Let the children come to me
As I wrote in an earlier post, youth ministry in the Church was the catalyst for my reawakening in the faith in college. It is such an enjoyable and satisfying experience to share faith and life in Christ with young people. The good Lord has given me gifts to relate to young people which is a positive way of saying that I’m on their level in terms of maturity (is immaturity a gift?!). I like to have fun and so do they, so it’s a good match. And, when we can combine some good teaching about Jesus with that fun, then it’s something special.
Two experiences with young people in the past few days have been very fruitful and enjoyable. I spoke with the 7th graders in our Faith Formation program on Sunday night. They had a bunch of questions about the “four last things” (Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Judgment). I was very impressed with their excellent questions. I would have liked to talk more about Heaven, but they wanted to know mostly about Hell and Purgatory. They asked how many “days” will we be in Purgatory (it depends on the sins we’ve committed and the punishment that results) and what does it take for someone to choose Hell (mortal sin plus unrepentance). We finished with a strong emphasis on the sacraments (the ways to Heaven), and they each knew where to find a sacrament in the Gospel (e.g., Confession in John 20) by the end of the night. Good group!
On Tuesday of this week, I interviewed over 30 of our mostly 2nd graders who are preparing to make their first Holy Communion this Saturday. Each interview was about three questions long and was based on the practice and talk we had last Saturday. First question: what are the four words that Jesus said at the Last Supper that are the whole reason we believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ? “This is my body”. All but one child got it right on the first try. Second question: where did Jesus give his life for us? On the Cross. (Yes, and each Mass celebrates his sacrifice on the Cross.) With a little help from me, each child answered correctly. Last question, and you’re doing great: when the priest says at Mass, “this is my body”, who is really saying those words through the priest? Jesus. High fived just about every one of them, and said, you’re ready for Saturday, thank you. Very impressive performance by our little ones!
