Liturgy

Liturgical Year first; Mass is described below (scroll down). 

LITURGICAL YEAR


In level 1, we are able to introduce the liturgical calendar to some 3 year olds and to all 4 and 5 year olds - because our liturgical year, just as the atrium experience, focuses on the life of Jesus. We look at three main events: His birth, His death/resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Taken together, these things are the child's beginning experiences of the Paschal Mystery.

The calendar, as it is utilized at the youngest ages, includes 6 weeks of Ordinary Time (first introduced as "after the feast") between the Christmas season and the start of Lent. In levels 2 and 3, we learn why this period of Ordinary Time changes in length and we learn how to make these modifications. I personally have found this material to be basic enough to use for both forms of the Mass at the youngest ages and for the first presentation in the older atriums, with the greater details coming in later presentations.

We also look at the colors utilized during these seasons and on particular feast days.

There are additional booklets and charts available in level 3 specifically for the children's questions and exploration for further information on the Mass and the liturgical year - available for both rites in the atriums I provide for those attending the TLM.

At all levels, we focus on the "feasts": preparation, celebrating and afterward. A complete cycle of preparation, of work and of celebration. Ultimately, we live out two such cycles each year: The Christmas Cycle and the Easter Cycle.



Materials used:

ALL CHILDREN
  • The Liturgical Calendar (all levels/grades)
    • wooden calendar with arrows for the 3 main feasts; arcs for the seasons and prisms for the Sundays. 
    • corresponding inner circles to help us locate the Sundays of Christmas, then those in March - along with a chart of the full moons to locate Easter Sunday for any given year and build the rest of the calendar around Easter and Christmas.
    • additional center circle for TLM: indicating the difference in the Ordinary Times and Septuagesima.
    • blank calendars on which to create their own for any particular year of choice
  • Liturgical Colors (levels 1 and 2)
    • Set of 4 chasubles and 4 stoles in the 4 main colors used on the calendar: purple, red, white, green.
    • Additional booklets providing information on each of the colors, what they represent, additional colors utilized and their significance. Booklets are available to Level 3 children as well.
  • Additional vestments (vestments themselves only available in level 1 and 2 atriums, typically)
    • alb and cincture to place on a wooden stand with the appropriate color for the season
    • additional booklets - one each for NO and TLM to describe the remaining vestments of the priest, the prayers said when vesting, and significance of each vestment. Booklets available for level 3 as well.
  • Celebrations:
    • Prayer table: is always laid according to the season or feast day - the children can decorate it accordingly as well
      • each season change we have some sort of ceremony at the prayer table: a procession, a quiet changing of the color, or anything in between
    • Epiphany: usually children are not in the atrium for Christmas, so we celebrate Epiphany - reading pertinent Scripture, considering the history we have been exploring and look towards what this Child truly brings to the world.
    • Liturgy of the Light: a modified form of the Easter Vigil - can be simple or complex; focusing on Jesus as Light and Truth
    • Pentecost: looking at the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their place in our lives today


OLDER CHILDREN also receive the following:
  • Liturgical Calendar - additions (level 3 and some level 2)
    • a linear lay-out of the Sundays of the year
    • with an extension created by the children and their own research to create the calendar for a particular year with each weekday indicated by color as well 
  • Preface (level 3 only)
    • This hinged wooden material has permanent words (the ones that don’t change from one Mass to the next) and a slot into which we slip cards noting a particular Preface for the particular season or feast day. We discuss the significance of this prayer, its placement and meditate on the Preface options for a particular Mass, inviting the children to explore other Prefaces and to listen for these prayers during the Mass.
LAST UPDATED 10/17/2013


Mass

Our two main sources for the teaching of our Faith within the atrium are the Scripture and the Liturgy – the Liturgy representing the Church and the Scripture as the Word of God (the Holy Bible).

So many of our presentations in the atrium connect back to the Mass: Eucharistic Presence of the Good Shepherd, narration of the Last Supper and the Resurrection, narration of the Ascension and the gift of Pentecost, prayer times, and more.


Our specifically Mass materials reflect the essence of our faith and build upon each other until the child has explored every prayer and every gesture of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Holy Celebration of the Mass; Divine Liturgy).

The focus is always on the essential:
·         Christ is present with us in various manners.
·         The Holy Mass is the greatest prayer of the Church.
·         The priest offers the Mass on behalf of the people.
·         The work of the people and the work of the priest are intimately united.
·         All work in the atrium invites the child to fuller participation in the life of the church, including fuller and deeper participation in the Liturgy as the child comes to understand and/or to more deeply appreciate the mystery of this beautiful work, this beautiful gift from Christ Himself.
·         This work is color-coded:
o    Liturgy of the Word is green.
o    Liturgy of the Eucharist:
§  Preparation of the Gifts is yellow
§  Eucharistic Prayer is orange or gold
§  Communion is gray or silver


Materials/Presentations:

Level 1 and above:

