By Mary Lou Rosien
A friend just called to tell me about her three year-old daughter’s understanding of Jesus living in her heart. She had been walking around all day long lifting up her shirt, asking her mom if she wanted to see Jesus.
During this time of year, we prepare the second graders for First Holy Communion. They sometimes struggle with the idea that the host (once Consecrated) is actually Jesus. As one student emphatically exclaimed to me recently, “It (re)presents Jesus.”
“No, Sweetie,” I responded. “It is Jesus.” When my own son, Nick, was three he asked me, “If you love Jesus so much, Mommy, why do you bite him?”
Transubstantiation is a difficult thing for adults to understand, let alone little children. There are a few things we can do to make it a little easier.
Jesus did not tell them it was just an explanation or example, the Church teaches that He meant it literally. When we meditate on the gravity of this teaching, we begin to realize the miracle that is the Eucharist. It is then we can inspire our own children and students to do the same. God bless.
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