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Dr. Joseph White, Author and Speaker
Sharing Catholic Faith
Blog
Helping Children Understand the Mystery and Meaning of Jesus' Death and Resurrection
Posted on March 30, 2018 at 1:44 PM |
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The mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection
is central to our faith, and as Catholics, we experience it at every age. Children grow in their ability to understand the Easter story. When children are young, it's best to avoid too much blood and violence in images or
videos depicting the Crucifixion. Too many details about Jesus’ passion can
be overwhelming and scary for children this age, and we don’t want them to
become overly-focused on the more morbid details. Rather, we want them to know
Jesus as a loving, and powerful friend who is also God. When discussing Jesus’
suffering and death with children this age, we can say, “Even though Jesus was
very kind and good, there were some people who didn’t like him. They were mean
and hurt Jesus, and he died. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Because
Jesus was God’s Son, he could even beat death. He came back and saw his friends
again before going to his father in heaven.” Young children can experience a
simplified version of the Stations of the Cross, as long as they have some
developmentally appropriate way to experience this devotion — for example, a
child’s guidebook. It’s important to keep the Resurrection in mind and foreshadow
this, even as we are talking with kids about Jesus’ death, to continually
reassure them that this story had a happy ending.
As children grow, older kids and teens can handle a little
more information about the Good Friday story, because they are better able to
understand the context. A more traditional version of the Stations of the Cross
and similar depictions of Jesus’ suffering are appropriate for this age group,
particularly if we can relate Jesus’ own suffering back to our everyday lives.
It’s important that children know that doing good sometimes involves sacrifice
and suffering. But God is with us and understands suffering because he became a
human being who suffered also. And the Resurrection teaches us that, with God,
there is an Easter Sunday for every Good Friday. |
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