Parents: Here's Help in Preparing Your Child to Receive the Sacraments. (You can DO this!)

I love Lisa Mladinich's energy and verve when it comes to sharing the faith with children. I've endorsed her work here and elsewhere. Today, I'm asking her to share, in her own words, her latest booklet, and how it can help us prepare children for their sacraments. --Pat

Sacraments: Bridging the Gap between Heaven and Earth

“The Sacraments of Christian Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist – lay the foundation of every Christian life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1212)

It is very humbling to be in this particular space. I’d like to profusely thank Pat Gohn, catechist par excellence (for whom my admiration is just huge), for inviting me to offer a guest blog in celebration of my new booklet, “Be an Amazing Catechist: Sacramental Preparation” (Our Sunday Visitor, 30 pgs). Written with both parents and catechists in mind, it is a guide for teaching the sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist, and Confirmation accurately and vibrantly, so that both you and the children will come to a more complete appreciation for their purpose, beauty and power to transform lives.

“Sacraments are ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are ‘the masterworks of God’ in the new and everlasting covenant.” (Luke 5:17, 6:19, 8:46)(CCC 1116)

Teaching the sacraments can be unbelievably exciting. Consider this: The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that everything Jesus did during His public ministry announced and prepared the way for everything He would accomplish in us afterwards (CCC 1115). By coming to earth in all His divinity and taking on human form, He bridged the gap between heaven and earth. Before He ascended to heaven, He created a spiritual bridge for us by establishing the sacraments, each a vehicle for its own unique grace, to be administered by the Church.

It is well worth the effort to prepare ourselves to teach these thrilling truths to our children with sensitivity, enthusiasm and wisdom. As we pray, study, and cling to the sacraments, our lives become flooded with God’s grace.

Culled from my own experiences, research, and interviews with dedicated parents and catechists, this little guide on sacramental preparation is packed with practical, creative, and inspirational help on topics such as:

• The call to teach the Faith, and the call to conversion
• Submission to the Church’s authority and the graces that follow
• Heroes of the Faith
• Teaching reverence to children
• Lesson planning basics
• The purpose of confession
• Helping kids overcome their fear of the confessional
• Explaining the Eucharist
• Options for receiving Communion
• Confirmation preparation
• Breaking through to teens
• Nine things that confirmands should memorize
• Helping teens develop a Catholic identity
• Assessments
• The importance of reaching out to other parents 

All my booklets run $2.95 for a single copy and $17.90 for bundles of ten.

The original booklet, “Be an Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children,” a guide to creative teaching methodologies that can be used with any religious ed curriculum, is also available in Spanish!

--Lisa Mladinich

Lisa is also the founder of Amazing Catechists. Read Lisa's weekly column at Patheos. 

The Hairy Truth

Years ago, there was a silly commercial on TV with the line: "Does she, or doesn't she? Only her hairdresser knows."  The spot was promoting a certain brand of color. Women of a certain age, like myself, will often use certain hair treatments with a certain regularity. In much the same vein, Christians in certain situations will avail themselves of going to confession and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. So, one might ask, why put off what makes us look and feel so good? I wonder about that myself...

I have a confession about Confession. I need to go. And I should go. But sometimes I put it off when I otherwise know better.

Here's another confession: I go to the salon to cover my gray. It's a little ritual I do a few times a year. I don't like the cost of the hair makeover, so, by the time I finally make the appointment, I really, really, need to go.

On the confession front, even though I know what's good for me, I often still cajole myself there. Of course, who likes facing up to their vices and sins? So I put it off. But that is not recommended, especially when I start noticing my faltering interior attitude as it leaches out through my weakening defenses—like my muttering of cuss words under my breath when I get cranky. The quality and color of my language is usually the first obvious sign that I'm overdue for an appointment with a confessor.

It's kind of like my hair color...

Read the rest at my weekly column at Patheos.


image credit