CV NEWS FEED // As Catholic families await the coming of Christ during Advent this year, The National Eucharistic Revival is recommending resources for helping children understand the significance of the season.
“The virtue of patience rarely comes easily while we are growing up,” the National Eucharistic Revival wrote in a recent blog post. “To children, it seems that everything important takes too much time.”
The blog post continued:
Waiting for Christmas to come isn’t easy either. As we enter the season of Advent, the Church teaches us the importance of preparation. With purple Advent candles and purple vestments worn by our priests, we have a visual reminder of how Advent is set apart.
We count down the four weeks, adding light to the darkness with every new candle lit on our Advent wreath. Finally, on Christmas Eve, we exuberantly sing the Gloria and rejoice, because our waiting is over—Christ has come!
For older children, the National Eucharistic Revival suggests reading and discussing a quotation from St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the season of Advent: “We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold… The first coming was in flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty.”
“Ask them how they understand Jesus coming in the past, present, and future,” the blog post suggested. “Discuss ways to look for Jesus each day, and welcome him as he comes to us in prayer, through the people around us, and in the most special way when we experience his Real Presence in the Eucharist at Mass.”
For younger children, the blog post recommends creating an Advent storybook, and discussing the meaning of the Advent season. “Show them that Jesus came at the first Christmas, comes to us each day, and will come again at the end of time.”
The post emphasizes the virtue of waiting, and includes additional resources and discussion questions aimed at guiding children to grow in patience and reverence for Christ.
