"Let the little children come to me; do
not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of God belongs."
~ Mark 10:14
The passage cited above was part of the Gospel reading we heard proclaimed at Mass this morning... and it made a deep impression on this author because after the Mass I was scheduled to give a presentation to catechism students, their parents, and/or their adult sponsors at the parish of St. John Vianney Church in Kailua. Through his own words, we clearly see the tremendous love Jesus has for children; his desire for them to approach him so as to know him. So to be able to share about young Saints/Blesseds with the children - Spiritual Heroes whose faith-examples have the potential to deeply inspire our kids to know Jesus, too - is both a joy and a privilege for this ministry.
As with all my talks on Saints, the main theme is - God desires us to be Saints and anyone can become a Saint, regardless of race, vocation, social status, and AGE; it's simply possible, even for children! So to prove the point to our kids the young Saints/Blesseds I featured were Bl. Imelda Lambertini, St. Rose of Viterbo, and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati but I also included St. Martin de Porres so the adults in the audience wouldn't feel left out.
In between talking about the lives of our holy ones, I engaged the children through games such as spotting the difference between two similar images of St. Rose and finding hidden mice in a drawing I did of St. Martin (see below). So while the children were learning, they also had fun doing so, which is integral in helping the information stick.
(Hint: 6 are hidden in this drawing ... along
with a sneaky little cat)
Towards the end of the talk, I briefly spoke about relics and described the relics I brought for the children to see. After I was done, all were invited to safely approach the relics to take a closer look and to ask the intercession of their respective Saints/Blesseds if they wished to. Steffanie, the Religious Education Coordinator for the parish, did a great job printing large images of the Saints and Blesseds for the kids to see, as well as, providing holy cards for the group to take. The rest of the program was then dedicated to having the audience paint little wooden peg dolls of their favorite Saints, which I thought was brilliant!
The relics and devotional items that
were included at this presentation.
Judging by how the audience enthusiastically came up to view the relics with many taking prayer cards, including the adults, the presentation must have struck a chord with a lot of them (thanks be to God!). Now we pray that the Saints/Blesseds will do their part in inspiring them all to go to Jesus with confidence and joy.
(Note: the relics were spread wide apart
and the parish required the audience to
be temperature-checked and to wear
masks for health safety reasons).
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