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Scripture
Corner
Scripture Corner
Children at Liturgy
It
has been argued, and you can agree or not, that the Church‵s liturgy over the
past 500 yearshas
taken on a more didactic (teaching, pedagogical) character than a celebrative
one. Icertainly
know this to be true in my life, yet we still call the liturgy a ‟celebration‶
and I hope
we
always will. The assumption over the past 500 years is that children, as well
as adultsentering
the Roman Catholic Church from other denominations, must be carefully taught
theirway
into the faith. This often resulted in segregating children into age groups for
more
effective
teaching and even separating them from the arena of adult worship. Don‵t
misunderstand me, I‵m all for teaching, but children learn best by imitation.
Unlesschildren
are where the adults are worshiping, they will miss the opportunity to learn byexample.
Without this example, many children will come to the conclusion, on their own,
thatworship
of God is an adult-only activity that has no relevance for them. When we bring children
along with us into the worship life of the Church, we are giving them the
opportunity to
act out the truths they learn in their catechism sessions and to make those
truths real. Furthermore,
their participation at Mass and other forms of prayer helps to instill in them
an
identity
as members of the Body of Christ. This identity is so important especially in
the kindof
fragmented society that we live in.
A
few suggestions to help those with little children make the most out of
liturgy.
1)
Sit as close to the front as possible so that your children can see what‵s
happening.Restrict,
but don‵t prohibit movement. Say ‟whisper‶ rather than ‟Don‵t talk‶.
2)
Prepare your children for the liturgy by reading the Gospel the day before even
if it‵sfrom
a Children‵s Bible and remind them to listen for their favorite parts.
3)
Ignore the comments that belittle your effort to make your children part of the
Churchlife.
Christ accepted and welcomed children. Should we do any less?
4)
Don‵t be too hard on your children. You probably expect better behaviour from
themthan
your parish family does.
5)
Make Sunday Mass an important part of your life. Remember, that while thecatechetical
program is important, real religious education is in church. It‵s ‟hands on.‶
(Fr.
Phil)
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Liturgy Scripture Corner..
