Page 4 - Fruit of the Vine issue no. 1

The following incident gave an insight into the fruits of the reflective approach underlying our catechesis, for both children and
us.
It happened during a return visit to the Good Shepherd Centre of Catechesis in Rome, when Gianna invited me to join in her children’s session with the youngest children, six and under.
At one point she came over to the far side of the atrium where I was sitting and spoke softly about one of the children there. When this little boy first came to the Centre, Gianna explained, he was very unsettled, as though something was disturbing him inside. For a long time Gianna had been baffled by his behaviour— crawling under tables, eating paper and the like —although, she added, it wasn’t that he was unhappy to be there and he obviously enjoyed coming.
Gianna had spent a lot of time trying to understand and help him. One day, this little boy, on his own initiative, went to the box containing the wooden figures for the parable of the Good Shepherd. By himself, “without anyone showing him how,” Gianna emphasized, he began to set out the figures, placing the
We were gathered at the altar work and this was the time to name the tabernacle, the ciborium, the sanctuary lamp.
The catechist was explaining what happens if there is bread, Jesus' Body, still remaining after Holy Communion: where does it go? The catechist was just about to reach for the key in the tabernacle door when a young, five-year-
sheep in the sheepfold, and moving them out to follow behind the Shepherd. He was intent on what he was doing, and became centred.
Gianna was surprised for a few reasons. One was because it was this activity alone that had captured the child’s interest and calmed his spirit. Another was that he spontaneously moved the figures as if he knew the parable— which he didn’t—or had used the materials before—which he hadn’t. Finally, it was the fact that, in Gianna’s words, “from that day he changed.”
From hearing Gianna’s account about that young boy, it was clear how carefully she “saw” children and considered their actions and ways. The fruit of her close observation of children gave her great confidence in their capacities.
Something else became clear to me in hearing Gianna’s final words before she rejoined the children. She said, “Now that I know what I do about children, I would like to go back to being with them full-time.” At that point Gianna had been working in the atrium 45 years, and that’s not counting all her previous Montessori experience. What humility!
Patricia Coulter (Burlington, ON)
old, exclaimed, “Don't touch it!” — she was so overcome with how holy, how sacred this little box is.
I never forget that little voice, when I, as a Eucharistic Minister, approach the tabernacle to remove the ciborium. I genuflect and hear her say, “Don't touch it!” reminding me that it is holy.
Mariann Dunsmore (Toronto, ON)
Fruit of the Vine | June 2021 FRUIT WE TREASURE
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