Our house was abuzz with activity on Wednesday 14 June, as the children in catechism classes came to Kerlys* for their end-of-year party…
In the morning, each of the groups presented their catechism year to us, with lots of illustrations.
The children from the CM1 class told us how they had “met Jesus”, each child illustrating this encounter with an episode of their choice. We were moved to hear them proclaim from memory whole pages of the gospel: the multiplication of the loaves, the Good Samaritan, etc.
With the children from CE1-CE2 classes, we discovered that “God works wonders for us”. After the presentation, they asked us to play a guessing game by giving us an illustration of one of the twelve wonders they had chosen: it was up to us to find out which wonder the illustration referred to. The wonders and illustrations will gradually find their place on the beautiful “Friends of Jesus” board.
In the afternoon, after the picnic and improvised games in the park, three teams, accompanied by an adult, embark on a mysterious treasure hunt: the aim is to find the carefully hidden “riddle notes” in nature, from which each group will have to reconstruct the words of Jesus heard in the catechism…
Then comes the celebration in the chapel, with the whole community. A joyful celebration, magnificently prepared and animated, full of meaning and light. The tone was set by the songs, sung with enthusiasm and conviction… What particularly touched us was the sharing of the Word of God in a new way: finding in the words of Jesus discovered in the treasure hunt the word that allows us to say that “Jesus is with us”, that “we can trust him”, that “he soothes our fears”, that “he gives us joy”, that “he invites us to be his witnesses”... With each question, many fingers were raised, and the answers flowed…
“Witnesses”: these children have been witnesses for us on this day, just as we hope we have been witnesses for them. Witnesses to the joy and love that God gives, we are each in our own way, they in the candour of their childhood, and we in the serenity of our old age.
It was on this note of shared hope that we ended our day. A sunny, joyful, festive, intergenerational day, “a day they’ll remember”, as one catechist put it… “The best day of my life! The happiest day of my life”, said a little girl…
The Sisters of Kerlys. Published on 16 June 2022
* Kerlys: locality in the commune of La Roche-Maurice, Finistère department, Brittany. France. It is home to a community of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit.
Photos. A group of children try to reconstruct the words of Jesus from word puzzles (in colour) found in nature.
