Look! Jesus is everywhere here!

A catechist told the story of a 3-year-old's first day in the Atrium.
Rosanne practically danced outside of the Atrium, in the courtyard. It was finally her turn to come to the Atrium! She had been coming with her mother, watching her older brother Devin enter the atrium, for three years. Finally, she would hear her own name called! Rosanne was the first to offer to model a "quiet walk", to whisper her name using "quiet talking", and was very eager to name the items she saw on the prayer table. When I asked what she saw, she said, "I see Jesus, holding a lamb." How amazing to me that children intuitively know Jesus is our Good Shepherd. And as we walked through the environment, quietly taking in all that we could with just our eyes, she stopped before some artwork of the Good Shepherd, which hung on the walls near our Mass area. "Look! Jesus is everywhere here!" Another year is underway.

What is Life all About?

Twelve-year-old Deidre's written reflection:
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.

The Lost Sheep

After the Eucharistic Presence presentation, Henry worked with the material. He had the Good Shepherd go out and find the lost sheep, and when the lost were found, the altar was set for a grand celebration, to mark their return. Henry said that the people around the altar "couldn't believe it," so amazed were they at what the Good Shepherd had done. The people were "so surprised" to have a celebration like this.

When evil comes

Immediately after a presentation of the Wolf and Hireling, an 8 year old, whose parents were in court challenging one another for possession of the children in a divorce case, said: "Jesus told this because we're the sheep and He's the shepherd. When evil comes, we're just gonna get back up with the shepherd. It's gonna be all right."

The Good Shepherd is keeping his eye on him

A catechist was presenting the Good Shepherd parable to four-year-old Oliver, a child often known as the class clown of the atrium.

As they read the Scripture Oliver moved the figures. At the end, he chose not to move the sheep back to the Good Shepherd. Then he took one sheep from the group and moved it away from the others, and then into the sheepfold, alone. The catechist asked him, " ...this sheep is not with the others?" He said, " The sheep doesn't want to be with the others right now." He thought a moment and added, " But the Good Shepherd is keeping his eye on him anyway." The catechist said, "The Good Shepherd and these sheep may be very far away - can he see the sheep still?" He answered, " Yes."
Later, he moved all the other sheep into the fold to join the one. He looked at the Good Shepherd and said, " His face is beautiful. The sheep like to look at him....he has a beautiful face."

Step by Step

A seven-year-old girl drew this prayer card for the Growing Time of Pentecost. She wrote, "Step by step you'll lead me and I will follow all of my days."

First Day of Atrium

From the Atrium Journal of catechist Dan Teller:

"Today was our first day of atrium, and I had a striking interchange with a six-year old, Natalie. Natalie had completed Level I, and this was my first encounter with her at level II. I recorded what I could of what she said, and only wish I could have written more ... but feared that it would have become my memory of her words, rather than the actual words she said.

"What was so striking to me was not her words, but the deep urgency and sincerity with which she said them. This was expressed through her eyes, her gestures, her tone of voice, and her body.

"Natalie was at the Baptism area, exploring the articles of Baptism. Upon smelling the chrism, she remarked to the catechist, "That's how Bethlehem smelled years ago." "Why?" asked the catechist. "Because God is good and made that place good." Many other statements about believers and non-believers followed, which I was unable to record.

"A few moments later, we lit the Paschal candle and I offered Natalie to light a small candle from it. She replied, "I want you to have it. Everyone should have the light. Even if you don't believe in God, you should know He loves you."

"Finally, gesturing to the light and the entire Baptism area, Natalie said, "The light is the path and God speaking to you. Everything is God speaking to you, the cross, the candle, the water, the Bible. Everything is God speaking to us. That's how you know He loves us."

"Later in the atrium session, Natalie was remarking on how beautiful God's words are, and how much she desires that all people love Him. I took her to the tablets with the Great Commandment, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27). I invited Natalie to cut out a paper the shape of the tablets and write these words down. With the greatest care, she traced and cut the tablets and wrote the first part of the text down, carefully saving the rest of the work for next week."