The Gatekeeper
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Levels I & II 
December 16, 2008 - Levels 1&2, Issue 4
In This Issue
Infancy Narratives
Prayerful Response
Archives
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Dear CGS Level I and/or II Parent   
The Good Shepherd
Advent continues, and now Christmas is very close indeed.  This week is the third week of Advent, the one marked by the lighting of a pink candle and the one celebrating joy.
 
It is a good time to reflect on joy.  How do I proclaim joy?  How do I respond to joy?  Can I, like Mary, let go of fear and say, "Yes, Your will be done!"  Do I, like the shepherds, let go of fear and go with haste to meet God?   How do I respond to God's messages, whether loud or subtle?  How do I respond to God's gifts, whether obvious or hidden?
 
This week, both Level I and Level II will work in some way with infancy narratives.  Infancy narratives are Gospel accounts about Jesus' birth and childhood.  Since it is common for a family to have both Level I and II children, and in the interest of saving some reading time during this busy week, the Level I and II e-newsletter is being combined.  This newsletter will be sent to both distribution lists.
 
We pray for your continued spiritual reflection during Advent in order to celebrate with great joy the feast of Christmas.  We hope to see many of the CGS children at the Christmas Eve family mass.  If your child(ren) would like to participate in a special way at the beginning of that mass, please join the rehearsal that will be held just following the 9 AM mass this Sunday, December 21st for about 15 minutes.
 
Peace and joy,

Your catechists
and Lina Hilko (editor)
Infancy Narratives 
In Level I, the catechists will proclaim one of the five Level I infancy narratives, The Annunciation, found in Luke 1:26-35.  In this narrative, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to Jesus.  And Mary responds, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."  After reading the words from the Bible once, the catechist will show the children a material with which they may work in order to reflect on this narrative.  The material consists of beautiful, three-dimensional figures of Mary and the Angel.
 
Level II will begin with a review of six infancy narratives (referred to as the synthesis of the infancy narratives).  The tone of the Atrium will be set by low lighting and six candles placed by the materials that represent each infancy narrative.  Level II will discover the similarities among the narratives.
 
The narratives themselves are not very explicit in text.  They invite the children (and adults!) to listen to these stories over and over again - to gain the richness of the mysteries they contain.  As facilitators and catechists, we invite the children to respond in a very personal way to the stories of Jesus' birth and childhood.  As explained in The Religious Potential of the Child, written by Sofia Cavalletti, the founder of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program:

We should also accustom ourselves to a "living" reading of the text; that is, we should feel ourselves personally involved in the listening and the response to the text.  (page 110)

So for instance, following the presentation of one of the infancy narratives, the Annunciation, the Level II catechist will reflect with the children, touching on points such as:

"The words the angel proclaimed to the Mother of God are addressed to us as well, to me too.  How shall we respond?  Mary expressed her joy saying: 'My soul magnifies the Lord!'  Her joy is mine too; it is 'a great joy which will come to all the people.'  And how shall I express it?"  (Religious Potential, page 110)

If you would like to explore the infancy narratives further with your child, please be mindful that you do not need to explain the scripture stories.  Just listen - together.  You and your child have just heard the Good News of Jesus!

Annunciation, Luke 1:26-35
Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, Luke 1:39-49, 56
Birth of Jesus & Adoration of the Shepherds, Luke 2:1-20
Adoration of the Magi, Matthew 2:1-12
Presentation in the Temple, Luke 2:22-34(34 through the word "Israel"), 36-40
Flight into Egypt, Matthew 2:13-14  (Level II but not Level I)

Prayerful Response 

An aim of pretty much every CGS presentation is to provide a basis for meditation and prayer around our response to the proclamation.  Most importantly, prayer is to be a personal response.  We can facilitate the personal expression by offering some examples of prayer.  Interestingly, each of the infancy narratives contains a prayer.  For example, we hear the beginning of the Hail Mary in the Annunciation text.  But in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, these examples are used "sparingly."  Sofia Cavalletti states in Religious Potential (page 111):

Such examples should be offered to the children with great discretion so as not to stifle their own personal prayer.  If we wish to give the Magnificat, for instance, we restrict ourselves to suggesting only the first verse:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  (Luke 1:46-47)

We give text like this as one example among many of the ways one may respond to God, as a stimulus to personal prayer, so that each person finds in his own heart his response to the Lord ....

Archives 
We now have an archive of all past e-newsletters.  It can be accessed from St Teresa's web site under the Catechesis subsection (links along left). 
 
Feel free to provide comments about this newsletter to Lina Hilko, the editor, at [email protected] and/or Sarah Coles, St. Teresa's Director of Religious Education, at [email protected].  Thanks!