·        Gestures of Epiclesis, Offering, Mingling of the Wine and Water (Preparation of the Chalice), Preparation of the Cruets, Breaking of the Bread, Sign of Peace, Lavabo, Genuflection, Sign of the Cross
o    Of these gestures at level 1, only the Sign of Peace significantly differs from the TLM to the Novus Ordo
o    We use short booklets in level 1 for the children to trace and copy
o    The children are invited to repeat the gesture, not as play-acting, and not as “playing Mass” (these are appropriate at home, not in the atrium) – but as a way of meditating on what it means so that they understand what is happening while they are at Mass.
·         Articles of the Altar
o    Miniature items that serve as nomenclature (naming) lessons on the articles they see at the Mass. These articles are organized in the following manner:
§  Jesus is present in the Eucharist
§  Jesus is present in the Tabernacle
§  Jesus is present in the Word
§  Remaining articles of the Mass
o    The specific items utilized vary according to the parish the children attend; or the parish with which the atrium is associated.
o    In levels 1 and 2, there are nomenclature cards for matching and tracing; in level 1, there is usually a pasting work for the children to create an altar scene.
·         Vestments of the Priest
o    The children’s first presentation on the vestments is received with the Liturgical Colors (See Liturgical Year)
o    Later, the children learn the names of the other vestments.
o    This work builds in level 2 – and varies according to the associated parish.
o    The children should also learn about the prayers the priest says as he vests.
o    This work also has nomenclature cards/booklets (all levels at varying depths) and pasting work (level 1).


Level 2: All the above presentations have more detailed card material and booklets, with juxtapositions of some of the gestures with Biblical narratives (“Epiclesis and the Last Supper” for example).

·         Synthesis of the Mass
o    All the gestures and events with which the children are familiar are brought together in a sequential presentation for the first time. The only new concept is “Liturgy of the Word” where God’s children are called together to hear the Word of God.
o    This material is color-coded to the booklets the children have already been using.
o    Late-year first graders may see this work for the first time (or early second grade).
o    First Communion children receive a second presentation with additional material in the form of prayer and picture cards. These cards then become the source of inspiration for a First Missal to be created by the children, recording these key moments that correlate with the child’s spiritual depth and focus.
·         Origin of the Eucharist
o    We present the Last Supper to the children again; this time we keep on going. They have learned about the Ascension and celebrated the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the Church at Pentecost. Now, we continue the story further – reaching to the deaths of the apostles, to the bishops, to the priests, and even to the name of the priest in our own parish, who received the power to say the words of Jesus through the laying on of hands and particular graces handed down from Jesus, through the apostles, the bishops to the priest himself at his ordination. (introduction to Holy Orders! And the hierarchy of the church! Not a focus now, but a foundation for later studies).
·         Mystery of Our Faith
o    Simple material with images of the death, resurrection and Parousia of Christ.
o    Meditation on the words of the Mystery of Faith as used in the Novus Ordo (not utilized in the TLM – a modified presentation is utilized to connect the events of the Paschal Mystery).
·         First Communion Preparation
o    See separate theme page for more information.

Level 3: Removes the miniature altar and materials, but keeps more detailed booklets and card material. Adds the following:

·        Structure of the Eucharist
o    Two large charts (one uncolored, one colored) with wooden tiles that represent each prayer of the Mass. The children see the same colors again; as well as the same symbols for the gestures they already know. At this time, they also see notations and symbols for each of the readings (1st, 2nd, Psalm and Gospel) as well as an indication for the location of the Our Father.
o    Two versions available in the atriums I lead – one for each form of the Western Rite of our Church.
o    The colored Mass chart (and the reverse side of the tiles) has white portions, indicating that some of these prayers change from one Mass to the next (see Propers below).
·         Colored Base (2nd Missal) – The Roman Missal
o    This wooden box has 4 drawers, one for each part of the Mass, containing a set of cards, titles and symbols to represent each prayer of the Mass.
·         History of a Bread – or Story of a Bread
o    This storybook presentation takes the child from the death of a seed in the soil, the work of the earth and the sun, the work of human hands, finally to the production of bread that we eat at our tables – and then takes it all one step further, when the bread becomes Bread: Jesus Himself – and through that Bread, we come to have eternal life.
·         Preface
o    Wooden triptych, utilizing the colors of the appropriate part of the Mass for the unchanging portions of the prayer, with a slot into which are placed white cards (for “Propers”) that change according to the liturgical season or type of feast day.
·         Mystery of Faith and Prayers of Intercession
o    Juxtaposition of the Mystery of Our Faith with the Prayers of Intercession as we pray for those who are with us now, who should be with us, and those who have gone before us – all of our prayers are united within this mystery of our Faith.
o    Card material that is placed as the booklet is read – the final layout shows that the mystery of Christ’s death, resurrection and coming Parousia, are truly gifts for the whole world.
·         Memorial
o    A long orange mat with cards that form the shape of a cross as they create a timeline from the events of Jesus’ life and the words of the Last Supper, down through the apostles, the bishops, the priests, all the faithful laity since the time of Jesus, until the words of the Jesus, which happened ONCE for all time reach us, the faithful, today, in our churches. Images of people throughout the ages, movable words of Jesus (printed only once and moved down as we move through time) provide a fantastic visual for the children to see the true definition of Memorial as something that happens once and we re-enter into that moment.
·         Mystery of Faith
o    A deeper meditation building on the Mystery of Faith of level 2.
·         Propers of the Mass
o    A third Mass chart, identical to the above Structure of the Eucharist Mass charts, which indicate the names of the Propers (the prayers of the Mass that change from one Mass to the next, according to what is “proper” or “appropriate” to the day or liturgical season.
o    Follow-up work includes a set of cards which match the title/image of the prayer to the prayer description itself. A few samples are provided for the children; or the catechist can choose (as I did) to print out all the Propers options, organized into a binder for the children to explore of their own accord. Children are invited to copy and illustrate pertinent propers.






LAST UPDATED 10/20/2013

No comments:

Post a Comment