YEAR FOUR - THE RIPPLE EFFECT

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Growth is measured not by looking back with the idle curiosity of Lot's wife, but to take cognizance of all that was achieved. We note our successes and strengths made possible through grace and team effort, we identify those areas where we failed or could have done better and finally we resolve with God's help to be more faithful and committed  in the future.

At the close of another year, I realize that my life as a catechist has a ripple effect on everything I do and am. Sometimes the things I like doing must take a backseat if I am to be true to my vocation. Often it is a struggle between the flesh and the spirit and truth be told the flesh sometimes overcomes the spirit. There is a real and ever present danger of becoming complacent, getting stale and taking the call for granted. 

In all honesty, teaching has never been my forte or so I believed, but as we know, God has a delightful sense of humor and can always be counted on to do the unexpected. When God calls, all He asks for is a willing response, “Here I am Lord, send me!”  Once we say yes, He will equip, qualify and provide all that we need. By attending three of the Catechists' Courses conducted faithfully every year by our Catechetical Director, God kept His promise to equip, qualify and provide. 

My first year as a catechist was one of mixed blessings. The joy of being with children gradually took precedence over my timidity and diffidence. My confidence grew as I discovered how receptive the children were to all we taught them about the faith and the two Sacraments they were soon to receive. Teamed with an excellent senior catechist I was able to watch and learn. The second and third years were more challenging and satisfying as I began to play a more active role in class and in the catechists' ministry.

New discoveries never cease as each new batch of children have their own unique personalities, each child has touched my life and each has found a place in my heart and in my prayers.  It is a gift and an immense blessing to be called to prepare these little ones for the Sacrament of Reconciliation in order that they may receive the Sacrament of Sacraments, Holy Communion. There is a warm glow of pride and a sense of quiet accomplishment  when I recognize past students, some are now altar servers while some sing in the children’s choir. 

Despite all of the above, as this catechetical year was coming to a close, I flirted with the idea of hanging up my catechist’s boots metaphorically speaking. I raised several convincing arguments to myself to rationalize my decision and almost succeeded until the truth hit me. I could deceive myself if I wanted to, but in truth there was no valid reason to justify such a selfish decision; there were however several wonderful ones to remain faithful and each of these them is a child.

The children are a delight.  Every year I see how much more relaxed I am with them.  I have lost my initial self-consciousness and over the years have been able to chat and interact with them with greater ease.  Each year has its share of special children who stand out and touch my heart as they tug at my heartstrings. The children choose where they would like to sit from the first day and we let them. One young fellow chose to sit in the last row with a shy, young girl and invariably they would be lost in deep conversation even while class was going on. I had to pull him up regularly, until one day I was so frustrated I changed his seat.  As soon as I had finished with the lesson he came over to me and asked if he could please return to his place.  I asked him why and he said, I like to sit with her because she is my friend. One little girl excitedly shared that she would soon be wearing glasses. Another that he was taking karate classes. Little things, yes, but they leave a treasured legacy behind.

My mission is to hand on the faith that I have been privileged to receive and to enliven the faith of the little ones entrusted to me. In preparing them for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion, I must nurture the desire already alive in their hearts for Jesus in the Eucharist and I must pray that as they grow in faith, they will better understand  the infinite value of the Sacrament of Sacrament - Jesus Himself Body, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion.

At the close of this year our Catechetical Director,  Fr. Franco gave us food for reflection during the summer break with regard to servant leadership.

 

TEN PRINCIPLES OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP

MODELLED AFTER CHRIST

• As Servant Leaders of Jesus Christ and His Church we must have His “basin and towel” attitude!

• The purpose of our life is to preach the Kingdom of God. We must prioritize all that we do keeping this goal in view. 

• Jesus responded positively to rejection. He did not run away from suffering but embraced it. A servant leader will stand firm in the face of rejection and accept suffering with humility and always in union with the Cross.

• We must practice what we preach. We must first live the life before we hope to teach / lead others.

