Kid’s praise party
Children are a treasure and if I have ever doubted that, I am reminded of it every time we visit the St. Gabriel’s Girl School in San Fernando, Trinidad. The Word of God in Proverbs 22: 6 tells us “Instruct a child in the way he should go, and when he grows old, he will not depart from it.” This scripture passage is very true and the teachers and staff of the St Gabriel’s Girls School have taken this passage to heart. They ensure that not only are the children taught their normal school work, but that they are also instructed in the Catholic faith.
With great anticipation, the members of GRACE looked forward to this day in Lent, when we would spend time with the children whom we have very easily grown to love as our very own. They have been such a tremendous blessing to us all. When we arrived at the school this year, there was already something going on. I recognized the melody that was being chanted. They were being lead in the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and in Benedictions by Msgr. Christian Perrera. As we walked into the courtyard of the school, it occurred to me what a tremendous difference it would make if there were more Catholic teachers like those at St. Gabriel’s, what a difference that would make, where not only the academic skills of each child is developed, but also their spiritual. Can you imagine for one moment, imagine the impact on the lives of our children if in all of our Catholic schools, our children were exposed to the sacraments and to Jesus?
Jesus always had a very special place in His heart for children. So much so that when He was asked by His disciples, ‘who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,’ He called a little child to Himself, put that child to stand in front of Him and said, “I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18: 1-4) When you look at the children on St. Gabriel’s Girls, and how freely and completely they praise and worship the One True Living God, you can begin to understand what Jesus meant. As adults, there is a lot that we can and must learn from children so that we can be part of God’s Kingdom. And if we are so blest to have children around us, know that we have a very serious responsibility to teach them the ways of God. They are God’s gift to us, and at the end of our days, we will have to account for every gift that has been given us by God.
St Paul in his letter to the Hebrews, he reminds us that there can be no remission of sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). All glory be to the Father for Jesus Christ His Only Son, whose precious blood was shed once and for all, to ransom us all. This final video opf our Praise Party at St Gabriel’s Girls School, is about the blood of Jesus. It is a song that was composed by a Jamacian whose name I do not know. None-the-less, the girls and staff of the school loved the song, and I’m sure that you will too.
