• For the young child and the adult who ‘sees’ it, the atrium beckons and is a sign of God’s great love for the child and the child’s joy in that love. In fact, one of the first names that emerged from Italy to signify this work was Innamoramento (falling in love). A poem attributed to a former Superior General of the Society of Jesus comes to mind…
  
  
  Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way. Fall in love, (level I), stay in love (level II+) and it will decide everything (O Good Jesus, voca me). —Pedro de Arrupe y Gondra, SJ
  
  Note: words in bold italic are editor’s insertion

• The ‘teabox’ atrium was made by Missionaries of Charity as an atrium blueprint and given as a gift to Betsy during the formation course for the Sisters in Latvia, in April, 2010. Picture was taken at Formation Course in New Freedom, PA, in May, 2010, at St. John the Baptist Church and School Atrium.

Welcome and Practical Life

• The first weeks in the atrium each year involves taking time to prepare the ground for working all through the year and into the years to come.  The older children are a great help as they are a living lesson to the new children on how to be together, how to act and work, listen and pray, wonder and enjoy God’s presence in the atrium.
  
  
• During this time, the catechist’s welcome to the atrium will plant wonder in the child about how all this has been prepared for them to be with God.
  
  
• They will learn to respect each other’s work, and to find their own work, that which the Inner Teacher leads them to do. They learn to speak and move quietly.  They will role play these lessons in grace and courtesy that show respect and care for one another and oneself.
  
  
• Respect for creation is instilled within the small community of the atrium, with learning to care for the materials and environment.

Prayer Table

• There is an area for the prayer table. The place of the Bible in the atrium and on the prayer table is the subject of one of the presentations given each year, celebrated with a solemn procession with candles and a Bible.  Psalm verses, prayer verses from the Infancy narratives, words from the Mass, like ‘Amen’ or ‘Alleluia’ are written and illustrated on prayer cards and introduced to the children to enrich their language of prayer.  A statue of the Good Shepherd, and one of the Blessed Mother, a candle, as well as a prayer table cloth the color of the priest’s vestments for that Sunday also adorn the prayer table.

Liturgical Seasons and Celebrations

• Each time a new liturgical season begins, the children process to the prayer table, each carrying one thing for the prayer table.  Learning to walk in procession is an important practical life lesson that prepares the children for this celebration.
  
  
• Some seasons include other celebrations: like the Advent procession, the Christmas-Epiphany celebration, the para-liturgy of the Last Supper, the Liturgy of the Light, and the Pentecost celebration.
  
  
• Each gathering includes an element of celebration, for example the prayer around the prayer table at the end of the gathering, including the songs and time for individual prayers and silence.

Baptism and Eucharist Work

• There is a place in the atrium for all the materials needed for the presentations and the children’s work on liturgy.  The theological contents of the three central gestures of epiclesis, the great Amen, and the gesture of peace make us “see” the three moments of the Covenant: the gift from above (epiclesis), the answer to the gift (AMEN), and the sharing of the gift (the gesture of peace).  (Anytime)  The sign of the cross and genuflection are also introduced.

• The catechist prepares an area for the other liturgical materials: one for the altar materials, (fall ordinary time) and one for the baptism materials (Easter Season).  Next to the materials used in the presentation are others which also help the child’s work: the art and other materials.  The four chasubles and liturgical calendar are near these on the shelves.

Geography

• Another area is allotted to the geography materials.  These include a small globe, a homemade topographical map of the Land of Israel as well as a wooden puzzle map, and the work materials that go with these.  You will also find the wooden pieces to build  Jerusalem.  This geography material allows the story of the passion and death and resurrection of  Jesus to come alive and be real for the children.

Prophecies and Infancy Narratives

• There is an area for the Advent and Christmas infancy narratives.  Each of these has a Scripture booklet, a box or diorama for each story, with 3-D figures, and a white folder in which cards for copying or tracing can be found.  Next to these materials the children will find whatever art materials they might need for continuing their own meditation on them:  tracing paper, colored pencils, paper for drawing, a map to color, and markers or crayons if desired.

 The Kingdom of God…

• There is another area in the atrium: the shelves for the kingdom parables and their materials. These are generally presented during Winter Ordinary Time. The mysteries of life and death, of growing, of the contrast of the small and the great: to wonder and be invited to wonder! To participate in the mystery of God and the child and to enter into the parables with the children is a great and awesome gift for the catechist.

The Good Shepherd

• The children are ready.  It is time for Jesus to show His face as the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name.  The sheep recognize His voice, listen to Him and respond. After that first proclamation, others follow, including the Lost Sheep and Psalm 23.  The presentation of the Good Shepherd and the Eucharistic Presence is awesome: the Good Shepherd calls His sheep around the special sheepfold called the Church, to the altar where the Good Shepherd gives all of himself, his body and his blood.

Paschal Mystery and Pentecost 

• During the seasons of Lent and Easter, we focus on the events surrounding Jesus’ death and Resurrection.  The proclamations of the story of the Last Supper, the events in Holy Week in the City of Jerusalem, the grain of wheat that dies in order to give life, the Women at the Tomb, the celebrations of the Last Supper and of the Liturgy of the Light and the baptism cycle of presentations enrich this time. Each presentation has a material that helps the child to continue their meditation. The great Alleluia, the Hosanna, and the wonderful celebration of Pentecost and the gifts of the Holy Spirit lift up a language of prayer and a focus for hope.

• Each of the three levels in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd spans three years, so that, for example, a child could enter a “Level I” atrium at three and remain until age 5 or 6; a child entering level II can remain until age 8 or 9; a child entering Level III could remain until age 12.
  
  
• The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has a ‘spiral curriculum’.  Like the work of a mechanical drill, the first proclamation is the most essential and important.  The next related proclamations, given either in the same year or in later years, deepens and broadens the child’s understanding of the gift given in the first moment.
  
  
• For example, during the Easter season, the presentation of Baptism I initiates the Baptism cycle by linking the sign of ‘light’ to the experience and understanding of Baptism. Baptism II starts from there, linking the gift of the light of Christ to the gift to the signs of water, the word, and the oils.  Baptism III builds on that and introduces the gestures of Baptism: the epiclesis over the water, the sign of the cross, and the pouring of the water.

These presentations can be given over the three year cycle, with the celebration of the Liturgy of the Light each year.

• Another example is the beginning of the year Altar ‘naming’ work.  Altar I  involves setting up a model altar with candles and candleholders, crucifix, altar cloth, chalice and paten.  Altar II builds on Altar I and involves naming the tabernacle, ciborium, and sanctuary lamp, the ambo and lectionary, and working with models of these.  Altar III builds on Altar I and introduces the names and models of other articles of the altar: the purificator, the corporal, the bell, the snuffer, the sacramentary, the cruets, the hand towel, the lavabo bowl, the burse.