Kila wakati mungu ni mwema April 1, 2020

The first First Communion class I taught was to a gymnasium full of parents and children in Algona, Iowa almost 40 years ago. Tonight I taught a Zoomful of parents and children from my spare room/make-shift office in Gladstone, Missouri.  Welcome to religious education in the time of COVID 19.

Thanks to my tech-savvy catechists Stephanie McElwrath and Elise Antista we were able to connect our second graders and work our way through both Chapter 5 (the story of “An Amazing Meal” – the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, thanks to a little boy sharing his lunch) and Chapter 6 (the story of “Jesus Keeps His Promise” – the Last Supper where Jesus gives us himself in the Eucharist). We talked about the “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands…” prayer. We looked up the word “sacrifice” in the glossary.  “A gift given to God to give God thanks.” We talked about the “Holy, holy, holy” prayer and the Consecration. And we talked about how odd it is to say “We proclaim your Death, O Lord.” We can proclaim the death of Jesus, because we know that death is not the end of the story.

And at the end of class we had a “field trip.” We take field trips every week – we leave the BVM Room in the basement below the Chapel and go exploring somewhere in the church: the baptismal font, the Mary Altar, the tabernacle. Tonight the children were instructed to “go find something in your house that makes you feel loved and bring it back to the group.” Two little girls showed us stuffed animals. A third girl grabbed hold of her dog. One boy brought back his pillow and talked about how comfy he feels holding it. Another boy pointed to the family piano and talked about how he likes to play it and “it reminds me of our piano at church.” Our last student shared his cat with us and talked about how he likes to pray with his cat sometimes, so he isn’t praying alone. I shared my CD of the St. Louis Jesuits’ final concert. Miss Elise shared photos of her family (and Pope Francis!) that now decorate her make-shift office at home. And finally Miss Stephanie shared a wall-hanging a friend brought back from Tanzania.  It says in Swahili “Kila wakati mungu ni mwema.” It means “All the time God is good.”

Things are hard and scary and maddening right now.  But God is good. There are cats and dogs and pianos and recorded music and stuffed animals and photos of loved ones and soft pillows to cuddle up with.  May you and yours have something that reminds you of love, for as the Scriptures say, God is Love.