Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Merry Christmas!

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Yes, it’s still Christmas even if the neighbors put their tree out today because it’s trash day! Mine, however will stay up until the Feast of the Epiphany. But let’s go back to, “it’s still Christmas” for a bit.

We celebrate Christmas for eight days. The celebration begins on Christmas Eve and continues until January 1 with the celebration of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. Within these eight days we celebrate a few important feast days. On December 26, we celebrate St. Stephan, a deacon and the Church’s first martyr. The 27th St John, apostle and evangelist is remembered. December 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents in honor of the children killed by King Herod just after Jesus was born. (See Matthew 2:16-18) On December 30 the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is honored. The Church continues with the Christmas season with the Epiphany on Sunday, January 8 and then the Baptism of the Lord on January 9. Tuesday the 10th begins Ordinary Time again.

At little tip on how you know the season changes; the colors you see in Church will change! The Christmas season color is gold or white. The priests’ and deacons’ vestments as well as banners or cloths used on the altar are gold and/or white. When we move into Ordinary time the color is green.

Enjoy celebrating Christmas for the entire season. Jesus is the greatest gift, a visible sign of the Father’s love for us. The Incarnation gives us new life, both literally as we see a newborn baby and spiritually in that Jesus’ becoming man saves us. He brings us joy and abundance of love. Celebrate!

©Deanna Bartalini, 2016

Immacu-what?

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I was standing at the front of the class, fresh out of Mass. I’d like to say it was a room of fresh-faced fifth graders, but the truth was, we were all tired.

I asked them who had been at Mass.

A few hands went up.

“And why were you at Mass? What were we celebrating?”

“Advent!” They were triumphant. They were confident. They were sure.

And they were WRONG.

Our Mass last night was the Vigil for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, but I didn’t tell them that. Realizing that we had a slight misunderstanding about when Mass was, I tried rewording my question, rephrasing my expectation, hinting and hinting.

One of the students (whose mom is an aide in the class and who sat right behind my family in Mass) knew that it was a Holy Day of Obligation.

Good.

But no one–NO ONE–knew WHY we were at Mass.

It wasn’t in my plan for the evening to talk about the Immaculate Conception. I do have a habit of sending them home with a bit of trivia and rewarding them with chocolate prizes if they come the following week with the correct answer. And so this week’s trivia was to come back next week and tell me what holy day we were celebrating this week.

But wow…I had a moment there in front of that class. I couldn’t help but wonder if my own children (ages 6, 4, and 1) had any idea what we were doing in Mass. (I’m pretty sure no.) I started, in fact, to have a little mental bash-fest with what a failure I am as a catechist to these fifth-graders and to my own children.

But wait! It’s not too late! TODAY is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and, thankfully for all of us, there’s next year, and the year after, and…well, it’s an ongoing thing for us. When we fail (as we will), we must not give in to the temptation to despair and give up.

When my six-year-old gets home from school today, we’ll be doing some of her very favorite things: coloring. Because to her, nothing says “fun” like a printable.

While I’m at it, I’m going to do some reading about the Immaculate Conception, so that I’m prepared to explain it to my fifth-graders next week. In case you need some resources too, here are the ones I’m using:

Now, let’s all say a Hail Mary for our catechetical work and lean back into Mary’s arms. She’s the best one to carry us, after all, and she’s sure to lead us to her Son.