Several summers ago I used the theme of this Sunday's gospel to design and host a summer retreat for the ECF students at our parish. We did many crafts and activities to get the students to begin thinking of ways that they, as children, could actually feed the hungry, welcome strangers, clothe the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned. The result was five days of wonderful learning and fun. I'd like to share some of these ideas with you. Maybe the next five days of Meatfare week could become a mini retreat for your little disciples in preparation for the Fast!
Day 1: An Overview of Matthew 25:31-46
On our opening day, we read through the Gospel account and discussed good and bad choices and how they effect us, AND each other as the Body of Christ. We discussed how some people are called to go to far away places and do magnificent deeds for Christ, and some of us, especially children, need to be content to minister only to those in our family, at home. To reinforce this idea and give them something to remind them of the lesson, we decorated flower pots (empty applesauce cups, to be exact!) with a labels which read " Bloom where you are planted". The students planted mini impatiens in these and took them home to care for them and watch them grow. For our final activity of the day, we constructed puzzles, each piece depicting someone doing something; pulling someone's hair, making a bed, giving a hug, etc. We first separated the puzzle pieces into two groups, the good deeds, and the bad deeds; "sheep pieces" vs " goat pieces". When we put these puzzles together, we found that there was an image on the opposite side of the puzzle! The bad deed puzzle depicted a bonfire, while the good deed puzzle depicted a reward...s'mores! We then adjourned to the backyard where my teens had set up a bonfire We threw all the goat puzzles into the fire, and then we enjoyed our "s'more" reward.
Day 2: Feeding the Hungry and Giving Drink to the Thirsty
We began our day by reading the account of the boy who shared his lunch in John 6. We discussed how when we share something that seems little to us, Christ is able to magnify it and turn it into something great. We made a cute refrigerator magnet out of card stock, depicting a basket upon which we wrote the word, " SHARE". We then filled our baskets with paper loaves of bread and fish which were cut out and pasted in place, then we attached the magnet to the back.
After having our own lunch, we made lunch for others! We each took a measuring cup or spoon, and an ingredient and filled canning jars with layers of dried beans, barley and herbs and spices. These would make gifts for Father to hand out to the poor who often come to his door for help. We called it " Friendship Soup Mix" and attached a label with directions and a note saying that we prayed for whomever would eat our soup...then we did!!
Day 3: Covering the Naked and Ashamed
Our reading of the day was from John 8; it was about the woman caught in sin who was about to be stoned. We had each child take a piece of paper, crumple it up, and throw it at me, just for fun. It was a silly little game and we all laughed as I tried to run and hide...I laughed too. Then I told them that I had done something bad...I threw a stone at someone and I hurt them. I told them that my punishment was for them to throw those same stones at me. I told them to go ahead and throw them and I would stay still and wait...nobody threw anything. I asked them why not. As I knew they would, they told me they were uncomfortable because THEY had just thrown their paper stones at me. They were guilty too. We discussed how hard it was to punish someone who did something wrong when we are just as guilty. We need to leave that up to Christ and forgive those who wrong us. To reinforce this we took some smooth round stones and painted them with a cross, and the word "Forgive". We would take these home as reminders of the lesson.
After lunch, we talked about how Jesus made it possible to wipe away the black stain of our sins from our beautiful souls by the sacrament of confession. We then took card stock and colored it with beautiful colorful designs with wax crayon...this was our beautiful soul. Then we took a black crayon (sin) and colored it all over until none of the beauty remained. We talked about how sad it was to do this. How hard it must be for the Artist Who created our souls to watch someone deface it like that. Then we took a stick and began to scratch away the black crayon, and using deliberate motions, we drew a beautiful design in the wax, making our paper souls beautiful once again. We discussed how that blackness was never really gone...we would have to recreate it from scratch to achieve that...but that God was omnipotent and could do anything, even the seemingly impossible!
Day 4: Welcoming Strangers
We read today from Genesis 18, the story of Abraham's three Visitors. By entertaining them, Abraham had entertained and shown hospitality to none other than God, Himself! We talked also about the verse in Hebrews. 13:2 which says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some people have entertained ANGELS without knowing it!" How cool would that be? We made wooden "Welcome" plaques with the icon of the Trinity pasted upon them. We were sure to find one which included Abraham and Sarah.
After lunch, we made Welcome Booklets for Father to give out to those who were interested in joining our parish family. It included a welcome and overview of the program from the ECF teachers and students and a description of the various programs and other things our parish had to offer. The last page of our booklet depicted a beautifully hand colored bouquet of flowers and a message from the ECF children who had promised a prayer for those who would receive their book. The children all signed this page, then we prayed for everyone who ever had or ever would join our parish community.
Day 5: Visiting the Sick and Imprisoned
Today, our last day together, we read the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. We heard that Jesus commanded him, and us, to " go and do the same". How can we do that? Little ones can't necessarily go to those who are sick or in jail...it's not always appropriate. But when we can't perform a corporal work of mercy, we can ALWAYS perform a spiritual one! We made two little mittens, hands really, from craft foam, cut them out and pasted them to opposite sides of a spring-type clothespin. These would be to organize our prayer intentions! We talked about what it meant to be sick in body, and sick in spirit. We should pray for those who do not know Christ. We should pray for those who are stuck in sin. We should pray for those souls who are in purgatory too! We then discussed the prayer that Jesus taught to St. Gertrude the Great, promising her that whenever anyone would recite it, He would release a thousand souls from purgatory! This is how we can visit the imprisoned every day! We made bookmarks with this prayer printed upon them so we would remember how it goes:
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen.
After Lunch, we made " Good Samaritan First Aid Kits" for Father to take on his sick calls. These included the usual items like bandages and alcohol preps, antibiotic ointment, antibacterial wash, etc. one thing we did, once again, was to paste a sticker to the inside lid of the box (a recycled baby wipe container works really well for this!) with a picture of a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a note saying that we, the ECF students were sending them a Get-Well Spiritual Bouquet of prayers for their intentions! After completing the kits, we prayed for the sick of our parish family and all those who would receive our gifts!
We had a wonderful time at our ECF retreat and I hope our ideas will inspire you to explore the implementation of the message of this Sunday's gospel with your own little disciples!
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