•  Christ walked slowly through the crowds. He continues to walk in step with us. We must build relationships by walking together, side by side. Not running ahead or lagging behind.

• Without prayer we will soon run out of spiritual energy. We need to be replenished every day with grace and this is possible only through daily prayer and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

• Commitment is key. Without a commitment to serve no matter what obstacles are set before us, we will not be able to serve faithfully or effectively.

• We must be emotionally and spiritually strong when handling tough issues. Jesus remained calm and serene before His enemies. We must ask the Lord to grant us the same serenity and trust in Him when we are faced with difficult situations.

• We must lead on a higher level. Which means that we do not get stuck in the past but look ahead. We have to keep setting a higher benchmark. We must be prepared to risk change when change is required.

• Jesus chose key people to be His close associates only after spending time in prayer and discernment. He did not choose the rich, the clever, the famous or the powerful; those whom He chose were simple, open and ready to listen.

 Reflection – There is no true success without a successor. As followers of Jesus, we are called to continue His mission on earth.

A TRIFECTA OF GRACE

Today marks the end of a trifecta of amazing grace. Entering my first Catechism class as a new catechist there were butterflies in my tummy and I remember being thankful that the children were between the ages of nine and ten and therefore not too intimidating. In time, during that year, I slowly grew in confidence and my senior co-catechist helped in nudging me gently to growth. I loved every class and I enjoyed the children even more. Sadly, though, I was never able to remember their names, which is a shame. It is hard to remember 36 or so names when you see your children only once a week unless you make a serious effort to do so.

The second year was less intimidating. A year's experience under the belt does make a difference if only a smidgen. Again, I must credit my friend and co catechist for guiding me. Yet again, I sadly confess that I did not make a serious attempt to learn the names of the children. I could only recall the names of a few, the clever ones, the naughty once, the smart-alecks, and the quiet ones but those that fell in between got lost in the cracks of my memory. At the end of this year, I resolved that I would make a greater effort to remember the names of each of the little ones assigned to our class in the following year.

When year three commenced I had grown in confidence and was no longer anxious. The catechist's course and reading the recommended study material served me well. Our Catechetical Director had emphatically emphasized the importance of preparing a Lesson Plan and I discovered he was right. I diligently prepared a Lesson Plan for each lesson I taught.

It is a gift, a privilege, a grace and indeed a sacred and serious responsibility to prepare young children to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. We cannot, we dare not, take it lightly and we can be certain that we will have to render a strict account of how well we did our part to prepare His little ones for these most exquisite gifts after the Sacrament of Baptism. This is a most sobering thought indeed. 

Today was the last day of Catechism classes for this year. Our children received First Holy Communion around the end of the month of April and we closed the year with certificates and prizes for those who had fared well in the Bible Quiz. We played games, had spot prizes, gave away gifts and chocolates much to the delight of the children and they shared their snacks with each other. There was much fun, laughter and prayers of thanksgiving, which was a fitting way to close the year as the holidays commence and another wonderful year ends today.

Did I learn the names of the 32 children in our class? I most certainly did. I thought I was being brilliantly original when I got the brainwave of taking group photographs of the children and using them to match names to faces until I could remember each one, only to discover in the catechists' model class training, that this memory aid is one among many used to remember names.

GROWING IN LOVE - ON THE THRESHOLD OF YEAR THREE

 

I stand on the threshold of another year and cast my thoughts on the 35 young souls that God will entrust to our care as we  prepare them for two of the greatest Sacraments - The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We are called to stir their souls to long passionately for the day  when they will receive the 'source and summit' of their young lives for the very first time. I am filled with great expectations. Hope and joy are mixed with a healthy dose of trepidation which makes this heady combination even headier.

