This Little Light of Mine: Living the Beatitudes is written not only for use with children, but to help form the faith of the adults who work with them. Today’s excerpt, from Chapter 6: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God (Sacraments and Private Devotion), comes from the section for adults.
Most of us spend our whole lives searching for the meaning of life. Every time we think we get close to an answer, something knocks us off course again. We hunger and thirst for–what? All we really know is we’re incomplete, and nothing we pursue quite fills the emptiness, because it’s God we ache for, God we need. But God can feel far away at times; and the journey to reach him long and uncertain. Along that road, we need sustenance: tangible, physical touch points to strengthen us on the way. We find that sustenance in the sacraments and in a rich heritage of private devotions.
Just Live It:
Try celebrating a Passover meal with your family. Look up the traditional foods online, or keep it simple, with lamb and a loaf of unleavened bread…
During the meal, ask all in attendance to think about what it is they need Jesus to deliver them from. What is the habitual sin that you can’t overcome on your own? As you pass the bread around the table, have all people break off a piece to eat, and if they feel comfortable, share their thoughts aloud. But don’t force it. Conversion happens inside and manifests outside in different ways for different people. It would be easy for an exercise like this to turn into an opportunity to be self-righteous, which defeats the whole purpose. (From This Little Light of Mine, chapter 6)
Hop on over to Alicia’s place for this week’s review and giveaway!
Kathleen M. Basi 