This year, I was blessed with 27 angels plus 2 big angels.
What? Angels? Yes, my class have 27 children and to me they
are angels ranging from 7-10 years old. The first day is always the best
because they are quiet and observing me very much. Am I strict? Am I scary? Am
I mean? Am I nice? I see those questions on their face the first day. They are
quiet and behave too!
On our first meeting, I was early because I am excited! It’s
always exciting on the first day, not knowing what to expect, I guess. The boys
and girls in my class always turn out good.
Before the bell rings, there was a parent with two kids. One
will be in my class who happens to be younger and the other one is a 7th
grade who would like to volunteer. Although, I ask her if she wants to
volunteer and get some community service and she was just beaming with her big
smile. Besides, it is also good for her little sister to see her big sister in
the same room with her. I am blessed to have two volunteers. One
is my daughter because I dragged her into this for years, leaving her no option
but to come. LOL!
I told my daughter to show the new volunteer where the
office is and my daughter is now beaming because she gets to play big sister!
That was fun to see that look on her face.
We started with a prayer as usual and showed them how to
make the sign of the cross, if ever they forget. Of course, they
forget. I also forget they are being kids! That's how I kid them sometimes.
Since, it is our first meeting, we introduce ourselves to
each other. I prepared each a name and gave it to them to display on their desk
like they are someone special or a business person who usually put their name
tags on their desk. The truth is: I need the name tags to help me with their
names. LOL!
On their name tags, I put each a sticker and they all love that
idea! Every kid loves stickers, who doesn’t?
First day is always chaotic but we did good this time. My
two volunteer angels pass the books to the newcomer angels. We get to check the first
few pages of the book which consists of prayers. Then we begin with the first
chapter of the book – Welcome angels!
We talk about our family and our parish like what family we
belong and parish we belong. My two volunteers really helped the 27 newcomers
write their first answer – their last name! Some are having trouble with
spelling and the two volunteer angels were quick to help them.
I read a short story from the book about Zacchaeus, a chief tax-collector at Jericho. In the story, he arrived
before the crowd who were going to meet with Jesus, who was passing through
Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He was short in stature. Knowing he will be unable to see Jesus through the
crowd (Luke 19:3) so he ran ahead and climbed a tree along Jesus' path. When
Jesus reached the spot, he looked up into the branches, addressed Zacchaeus by
name, and told him to come down. Zacchaeus quickly came down to meet Jesus and
invited Jesus to his house. He even promised to pay back the money he collected
from the people. A repentance… And Jesus
saw that as he intended to visit his house. The crowd was shocked that Jesus, a
religious teacher/prophet, would himself be a guest of a tax
collector. We meditate on this story and talk about how we can learn from Zaccheus.
And to enhance our welcome lesson, I ask them to go around
and shake hands with everyone. Some were a bit hesitant in the beginning but after seeing others having fun, everyone seems to enjoy moving around the classroom. No words, just a smile and handshake and
everyone glows because they love to socialize. Is this a generation of social media?
That God doesn’t look at your sins but by the repentance
from your heart. Everyone did just that, shaking hands with no idea who they
are shaking hands with. Does it matter? The angels were happy and that Is what
matters on this one fine Sunday with 27 angels and 2 volunteer angels who came
to get to know, love and share the love of Christ in many different way!
One miracle I see today. One girl was crying in the beginning of our class. She was shy,
her mom said. I told her, that’s okay because I am shy too but with God, I
forget my shyness. When it’s time to shake hands, she got up, shake hands with
everyone and went home smiling! Sometimes, God makes a shy girl come out of her shell on a Sunday Catechism class.
Till next Sunday again…
Family Group Travel Vacation
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