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.