History of the Kingdom of God is Present NOW

Since the beginning of time, a plan has been present in the mind of God to give mankind His life in His kingdom. 

Parousia is a hidden, not yet happened moment - that we have some clues for, but which we do not as yet fully comprehend. 

God will be all in all.

And His kingdom will have NO END. 

Advent Prophecy Themes 2013

Each year, it seems that particular themes are honed in on by the children - even across two geographical locations and educational lifestyles. I wonder how much is affected by our readings in the Liturgy perhaps - and in the world at-large.


This year our focus has been on emphasizing the First Coming of Christ and the Second Coming of Christ.

Some points the children hone in on:

Historical Context:

• Periods of light and darkness in the history of Israel
• Moments of light in the deepest darkness - bring us HOPE
• Ancient Church's historical practice of fasting and penance during ALL of Advent and Lent. 

Interesting tidbits learned: 

• Which season has Gaudete Sunday - which has Laudete Sunday (or Laetare - we're doing some research on that one --- either way the 4th Sunday of Lent starts with an L to match Lent - and that's how we remember which one goes with which season ;) )
• Why THAT Sunday of each season? 1 Sunday past the half-way mark - to give us hope that the penitential time is coming to an end soon. Don't give up now! 
• Who knew Ms Jessica could connect prophecy studies to the sacraments. Wait - does that mean our faith is INTER-connected? Just like the VINE? Oh. Oops. Guess we need to keep paying attention (yeah, some stories there - the children are so intuitive this way)

First Coming

• We can't really prepare for a Baby to be born in the PAST - but we do prepare our individual hearts and lives to receive the gifts He gave us with His first coming: His Life (Eucharist) and His Light (received at Baptism, spreading throughout the world)
• The prophecies prepared the Hebrews for the First Coming - but also prepared the world for His Second Coming. Not all prophecy has been fulfilled. 
• Some of the Jews at the time of Christ thought that all Messianic prophecies would be fulfilled at one time. But now we look and see that with TWO comings, He will come once as a Child - and once a Glorious King. 

Second Coming

• As we prepare ourselves to receive more and more fully the Gifts of the first coming - we are also preparing ourselves to spread the light of Christ - and therefore be ready for the Parousia, at whatever moment it begins. 
• As we prepare, we know there are still going to be times of darkness and difficulty - but God always wants us to come back to Him. 

Thus not only are we seeing songs of preparation and of Advent (Light One Candle, Light the Advent Candle (I can't recall the name of that tune precisely at the moment), Come Lord Jesus, O Come Emanuel, etc.) --- we are also seeing songs of Reconciliation, tying in perfectly with the children in one of my sacramental preparation groups who are receiving this sacrament for the first time in the month of December.

Our favorite?

Create in me a clean heart - 

Help me start over again. 

Please Lord don't leave me, 

I need your Spirit, 

I cannot make it alone. 

Restore to me the Joy of Salvation - 

Oh my God. 

~Based on Psalm 51 (also our source for the Lavabo prayer!)~

It is OH so time for a YouTube video of that song. I'll see if a group of parents will let me record their children singing if I just videotape the words with the children's voices in the background....


Additional observations: 

I have one young man, 3rd grade, who insists on always mentioning "judgment" before mentioning "Parousia". Perhaps it is time to pull out the level 3 work on "Holy Bible and Parousia" for him. Seriously. This child canNOT get off the judgment portion of Parousia - and there is SO MUCH MORE to it.

When does our Blank Page end?

This morning (caveat: I write this days or weeks before they are published) I had an experience with a group of 4th grade girls I will never forget.

Enjoying the fragrances from one of our parish's old oil sets:
Chrism, Oil of Catechumens, Oil of Infirm
They recalled smelling these during our discussion on the sacraments

We have been preparing to work on the Plan of God for a few weeks and the girls finally unrolled the control strip today. We discussed the portions, they jumped right on to the idea of the breakages as wars, of declining civilizations merging into others and passing their gifts along, of God speaking to Moses through the bush and beginning the line of the Hebrew people with that Revelation.

We discussed the sacraments, the time of Jesus, the spreading light of Christ - and we reached the blank page - something they have seen for 4 years now on various timelines (Fettuccia, Blue Unity, History of the Gifts, Level 3 Fettuccina, Level 3 History of the Gifts). Only now in level 3 are they finally coming to the understanding that a response is required. In level 2, the response was "to remain" on the true vine - now, in level 3, we are beginning to explore "how" to remain.

Working on the Level 3 History of the Gifts - re-creating a personal strip of their own

For our Plan of God presentation, I intended to simply review what they know about the blank page - nothing new.

But they had other plans ;)

"I have a question about the blank page," one young lady asked. "When does our blank page end? When we die? at Parousia? another time?"

I countered her question with another: "What happens when we die?"

And this led to further discussion amongst the girls - me mostly asking further questions and bringing in Church teaching and Scripture teaching only when appropriate.

