The Rosary for Little Ones

Don't miss this post by Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart for a wonderful idea to help small children pray the Rosary. Realising how easy it is for little hands to lose track of beads, even the large size ones, she made a set of crocheted roses. Her little girls keep count of the prayers by moving the roses from one basket to another. A set of rosary cards colour coded according to the mysteries gives them another hands-on focus.

Book Review: We Go to Mass by George Brundage

I tend to be a tough critic when it comes to catechetical materials for kids; but I'm rather pleased with this simple board book. Each page shows a picture of the Mass with a simple accompanying text.

I'm not in love with the illustrations; but they aren't ugly as so much art in children's religious books is and they do highlight clearly the important parts of the Mass. I like the large crucifix behind the altar. I think its good that the images are drawn so as to appeal to the widest possible Catholic audience. For example, there are no female altar servers, and it isn't clear whether the girl is receiving communion by mouth or in her hand. The Mass is celebrated ad populum, so it is clearly a 'Novus Ordo' celebration, not the extraordinary form; but otherwise the book doesn't seem to take sides in what are frequently controversial matters.

I really like the text. It is simple and clear and echoes the language of the Mass: "We praise God in union with the Angels and the Saints." It doesn't water down Eucharistic theology: "We worship Jesus as the bread is changed into His Body," and "We receive Jesus in Communion, God's greatest Gift to us."

I think this will be a useful book for my girls to bring to Mass to help them follow along. It's not quite a missal; but the stage before a first missal for small children who aren't reading yet but who enjoy being read to.

On the Lips of Infants and Babes, You have Found Perfect Praise

The other morning after one-year-old Sophie finished nursing I sat her next to me on the bed while I tried to finish my morning prayers. Bella came in and wanted me to read to her so I distracted her as I often do by reading my psalms out loud so that she felt included and could pray along. After a while she wandered off again. But I continued to pray aloud. Then when I got to the Glory Be at the end of the psalm, I noticed Sophie looking at me and rubbing her hand over her belly in a deliberate way. Was she trying to make the sign of the cross? It seemed likely. She's started doing some basic baby signs for "more" and "all done".

I decided to try an experiment. When I sat her down for breakfast, I moved her hand in the sign of the cross and folded her hands together as I prayed a blessing over the food. She beamed happily at me as we prayed. That night at bedtime I paused before nursing her to pour a little holy water in her palm and again moved her hand through the sign of the cross and then up to bless me and then down to bless baby Benedict in my belly. She laughed joyfully, clearly excited as I helped her to pray. She sat in my lap as I prayed, not anxious as she usually is at that time, crying for milk, but smiling and peaceful. When I finished praying then she was ready to nurse.

The excitement in Sophie's eyes was almost the same as when I understand her attempts to speak or to sign "more" or "dolly" or "daddy". But there is something more there as well. A divine spark, dare I say?

When Bella was about this age we began praying night prayers with her. She started to try to make her own prayer gestures, folding her hands, attempts to bless herself. It seems clear to me that children as young as one can have a desire to pray and that by helping them to use their bodies to pray, even if their lips cannot, we do them a great service which they receive with joy and gratitude.

It makes me so angry therefore when I see well-meaning people say we needn't bring young children to mass because "they don't get anything out of it anyway." And this is of children of 4 or 5 years, much older than my girls. They are so wrong. Children who are still unable to speak words may still praise God and yearn for His presence. They can and do express religious yearnings that are not mere imitation but surprise me and go beyond what I expect they are capable of doing or understanding. Two-year-old Bella loves to look at holy images, to kneel and fold her hands and pray, to bless herself with holy water and to genuflect in front of the tabernacle. When I have taught her these things she takes to them eagerly. Not out of a desire to please me and follow my orders but because she is given a language to express what is already in her heart.

So please, take your children to church. Teach them to sing and pray, help them to move their bodies in prayer, pray for them and with them. Help them to know and love God and to praise Him. It is never too early for them to learn. And you may be surprised at how much you learn as well.

Simple Advent Prayers

This Advent when we light our Advent wreath we are saying this simple prayer from Faith and Life 1. We used it for a few years when my older girls were small:

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for coming down from Heaven to save us.
Thank you for Christmas time.
Help us to get ready for your coming this year.
Amen

Here I found another prayer suitable for younger children:

O God,
as light comes from this candle,
may the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,
warming our hearts and
brightening our way.
May Christ our Savior bring life
into the darkness of this world,
and to us, as we wait for his coming.

Advent Boxes

Last year I put together an Advent Box for my Little Cherub, full of things that she could take out and explore.

This picture shows the contents of the box ...

• Nativity figures - I have a set of squishy plastic figures for toddlers bought when my eldest daughter was tiny.
• A wooden Santa figure that looks fairly St.Nicholas-ish.
• Various small board books telling the Christmas story.
• Pictures of the Five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
• Pictures of St.Nicholas, St.Lucy, the journey to Bethlehem and the Immaculate Conception
• Board book about Hannukah and a dreidl (I include these as my husband is Jewish)

Little Cherub loved her box, and played with it regularly throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons. Here she is enjoying herself with the Santa figure ...


This year, at two-and-a-half, I think she will enjoy it even more.

Advent Ideas

Advent is a wonderful season to focus on with toddlers as there are so many elements that appeal to little ones - advent calendars, candles, Nativity figures that they can handle, and so on. Whether you are starting to build family Advent traditions from scratch, or wanting to make some changes, you can find a great starting point in this series of posts by Karen Edmisten:

• No Panic Advent: Part 1 - the Jesus Stocking
• No Panic Advent: Part 2 - dates for your calendar
• No Panic Advent: Part 3 - O Night Divine blog
• No Panic Advent: Part 4 - keep an Advent file
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 5 - the Jesse Tree
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 6 - including secular traditions
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 7 - Advent Wreath, Advent Calendars, prayers and other traditions

There are lots of ideas here, but as Karen says " do not -- I repeat, do not -- feel pressure to do it all. No one does it all. You might want to pick one or two new things on which to focus -- and then, have fun with them." And remember, nothing engages a toddler more than fun!

Visiting Our Lady Around the House

Our house is filled with images of Our Lady and our young ones particularly enjoy making a little walking litany around the house on the way up to bed. They take turns identifying the particular title of Our Lady and everyone responds in song "Ora Pro Nobis" (pray for us). Once in a great while, we do a longer form which includes a special intention and a related song at each spot. Some of these, by the way, are not the official names of the pictures, but titles of Our Lady that seemed appropriate to the image.

Our Lady of the Annuciation

We pray that more people will say yes to God.

Song: Gabriel's Message







Our Lady of Fatima

We pray for devotion to Our Lady and for the repentance of sinners. We pray in reparation for offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Song: Immaculate Mary (Fatima version)






Our Lady of Good Counsel

We pray for teachers and parents.

Song: Alma Redemptoris Mater







Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

We pray for students and all who need truth.

Song: Hail Holy Queen







Our Lady of Lourdes

We pray for devotion to the Immaculate Conception and for all who are sick or disabled.

Song: Immaculate Mary






Our Lady of Guadalupe

We pray for the unborn, for refugees and immigrants and for all who are oppresed or in danger.

Song: Santa Maria del Camino






Mother Thrice Admirable

We pray for faith in young people.

We don't have this picture hanging anywhere in our home yet. The girls really wanted to include her because of their involvement in the Schoenstatt movement through some local girls' groups. They also know some special songs associated with her that I don't know yet.




Our Lady of Perpetual Help

We pray for the suffering and the dying, for soldiers, for those in prison and any who find themselves in difficult circumstances.

Song: Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star