Level I Jan. 10th and 13th

Hello Everyone!
It is always great to start class again after a nice, long Christmas break! The children always seem to come back with a renewed excitement about the atrium. This week, we celebrated the changing of the prayer cloth with the children. We follow the Church year and have the appropriate color cloth for each season. We asked the children to recall what feast we just celebrated. They all eagerly answered "Christmas!". We processed into the atrium singing Joy to the World, and gathered at the prayer table to change the cloth from purple, for the time of preparation before Christmas, to white for the celebration of Christmas!

We also did a presentation for the 2nd and 3rd year kids called The Epiphany Celebration. This is a beautiful presentation which focuses on the coming of Christ and how the Light of Christ spread. All of the Infancy materials are laid out side by side, staring with the Annunciation to Mary and ending with the Presentation in the Temple. We invite the children to recognize who knew about Christ's coming in each of the stories. First only Mary knew, then she went to visit Elizabeth and so Elizabeth knew as well as John the Baptist who was still in her womb. When Christ was born the angel appeared to the shepherds who proceeded to spread the good news everywhere they went. One of the children in my class made the connection right away and stated that Christ's Light spread to all the world. At the end of the presentation we talked about the length of time since the coming of Christ and how the Light of Christ has spread to us more than 2000 years later.

This beautiful meditation caused me to consider what an amazingly rich heritage we have in the Catholic faith. The Church which Christ founded has suffered relentless persecutions and seemingly unbearable hardships. Yet, it has continued to grow and to spread the Light of Christ to all the nations. What greater proof could I ask for? It is here, in the Catholic Church that Christ gives Himself completely to us in the Eucharist. It is here that we receive His love and mercy in the sacrament of reconciliation. It is here that we receive His Light and the strength to go out and spread that Light to the world! What an incredible gift, thanks be to God!