This year I was asked to offer a reflection at our parish on catechetical Sunday about the spirituality of childhood. It was wonderful to share some of the "pearls" of wisdom from the children in our Atria.
In today’s reading
from the Book of Numbers Moses cries out, “Would that all the people of the
Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord
might bestow his spirit on them all!”
Today, I’m honored to be with you and to have a chance to speak to you
about the prophets in our own midst, our children.
For the past 5
years our parish has been part of a catechetical movement called the Catechesis
of the Good Shepherd. Developed in Rome
beginning in the 1950s by Sofia Cavalletti and Gianna Gobbi and their
collaborators—the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd strives to create a space
within the Church for the child and the adult to live the religious life
together—one where the religious characteristics and gifts of the child
predominate.
For over 50 years
Sofia and Gianna observed children from ages 3 to 12. They offered them rich spiritual food from
the scripture and the Liturgy and noted the child’s responses to these
themes. And the response they noticed
above all was joy. Joy in the
proclamation of the One who calls them by name.
Joy in the numerous and vast gifts of creation to which human beings are
called to like guests at a banquet.
Sofia
Cavalletti writes, “Young children seem to want to point out to us that their way of going to God is
different.” She mentions the book The Imitation of Christ that speaks of
the “royal way of the holy cross, as the privileged path for going to God,
whereas the child seems to wish to point out to us the royal way of holy joy.”
Over
the past five years, my fellow catechists and I have reveled in being with the
children in the Atrium, the special space that is prepared for the children in
which to work and pray. And throughout
these years we’ve heard again and again, our children proclaiming the way of
holy joy to us. I want to share some of
their words with you today.
This
past Lent I was meditating with a six year-old boy on the Maxims of Jesus—the
wisdom sayings that Jesus gave us to help us know how to live a good life. These Maxims aren’t easy. Among them is the command, “Be perfect as
your heavenly father is perfect.” After
looking at all 12 Maxims he chose the one, “Love your enemies.” “Oh,” I said, “Would you like to choose this
one to work on particularly this next week?”
His reply, “No, I’d like to work on this one for like EVER.”
Another time, I pulled out the story of the Annunciation for my
1st, 2nd & 3rd graders to meditate
on. They’d already heard it, some of them since they were 3, and so the
challenge was to help them go back and find something new, something they had
never thought of before in the passage. I lit the candle and read aloud,
from Gabriel coming to Mary and telling her to not be afraid, to announcing the
news that she was soon to become pregnant with a son she was to call Jesus, to
Mary’s questioning of the angel and then saying, “Behold I am the handmaid of
the Lord.” After the reading I asked questions to help us think about
what we had heard: “Why do you think the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid?””
“Who is this baby who is going to be born?” When we got to the end I
thought of something I’d never asked them before: “Here Mary says, ‘I am
the handmaid of the Lord.’ What do you think that might mean?” The
kids all gave me blank looks and then one girl, who was said, “maybe it means
she knows that God created her . . . you know handmade.”
Two years ago, in the Atrium
with my 9 to 12 year-olds, I led a meditation on the great Plan of God, to
bring all of creation to the full enjoyment of God. Afterwards, one of my
sixth graders who is an altar server asked me if we could go over to the
church. “Of course,” I said, “What would you like to do at the
church?” “I would like to carry the cross,” he replied, referencing the
cross that is carried in procession at the beginning and the end of the
Mass. “Whenever I carry the cross,” he reflected, “something inside me
wants to carry it more.”
Our children
indeed show us the way to holy joy.
Through their own insights they help us to see the words of the Gospel
and the truths of our faith in a new light.
On behalf of the children, the families and the catechists I would like
to tell you thank you for the many ways you have supported the Catechesis of
the Good Shepherd and our 7th/8th grade youth group. Your prayers, talents and financial support
have made it possible for us to train catechists, and build three beautiful
atria at the Cathedral. I would also
like to offer you an invitation as well to consider if you are being called to
enter more deeply into the spirituality of childhood, to immerse yourself in
the Way of Holy Joy and to listen to for the voice of the Good Shepherd along
with the children in our community. We
are looking for parishioners to partner with us in prayer, and to be trained as
catechists and catechist aides. Please
contact me if you hear the Good Shepherd calling your name to be involved in
this ministry.
May we pray together with Moses in thanksgiving, joy and
longing, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his Spirit
on them all!”