My co-catechist and I will receive a new family of spiritual sons and daughters, we will pray for them, think of them and speak of them as our children.  After the experience of two years I know that each will find a special place in my heart.  The borders of my heart are being  extended a little more each year to accommodate these little ones.  How blessed I am, that the Father in his munificence, has given me the grace to desire to be a catechist and the icing on the cake is that I was assigned to take the class preparing to receive 'the Bridegroom of their souls' for the first time.

What new experiences will I have had by the end of this year?  What will these children take away with them that will serve them well for as long as they live?  What kind of impact will we have on their young lives?  The seeds we plant will indeed be good seed for it is the Word of God.  The soil of their young souls has already been prepared by the Holy Spirit from the moment they were baptized and they became children of the Most High God. 

I feel blessed in being called to the ministry of a catechist it has helped me to grow in my own faith.  I have been drawn into a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Beloved.  One of the many gifts that our generous God has blessed me and which serve me well, is the capacity He has given me to love.  All love has its origin in Divine Love and it is sparked and set on fire by One whose Name  is Love.

Faith grows with knowledge and as a member of the family of the parish of St. Therese my own faith, hope and love have grown at a pace that would not have been possible had I not heard the call and assented to  the gift and the mission to which I am called.  We are truly blessed to have the example of a Parish Priest who works tirelessly, selflessly and enthusiastically together with the Assistant Parish Priests.  Each of the Salesians who labor with love in this parish have their own unique charisms that have contributed to and added depth and breadth to our spiritual growth. 

At this juncture I do not know what experiences I will have had by the end of this catechetical year, but this I know,  I will be blessed and enriched through my fellowship with my fellow catechists, our priests and most importantly our children as together we grow in faith, hope and love. 

Myra D'Souza - 6th September 2012

Prepare For The Unexpected

This was going to be class number three on my own.  This time I was not caught off guard.  I was advised to prepare a quiz or a word search based on the Bible and generally keep my children occupied for the duration of the class.  I agreed.  I went on the net and tried to find something appropriate from Catholic websites for kids.  This proved to be not only time consuming but I could not find anything suitable for kids who were preparing for their First Holy Communion.  I gave up and decided to talk to the children instead about the different parts of the Mass, the sequence, and what each part means.  I was really excited because I found some great sites which explained everything simply and interestingly so that a child could understand. There were also a lot of great pictures to go with the texts.

I printed a copy of the text  and prepared myself for the class.  I reached early for the Children's Mass and spent a few minutes before Jesus in the Adoration Chapel imploring the Holy Spirit to enable me give the children an idea of the awesome Liturgy we celebrate every Sunday.  The earlier Mass was still going on so I sat outside and kept praying quietly, looking at Mother Mary and asking for her intercession.

After the Celebration of the Mass I went to the class room, wrote the topic of my lesson for the day.  Wrote down the different parts of the Mass in random order and waited for my children to come in.  There were lots of question.  They wanted to know if they had to write what I had written on the board.  I said no not unless they wanted to.  The bell rang, I was all fired up with enthusiasm when the door opened and a senior came in and instructed me to use the time to revise the prayers my children were supposed to know as well as to go over with them how to prepare for their first confession.  Hmmmm! I said OK.

We said the opening prayer and then we went through the common prayers that the children were required to know.  I spoke to them about prayer and about making a brief examination every night - this would help them in preparing for their first confession as they would be aware of where they failed most often each day.  Then we spoke about how they will go about  making their first confession.  Despite having gone over this in previous classes when I asked them what is the first thing they must do when the are in the confessional they all said, 'Say the Act of Contrition'.  So carefully I went over with them what they were required to do once they were in the confessional.

It was a good class in the end and my teaching on the Liturgy will have to wait for another day and another class.  In the meantime the good Lord wastes nothing - I was able to appreciate the Liturgy better as I studied it more closely and I will be the better for when I worship on the Lord's Day.

FLYING SOLO

The last two days have been days of firsts. Yesterday I gave a teaching for the first time to a prayer group other than our own Young Adults in Christ Fellowship. It is the first time that I have been tested outside familiar territory and today I was thrown into the deep end as I took my first Catechism class solo. I am happy to say  that I did not stutter in the first instance and I did not sink in the second, largely due to grace and the prayer support I had received.

