"People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them." -Mark 10:13-16
Hello everyone!
Here I am updating my blog.. I`m at the sister`s house helping to translate for a meeting, but it turns out they only need me when the connection goes bad so in the meantime I thought I`d write a little update :)
I was supposed to be leaving for a camping trip on the beach in an hour and a half... but last night the few youth leaders who had committed to going all had "last minute changes" in their availability, so the trip is postponed (which means cancelled). It`s okay for me, because we would have had to stay up all night to finish sewing our rice-sack tent. Now we can finish it tranquilamente for the next venture.
Last night was the closing presentation for our kids summer program at the parish. Each class prepared a little number for the parents, which included theater (La Niña de la Selva/The girl from the Jungle), dance (one from the jungle and one from the highland), and a couple of songs. For our English class we presented the camp song "Baby Shark," so they will forever remember that tiburón is shark! (important if they ever find themselves on a beach in the U.S.) It`s amazing how much the emotion and nervousness involved in a formal presentation can really bring people closer together, especially children! The high emotion wasn`t enough to calm some of our most rowdy kids, but I suppose the lion running around stage attacking the other actors when it`s not his turn adds to the entertainment.
We formed a pretty tight community, as several parents told me that their children "acostumbraron," or got used to their classes at the parish. We hope they continue attendance! There`s lots of work to do in terms of building up children`s ministry in our parish, and it`s a tiring job, but I think we did it pretty well!
Lately I`ve been becoming more and more interested in liturgical ministry, especially in relation to youth. I´ve never been a huge fan of Catholic liturgies, finding that my faith really came alive in direct encounters with people, and not so much in the church building. But the institution of our Catholic faith maintains that the liturgy is the center of our shared faith, so I´ve begun to ask, if that`s true, why don`t I feel it? And I think it has a lot to do with the way we go about liturgy. Instead of asking how to make the liturgy come alive for its participants, we restrict ourselves to the way it "should be" or the way it`s always been done. The point of Eucharist, of liturgy, is communion. Why do we not create a space the promotes encounter with the person sitting in front of or behind us? Why our style of praying really reflect the intimacy and union that their words express? If young people are going to see that the liturgy is even more important for our parish community than game nights, sports tournaments, and trips to the beach, all of which we do really well, they need to be shown that it`s true. Just repeating "the liturgy is important, the Eucharist is the center of our fatih" isn`t going to do it. They have to be shown, they have to feel it.
Anyway, theory is one thing. Practice is another. And right now, chasing around a growling 5-year-old boy in a lion suit is what brings us together, what reminds us of our common call. So we`ll continue looking for ways to enhance our faith, but we won`t reject the value of what we have!
Thanks for reading. Would love to hear from you!
Wishing you PEACE in your heart and RESTLESSNESS in your spirit :)
