The phrase "Children's Liturgy" tends to bring me out in a rash. I have attended such Masses in various parishes (by accident, usually!) where the little kiddies were encouraged to go up onto the sanctuary and stare out at the congregation, or to stand behind "Farver" all holding hands. The Eucharistic Prayer for Children (I have never been able to work out if there is more than one, or whether each priest makes up his own "explanatory" bits) makes me cringe. The children concerned never seem to be particularly keen: they are often fidgetty (not counting the ones who are busy waving back at mum) and bored. Small wonder that many of them disappear shortly after they've made their First Communion...However, for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we had an example of what a Children's Liturgy could be...
It wasn't a blow-by-blow account of the Mass; rather, it was a way to help the children participate fully in the Mass, to get them used to the idea that more than one thing can happen at once, and to realise that they don't have to follow every single word in order to participate.
There were around fifty people present at the Mass. The thing that really struck me was the rapt attention of the children, and their recognition that they were in the presence of something sacred, something great...
3 comments:
Excellent!
The best response I've seen by children after an Extraordinary Form Mass was when one child of about 5yrs ran to the altar rail, knelt down with hands together and she was joined spontaneously by most of the children (aged between 3rs and 6yrs.
They did not just look so angelic but is was a genuine response to their knowledge that something special had just happened.
That sounds just lovely!
lovely
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