The Holy Spirit was in control on both occasions, however, had I known in advance that I would have been left alone to take the Catechism class I would have been chewing my nails in nervous anxiety, uncertain about whether I could handle it.  Until yesterday I honestly believed that it would be a while before I could take a class on my own, now I know I can. There were times during the lesson when all the kids were actually listening attentively to what I was saying and I found that pretty exciting. 

Unfortunately, I did not have the teacher’s manual for Book II and I must frankly confess that I did what Fr. F warned catechists never to do – I read the lesson once just before I went for Mass, quite confident that I would play my comfortable task of class minder – a role I thoroughly enjoy. But God had other plans for me today. The senior teacher called just as class was about to begin and asked me to take the class as she was busy with another project and could not come,  she promised she would drop in later .  Bearing this comforting thought in mind that I would not be alone too long, I asked which of the children would like to say the opening prayer. We have a couple of bright sparks in class who carry a little booklet containing a collection of prayers for kids with them (both boys) which I think is interesting. One of them put up his hand shaking it vigorously so I asked him stand in front of the class and  he led us in the opening prayer. 

The subject for the day’s class was, “ Gifts of Bread and Wine” and ‘The Feeding of the 5000.’  I introduced the subject by asking them to tell me on which occasions they received gifts.  The whole class erupted in excitement as they spoke animatedly for a while on the subject – each one trying to outdo the other.  Then I asked them what was the greatest gift that God had given us. One of them said, “Our parents.”  I said, “Yes, our parents are a great gift, but they are not the greatest gift that we have received.” . I told them that Jesus was the greatest gift that the Father has given us and in turn, the greatest gift that Jesus gave us was Himself, Body and Blood in the Eucharist. 

There is this clever kid who normally raises his hand to answer every question that is asked.  Sometimes it seems that he says the first thing that  pops into his head but a couple of classes ago he told the senior teacher that he had come across the word adultery often in the Bible and wanted to know what it meant. One would imagine that Scripture was liberally sprinkled with this word. For a nanosecond there was pin drop silence as the kids were all ears waiting for the response. Hats off to the teacher who very calmly and briefly explained the meaning of the word. His next question was about divorce.  She looked him straight in the eye and said the Church does not permit divorce. It was said with such absolute finality, I believe the kids will remember this response for life.  Today  however,  this bright spark asked me an intelligent question as Fr. F would say. He wanted to know how it could be one Body when each one received Jesus in a separate round host.  I explained to them how Jesus took the bread, blessed it,  broke it and gave it to His disciples – in the same way  His own body would be broken for us in His Passion, it is this one Body that is broken that we receive in Holy Communion. He nodded his head in assent.

I called out three kids to stand in the front and asked each of them to read 5 verses from the Gospel of John 6:1-15  on the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish.   Mindful of what Fr. F told us during the course about standing up whenever we read the Gospel in class in order to give due reverence to God's Word, we all stood up and listened to the reading.   I discussed the passage with them, stressing on how God always satisfies and how He never runs out of blessings.  He gives to all and there is always plenty left over.  We also discussed the importance of readily giving what we have no matter how small and that God could work wonders with it.

The hour seemed to speed by and it was time to mark the attendance of the children.  I swiftly lost control of the class at this point as almost  everyone wanted to go to the washroom. Once the attendance was taken it was time for the closing prayer.   I did have a few difficult moments with the class clown but managed to keep him in control.  During the closing  prayer I invited him stand in front of the class, made him close his eyes, bow his head, join his hands and then I asked the rest of the class to look at him and assume the same posture while we prayed.  He squirmed a little but having no choice he stood angelically until the short pray was said and it was time to file out of the class.

I rushed down excitedly to meet my colleague, the senior catechist, to let her know that I had survived my solo flight.   I was pretty pleased with myself.  Hopefully my children went home with a greater sense of the wonder of the gift they are preparing to receive.

