I have first graders this year, and I’ve been emphasizing this all year. It’s hard to tell how much they’re taking in.
At least they're hearing at from you. It will be great preparation for their first Holy Communion next year.
Try this - When you eat bread and drink wine or, ant food for that matter, it becomes your body. Nature transforms it, Jesus did it in a miraculous way.
In 2005, the Holy Father met with a group of children who had received thir First Communion that year. The following question with response from the pope left such an impression on me that I included it in a letter mailed hom to our parish families whose children will be receiving First Eucharist on May 4.
3. Andrea
In preparing me for my First Communion day, my catechist told me that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. But how? I can't see him!
No, we cannot see him, but there are many things that we do not see but they exist and are essential. For example: we do not see our reason, yet we have reason. We do not see our intelligence and we have it. In a word: we do not see our soul and yet it exists and we see its effects, because we can speak, think and make decisions, etc. Nor do we see an electric current, for example, yet we see that it exists; we see this microphone, that it is working, and we see lights. Therefore, we do not see the very deepest things, those that really sustain life and the world, but we can see and feel their effects. This is also true for electricity; we do not see the electric current but we see the light.
So it is with the Risen Lord: we do not see him with our eyes but we see that wherever Jesus is, people change, they improve. A greater capacity for peace, for reconciliation, etc., is created. Therefore, we do not see the Lord himself but we see the effects of the Lord: so we can understand that Jesus is present. And as I said, it is precisely the invisible things that are the most profound, the most important. So let us go to meet this invisible but powerful Lord who helps us to live well.
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