What gift can we give to God?”
Catechist: “What could we give him?”
Una: “Gold.”
Catechist: “Gold. Could we give Him anything else.”
Una, then the other children: “Our love. Our kindnesses, gold, (other responses).”

Towards the end of the ribbon, a figure of a human being and a hand represent the first human beings, created in God’s image. Nolan (6), while reflecting on the figure of the human being and the hand, remarked “We help God create!”