For my part, I resolve to be better prepared for the next class and to make sure I receive my copy of the teachers’ manual.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NEO CATECHIST

Friday, 22 October 2010 marks the sixth Catechism Class since I have become a trainee Catechist. A typical Friday begins with personal prayer early in the morning followed by breakfast as I will be home only by 11.30 am. The children's' Mass begins at 8.30 so I leave by 8.10 in order to be present while the children arrive. I wear a badge with a red satin ribbon that has my name on it, this gives me the authority to tell the adults that the main church is reserved strictly for kids and they have to please use the side rooms. They cannot get annoyed with me as long as I wear the badge that states that I am a PEP Volunteer. (To the layman this means that I am a Personality Enhancement Volunteer.) We are called PEP Volunteers for reasons that I shall not go into here.

Parents and children start pouring into the church and I stand where I can direct the kids to their seats and gently tell the grown ups, "I am sorry, but the whole church is reserved for the children." The grown ups are pretty grown up about this.

As the children come in I recognize a familiar face of a little boy or girl in my class who is preparing to receive Holy Communion and a glad smile of recognition lights both faces, the child's and mine.

During the Mass I keep a stern eye out in case the kids are distracted or fidgeting, or I have to find place for a latecomer. I have noticed one particular brother and sister who are always quarreling. He is such a little bully and she is such a little doll. I had to change her place the last time because he was being really mean to her. Another little girl came in with her small sibling. There was no place for the two of them together, so the older one sat in front while I found place for the little one somewhere in the middle. At regular intervals the big sister came to check with me if the little sister was ok. I assured her every time that she was. I found that most touching and amusing.

After Mass I have to go to the the school premises where the Catechism classes are held. I have to sign the register confirming my presence, I then pick up the folder with the kids names as we have to mark their attendance as well. The children play in the corridors most boisterously until the bell rings and then they go to their respective classrooms. This noisy pastime will end hopefully, as an announcement was made that running up and down the hall was not permitted. Some of the more friendly kids who come early have a chat with me and tell me what they have been up to.  I get them to help me distribute whatever study material has to be given. We do all this before class actually starts in order to save time. I hang a large sign outside the class room which indicates that the room we are in is 4C, this makes it easy for the children to know where they have to go. This is my responsibilty - I put the sign up and I take it down after class and keep it with me until the next class on Friday.

Once the bell rings all the kids settle down in their places - there is a lot of giggling and pushing and shoving ofcourse, but soon there is relative silence and the child assigned to say the prayer begins. The class commences in earnest with a review of the previous lesson. A lot of ground has to be covered considering that the class is only once a week. I walk up and down the rows of desks making sure that my 40 young charges are paying attention to the teacher and writing down the notes that are given. It is quite a job to make sure the girls are not whispering and the boys are not kicking each other or calling each other naughty names or scribbiling in their books.

The teacher who actually teaches the class is pretty good. I listen and learn. I too am required to prepare for the lesson that is being taught in class so that I know what is going on.  Another reason is that in the event the  teacher does not show up, I should be able to take the class and do a  credible job.  (I hope this does not happen anytime soon.  I still have to find my sea legs.)  Right now my children are being taught how to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Once we are well into the class and the kids are busy with writing I take the attendance. This too is my area of responsibility. Which is good, I hope to soon start placing names to faces.

The hour and a quarter seems to speed by and it is time for the children to leave. A closing prayer is said by the same child who prepared the opening prayer and the kids disperse. The teacher and I take a quick look around to see that nothing is left behind, we turn off the lights, wipe the board of any evidence that we were there, I remove the sign and we leave.

I thank God for His inspiration to serve Him in this way. It is a joy to be among His little ones. God has blessed me abundantly and my intention in becoming a Catechist was to gratefully give  back in some small measure for all I have received. But to my wonder and delight I have found that I continue to receive from the open hands of a generous God.