I Don't Understand What Is Going On At Church!



Luke & Joshua in front of their prayer table.

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

Let's talk a little about church this week.  This week you are both starting back with Catechises of the Good Shepherd Classes also known as the Atrium.  This will be the third year for Joshua and the second year for Luke.  This is considered early education for young children in the Catholic Church.  A few years back when we were struggling with the idea of the benefits of Catholic School verses attending public school where mommy works, we were introduced to the Catechises of the Good Shepherd program.  This is basically a hands-on, Montessori style program for young children in the Catholic church.  I know that both of you have benefited from it.  First, it gave them an early start to their Catholic education which was important to mommy and daddy.  Also, the Montessori approach worked so well for both of my active boys!  All of the adults that work in this program are volunteers, too.  I think this is where I may want to volunteer when I retire (many years from now). 

This program has impacted our lives so much.  We have a prayer table set up at our house similar to the one at the Atrium.  While I wish I could say that we use the prayer table on a daily basis, I can not.  It is in a central location in our house.  We often find prayer objects and other things to go on our table.  Both of you like to hear bible stories from the children's bible.  I feel like you both have a solid understanding that Jesus is the shepherd who watches over all of us ~ his little lambs.  You also both have an understanding of the seasons ~ the four seasons of summer, spring, etc. as well as the four seasons at church ~ green for the growing season, white for celebration, purple for preparation, and red for Pentecost. 



Peek-a-boo!!!!  Joshua on our leaf walk
near the timber in our backyard. 

I am very proud of our religion and our church.  Certainly, there are things in the news that I do not understand or agree with, but there are so many wonderful things about our church.  I like the idea that the mass we celebrate each week is very similar to the mass that is celebrated around the world.  I like how the Catholic church is rooted deep in tradition and history.  I like how many parts of the daily mass originate from two thousand or so years ago, and are still done today.  Quite honestly, I like the routine of the order of mass each week.  I can say that I hope you grow up and want to continue to be a part of the Catholic church for the rest of your lives.  But more importantly, I will say that I want you to know and love Jesus.  I want you to understand the importance of serving Jesus as disciples each day of your life.  I want you to keep learning about your faith and God every day for the rest of your life. 

In the meantime, I hope your dad and I are good role models for you.  I hope that you continue to see us growing in our faith.  I hope that you see us taking care of the most vulnerable in our society - the poor, older people, the unborn, young children, etc.  I want us to be examples for both of you.  I want you to continue to talk openly about the father, the son, and the holy spirit with us.  And of course ~ I have so much room for improvement to be a better disciple of Jesus.  I know I am a work in progress, but I also want to give you hope. 



Luke & Joshua heading into the timber
from our backyard!

I have so much more to say about this topic and you will hear about it in several lessons to come, but I hope you always understand the importance of church and why we continue to go back week after week.  Luke said this week, "I don't understand what is going on at church."  One reason he says this is that one priest we sometimes see is difficult to understand for all of us, so Luke usually gets very little from what he says.  Luke often questions, "Why do we have to go to church this week?  Which is church so long?"  I calmly explain to Luke the same things each time he asks.  I tell him how there is so much to learn from Father Bill, who is an amazing and inspiring man.   Somehow he knows what parishioners struggle with and how to reach us with his homily week after week.  We are learning about stories from the bible from before Jesus was born until well after that time.  I explain to Luke all of these things, but I also know that Luke gets it most of the time.  Luke is one of the first in the family to remember all of the people who need our prayers.  He still prays for all people that were affected by the tsunami at least once every week.  He is also the first one to ask questions about someone asking for money on the corner of an intersection.  He will ask about these people for several days after we see them.  I know that in his mind, he is getting it.  And he is continuing to grow, too.   Both of you are.

I love you to the moon and back and back again.

Love,
Mama