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 season of Easter brings a focus on Baptism in the Atrium. The children are first introduced to Baptism as the gift of Jesus' Risen Life to each one of us. Through our Baptism we receive the gift of his Risen Light in the deepest part of us, our soul. In the Atrium the children receive a candle lit from the Easter candle to show, visually, this great gift. The children in their second year in the Level I Atrium are then introduced to the water of Baptism which washes us and brings us life and joy. The Level II (6-9 year old) children begin to "order" all of the gifts of Baptism by looking at the essential moments of the Rite of Baptism. After working through the ordering of these moments they use the cards and the materials to walk through the Rite of Baptism with a friend.
|
Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|