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! 

The Plan of God

I have now presented the Plan of God, I don't KNOW how many times just this year alone (ok, yes I do know). And I have at least one more official first-presentation coming up in December when two children return to a level 3 atrium after a several-week hiatus.

This has been an interesting experience. In the past, I have had time to present a series to one set of children - going through various moments with them; before having the opportunity to go back and begin again. So just working with one group of children, in sequence --- then a few months later starting with another group or multiple groups.

Due to space constraints, this last month represents the first time I have actually presented the Plan of God to *children*. I have summarized the booklet for children, provided images and connections; and done all the work with adults who are trained at level 1 and 2, and spend most of their lives in the atrium ;)

The experience this time around is distinctly different: having presented the Plan of God at least 6 times over the course of the last 3 weeks has not provided the same reflection as my previous experiences would have provided. Now I am presenting to children "for the first time" several times quickly in succession. I have had two children come back for a repeat presentation when I invited "all the 5th graders and anyone who who would like the presentation again" (a 4th grader and a 6th grader came as well).

How has it been different? I have made changes, tweaks, noted the different responses and highlights in more striking comparison. I have had instant feedback on varying the presentation for the children in front of me, versus establishing a pattern that may or may not work with other children. My very first group this year were VERY interested in studying the various civilizations right away, with two children delving into research into Hammurabi's Code - other groups not so much. Another group was much more interested in exploring the timing, cause and outcomes of particular wars as they were represented on the timeline, seeming to represent particular clashes between particular civilizations.

Otherwise, it was more sub-groups within each group: instant and intense interest in the Sacraments. Well, what about this Parousia business? What more does the Bible tell us about it? (we have a work for that!)

Another group was more than ready to begin typology when they began to consider how each event or image on the timeline affected their lives TODAY and how it will be fulfilled at Parousia. We discussed that in order to understand these "clues" to delve more fully into the "mystery" of the Kingdom of God, we need to understand how things were understood in their historical context, then consider what meaning or teaching it has for us today, as well as into the future.

All the children commented on how simple and yet so complex the Plan of God really is.


Many of the children have followed up by working with the mute strip, exploring the possibilities of placements, comparing to the control and discovering that there is more than one right answer -- that just because their answer didn't match the control, there is still something more to be discovered, sometimes about one's own self. "Why did I place this particular item here, when it is so OBVIOUS it belongs in this other place? What was I thinking? (in a positive sense) What is then also revealed to me by placing it in matching spot to the control chart?"


And I have had the experience of working with two versions of the Plan of God. In the straight-level-3 atrium, the Plan of God contains year numbers starting with 3000 BC to emphasize that we don't precise dates before that. We have some evidence that makes suggestions, but the scientific understanding of these dates continues to be developed and we just don't KNOW with certainty - it is an area we can explore, but it is not an area we will give answers to in the atrium itself, because these are NOT matters of faith.

In the combined levels 2-3 atrium, we have a Plan of God material that does contain dates going back about 10,000 years I believe? I will have to double-check those dates. I still brought out the same ideas to the children about "This is an estimate and only at about 3,000 BC do we have very strong definitive evidence to more precisely pinpoint ages."

The first Plan of God has the stole for Holy Orders, while the second Plan of God has the studded cross. There are other minor differences, that make for thought-provokers in my presentations and in my own heart. I am learning (struggling) to not hold SO dear to my "one way" of doing things and embrace more than one way! I preach this, but sometimes, it is very hard to practice ;) For some reason, I find it so easy to accept the children's adaptations - to "follow the child". I can present the "keys" and allow for the child to unlock the doors and flesh out their presentations. But when it comes to using someone else's materials in someone else's space, it is so hard to adjust. I have COMPLETE RESPECT for any and all differences - it is just that almost every time, I think I have checked it for differences ahead of time so I am prepared, yet I am almost always thrown off in the middle when I realize there is something I missed ;)

The children in that atrium, I think have become very used to me saying, "Oh, look at this! This is new for me!" and "Oooh - this is interesting - let me explore it a bit more before we continue our conversation!" and "Ooh! let me take a look at this and we'll come back to it later!" --- and the most prevalent one: "Let's just explore this work together and see what is here!"

It is really fun to do it this way! It can be a bit physically and mentally draining, but spiritually I feel so enriched when I just explore WITH the children - and learn it right along with them!




But back to the order of presentations... I wonder how it will go this year. Will I be able to keep track of interest-groups as I have been able to do in the past? Typically, once I have gone through an entire sequence once or twice, I can keep everything organized in my mind; but it takes that first time or two through to get the framework in place on which to hang the interest-group tags.

I wonder. Or will I have to trust more? Trust the children. Trust the Holy Spirit.

Just trust.

Sharing Their Work

They laid out the timeline,
discussing it;
then pulled out the booklet
and read through it,
discussing some more as they went. 

It always deeply impresses me, without fail both in the deed and in the impressing, that there is always at least one child in the atrium who is not only willing but truly seeking to provide a presentation for another child.

When we have absences, I always have children who want to show the returning children a presentation that was missed, whether a huge timeline or small gesture. The children seem to crave these moments of sharing with one another.

The girls in question this evening were only half done with the Plan of God when we had to close it up for the evening. I listened to their conversation and sharing as I worked with other children, just so I could hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through them. And He did. The message this evening was, as it always is, "Have faith. Just remain in Me."

I know the girls look forward to working with the mute strip next week. Two other girls had it out this evening and made some interesting placements:

Discussing placement

They were so neat in their placements. 

Adding the inventions to the blank page.
Why this choice?
Because we still use those gifts today,
on our own blank pages. 

When the girls were done discussing and laying out the pieces on the mute strip, the rolled out the control strip above it and compared. They kept saying, "How different we did it!" One time, they said, "We were so wrong!" but I cut in to ask, "Were you wrong? Really? Or what is it that caused you to place these items in these places?"

They placed the cultivation of the wheat and the vine at the start of the first two civilizations - because they knew the start of civilizations and agriculture went together - what they had not done was think one step further to discern that agriculture came before the great civilizations; that agriculture must have been the basis for the start of the great civilizations, but first mankind had many experiments to make both in biology and in civil law before civilizations could become great. 

It was in the comparison that they discovered more about themselves and about the Plan of God itself. 

Closing prayer with the Mystery of Faith

Hard at personal work. 

starting "My Century"