The parable of the Good Shepherd strikes to the heart of what it means to be in covenant relationship with God. The Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name and they listen and follow where He leads. The children have shown that this parable touches them profoundly and offers an opportunity for them to experience His deep, intimate love from a very early age. This parable also lends itself to growing with the children. A year or so after first encountering the parable, the children are read the parable of the Found Sheep. Here they hear of the persistence of the Shepherd and the joy with which He is reunited with the sheep that has been lost and is now found. Last year an adult who had come to observe in the Atrium left a note saying that a child had been sitting at the prayer table, slowly turning the pages of the Bible and whispering, "The sheep follow Jesus and if something comes and scares them the Good Shepherd is with them." This understanding of the care of the Good Shepherd for the sheep continues to expand into the elementary or Level II Atrium when more of the parable from John 10 is read, and the children are introduced to the wolf and the hired man. Recently, three first grade boys were introduced to this expansion of the parable. At the end, as they were pondering, one child said, "The wolf is the darkness but the Great Light is stronger." A the end of the presentation, the Good Shepherd is left standing between the sheep and the wolf. One of the children said, “He’s like the shield.” Another said, “But he’s not really there. He’s inside.” This led to a conversation about how the Sign of the Cross can help to remind us that the Good Shepherd is there even when we can't see Him. Each one of the boys returned, individually, to the material the following week. Clearly, the Good Shepherd had, again, spoken deeply to their hearts.
While the Atrium is first and foremost a place of prayer and of growth in relationship with God, there are many opportunities to feed the intellect as well, especially as the child grows. Having set the Model Altar from the age of three, the kindergarten child is often moving into reading and writing and begins to use these new reasoning powers by labeling the Model Altar materials he knows so well. From the sensorial material of the Model Altar, the child also begins the move to abstraction by working with vocabulary cards or, as they are called in Montessori, Nomenclature Cards, which provide the opportunity to match the object with its name. Often this work is very attractive to the early writer/reader and he is interested in making a booklet of the card material. As the child moves into elementary (E1) he works not only with names but with definitions for these items that are so familiar to him. The first moment of falling in love precedes and, thus, lays the foundation for the second moment of studying, in a more objective way, the content with which one has fallen in love. Each moment of the Mass is a prayer, and the prayers of the Mass, together, make up the most beautiful prayer of the Church. With the youngest children we isolate one moment of the Mass at a time, wondering over a movement or gesture of prayer, and then, after some time, adding the words of the prayer in order to deepen our pondering. In Montessori we speak of this method as "isolation of the difficulty." Looking at just one gesture of prayer, then at the vocal prayer for that gesture, allows for a deeper engagement of the content and a beautiful opportunity to sit with what is most essential, allowing Christ Himself to speak. Recently two kindergarten children were reviewing some of the most essential gestures of the Mass including the Preparation of the Chalice with much wine and just a drop of water, the Epiclesis, the Offering, and the Sign of Peace. It was clear that their years in the Atrium and their many visits to the Gestures Altar to ponder these moments of prayer on their own had born beautiful fruit.
The Preparation of the Chalice Catechist: "All of that wine and just a drop of water. What do you think Father is praying with this gesture? What could that drop of water remind us of?" - M: "It's the sheep!" - G: "No, it's us!" The Epiclesis Catechist: "When Father prays the Epiclesis, what is He asking God to do?" - M: "I know! He's asking God to send the Good Shepherd to protect the sheep!" The Offering Catechist: "When we have received the greatest gift, the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist, what could we do? What do we do when we receive a really great gift?" - G: "When you get a gift you give a gift." The Sign of Peace Catechist: "What do you think the Peace of the Lord is like?" - M: "The Peace of the Lord is when God shares His gifts. Like the Body and Blood." This week in Level I (Children's House) we pondered the prayer card, "Holy, Holy, Holy." When asked, "Could you think of something that is holy?" they responded... - Jesus' Blood - Jesus' Body - The chalice - Holy Water - Baptism - Us - Grandmas - The Light - The Holy Bible - The Holy crucifix - Crosses and crucifixes - Everyone - Baby Jesus - The Good Shepherd - The Church - The school - Heaven When the Level II (1st and 2nd graders) were asked, "What does 'holy' mean?" they answered...
- Precious and like God - Special - Blessed - Used for good things - Precious and speaks the truth |
Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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May 2024
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