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.
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. Comments are closed.
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Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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April 2024
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