It seems so fitting during this Advent season, as we await the coming of the Great Light into the world with the People of God throughout time and space, to ponder the beautiful gift of His light within us and in those around us. May we shine so beautifully for Him that all might know that the Light TRULY is stronger than the darkness. Blessed be God!!
This past weekend I was privileged to have a front row seat to the Baptism of my niece. In the past ten years I have pondered various aspects of the Sacrament of Baptism often with the children. While we typically focus on Baptism in the Atrium during the Easter Season, I often invite some of the elementary children to look at the Rite of Baptism in the fall of the year. This fall, some of the Level III children (4th-6th graders) have been working with the full Rite of Baptism which includes all of the prayers of the Rite. This past Sunday, I could tell I had recently been reading these prayers because as the priest was praying the blessing over the water and anointing my niece with Sacred Chrism and lighting the baptismal candle from the Paschal Candle, my ear was fully tuned to his words. I pray the same is true for the children, as each presentation in the Atrium is intended to lead to "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations" (from the Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, paragraph 14). During the lighting of the baptismal candle at my niece's Baptism this past weekend, I was standing next to my sister and her husband. As they were both holding children (and a lit candle is very attractive!!), my sister handed my niece's baptismal candle to me. Holding that light in my hands, I was so aware of the beautiful gift she had just been given - the Light of God Himself within her - and I prayed that I might, somehow, help her to always shine His light so vividly and clearly and beautifully. I was also conscious of my own successes and failure at allowing His light to shine through me, through my own actions and choices and decisions.
It seems so fitting during this Advent season, as we await the coming of the Great Light into the world with the People of God throughout time and space, to ponder the beautiful gift of His light within us and in those around us. May we shine so beautifully for Him that all might know that the Light TRULY is stronger than the darkness. Blessed be God!! The Elementary Atrium, much like the Level I (Children's House) atrium is always filled with a variety of work. Here are pictures taken from one 1st - 3rd grade group, over the course of just a few minutes.
This past Wednesday was an amazing day in the Atrium...even though it was really just another normal day! We had two women who had attended CGS training come to observe so they could see if the "theory" of CGS could really be actualized in practice!! They stayed for one Level I (Children's House) session and one Level II (E1) session. Their first response after the Level I children left was, "Wow. Wow. Wow." Then they asked how long the children had been in the Atrium (about eight weeks), how many were brand new to the Atrium (four out of the ten in the group), and commented on how the children were working with a wide variety of materials...with such focus! Highlights included seeing an almost-three-year-old work with a model monstrance and thurible and watching two four-year-olds work together to build the liturgical calendar (one of whom, after putting it away, took it out again immediately and built it a second time, by herself). In the afternoon, while observing Level II (1st-3rd graders), they were struck by the "big work" of the elementary children: "They are so busy!" One mentioned that she kept wanting to take pictures of all the things the children were working on: looking up Scripture, copying Gestures of the Mass booklets, Books of the Bible work, making their own History of the Kingdom of God ribbons, setting up the Synthesis of the Mass and writing their own Missals, working with the Rite of Baptism, looking up and copying Maxims from the Bible. Finally, as several 2nd graders were restoring a very long work focusing on the many gifts God has given in the History of Salvation, the observers were blessed to overhear a boy comment, with great slowness and awe, "That is the best!!" As often as I feel so blessed by the children, having "outsiders" come in and witness their time in this place of prayer helps me to step back and see with new eyes the beauty of the Atrium. What a gift we have in our faith. What a gift these children bring to us. After setting the Model Altar, a three year old boy was sitting silently. Looking up, he noticed the image of the Good Shepherd holding a sheep on the wall above the Model Altar. Pointing to it, he said, "Jesus holds me!"
Reviewing the Land of Israel map with a five year old girl (a material presented a year ago to the child), the adult pointed to Nazareth and asked the child what she remembered about that city. The child responded, "That's where Mary said 'Yes!'" When invited to pray at the Model Altar, a four year old girl said, "Thank you for the light. Thank you for the world. Thank you for the darkness so that we can sleep at night." A five year old girl was working with the materials which relate to the Birth of Jesus and the Adoration of the Shepherds. An adult invited her to ponder what Mary was thinking when the shepherds arrived and asked to see baby Jesus. She responded, "She was thinking about when the angel told her she would be the mother of Jesus!" After being introduced to the additional items of the Lectionary, Ambo, Tabernacle, Ciborium, and Sanctuary Lamp at the Model Altar, a four year old boy prayed, "Thank you for being the Light. Thank you for being the Word." |
Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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