• Personal judgment: heaven, hell or purgatory - based on your state of grace and cleanliness of your soul at the moment of death (there were a lot of follow-up questions and discussions to this one, regarding specific crimes, level of repentance, and proximity to the sacrament of reconciliation)
• children who die before the age of reason, including those who die in the womb - if they were baptized or would have been baptized - they are *saints* not angels (angels being another order of creation) - therefore, we can ask them to pray for us - to intercede for us
• the girls asked about God sending spirits (ghosts) to earth for particular missions - yes, this is something God does (there is much documentation on this) ---- and they wanted to know if God could do it, could "he" too? (pointing downward as they asked) - yes, sadly he can too. 
• the girls worked out that if anything spiritual leaves them uncomfortable, fearful (not the "fear of the Lord" variety of fear), or just not feeling "right", they would bless themselves immediately and get to a place of safety as quickly as possible
• back to the blank page: so after death, others intercede for us (if we are in purgatory) and we intercede for others (when we get to heaven) - and we are all waiting for the Parousia

I wonder if these girls are ready for the 'Holy Bible & Parousia' material. Perhaps I can work with them with just a few of the verses, the ones pertinent to this particular conversation, and see how they respond. At least to show them where the ideas we discussed can be found in the Scriptures. 

And it seems they are definitely ready for '2000 Years' and perhaps moving towards 'My Century' - ready to discover what the blank page means in their own lives today, going deeper into the intricacies. 

Follow the child. 

It is amazing how different this specific group of children is from the other 4th graders I have, who all (except 2 individuals) came from the exact same level 2 atrium and previously the same level 1 atrium. Universal tendencies, individual expressions! I love the challenge :) Some children we are still planting seeds and tilling the soil. With these girls, on this topic, sprouts have sprung forth! 

Not Quite Christmas

It is not quite Christmas and I have a hard time believing it.

Advent slipped away. Amidst what? Not the shopping (I've bought groceries once this past month and all gifts this year are home-made or already purchased); not the parties (we really minimize those - just one thus far - all others will be during the Christmas season); not the decorating (we decorate on Christmas eve).

Amidst the vitriolic words directly towards others, including myself. Amidst reading and hearing about the evil attitudes of people in the stores. Amidst the job losses. Amidst hearing stories of consumerism. Amidst the stories of mental illness and the sufferings of families.


It doesn't feel like Christmas. Perhaps this was what the first Christmas felt like: a world in need of a Savior.

A world filled with bitterness. Filled with accusations against another's morality. A world filled with lack of understanding; lack of trying to understand. A world devoid of peace and goodwill towards one's neighbor.

And today these things coming from Christians.

If that is how non-Christians see Christians, no wonder they would rather stay away. Far away. I don't blame them.

No wonder they laugh at us for saying "Jesus is the reason for the season" as they put up signs saying, "Use reason for the season!" implying that Jesus could not be what we claim Him to be.

Because we can't even get His teachings right - His teaching on morality and accusing one's neighbor and planks and splinters. Therefore, how could we possibly get right an understanding of His birth? And death? and resurrection?

Something to ponder next time one is tempted to call into question a stranger's 'Christianity'. Are we judging splinters through our planks?


So yes. Perhaps it does feel like Christmas. That first Christmas. A world filled with disbelief. And vitriolic hatred - because that is what it is when Christians behave with such malice, with such worldly consumerism. The world was full of it that first Christmas. Then, just a few months after that first Christmas, innocent children were slaughtered in the name of murdering a newborn King - by a man with a mental illness.

Sound familiar yet?


The truly faithful were begging for Him to come then; the truly faithful are begging now. Search your heart - are you begging for Him to come now? Or are you hoping for another day, another year, another lifetime?

Perhaps it is time to prepare for the coming of Jesus into our own hearts. Our own stony, cold hearts. That is what Advent was supposed to be about. Is supposed to be about. Preparation for His coming - not the first time; but the second time - the Parousia. When God will be all in all.

Prepare our hearts to receive Him - all of Him, in all of us.

It begins NOW.

It is not quite Christmas - there is not peace in our hearts. But doesn't that mean it IS quite Christmas?


It is not quite Christmas. Christ is not quite present.

Can we make it happen? Can we be ready for Him?

Only then, can it truly be Christmas. As He intended it.

It begins NOW.

Parousia: Clues to the Mystery Found in the Bible

Two weeks ago, in our combined level 2 and level 3 atrium, some of the 3rd, 4th and 6th graders were with me doing a review of the gestures of the Mass and their significance. We made some connections between the gestures and what we pray for in the Our Father when we pray, "Your Kingdom Come."

The children then said, "This reminds us of the Parousia - that we are praying for Parousia to come now."

WELL. Our emphasis has always been that this history is a mystery - and any real mystery has clues to guide us. The clues for THIS mystery are found in the Holy Bible.

A small group of the children were really intent on studying Parousia. They asked so many questions and one of the children asked, "What other clues do we have about the Parousia?" AH! I have a material to answer just that question - I, as catechist, do not need all the answers - I just need to connect a child with a material and get out of the way of the Holy Spirit!

So, for those 4 children, a work called "The Holy Bible and Parousia" was pulled off the shelf and they explored it. This material is a set of Scripture verses from various books of the Bible, both prophets and apostles. The children are to match the Scripture passage with a title that seems to fit it. They can read them all from the Bible or all from the cards; there is one card that requires going to the Bible because it is quite a bit longer than the paper holds. The children chose to read them all from the Bible.

The prophets have no hair, the apostles do.
Why? Just to keep the symbols different. 

This work was not complete by the end of atrium, so they pulled it out again the following week. One boy made this chart as they worked:


He differentiated between the prophets and the apostles and he just wrote the titles. So as soon as I take back to the children photocopies of this chart, they will have a chart showing what topics the prophets and apostles spoke on when it comes to Parousia.

There are MANY more passages in the Scripture as clues to the Parousia - these are the twelve most prevalent.

I wonder how many more there are!






Sample of the material in another atrium - same idea: