First Communions gone wild

What is so sad to me is that people feel they have to add something to the First Communion liturgies (or even daily liturgies) to make them "special". Um, hello?, Word of God, Body of Christ, Blood of Christ, Real Presence.

Yeah, yeah, it can be so cute to see those little critters up there struggling to do the readings or walking down the aisle clutching hand-made offerings. Well, cute for the parents of the choosen few who actually get to do this. I also find it disheartening when a parent comes to morning Mass only because their child has a speaking part that day. You never see them at morning Mass any other time, like, oh, you know when Jesus is there.....like every day! They are there strictly for the performance, or so it seems. Some would argue that at least they are there. Well, I suppose, but isn't it truly, sincerely, sad that this is the reason they are there, not for Jesus but for the public performance of their child?

But for me the real truth is that we as parents/adults should be so stoked that our kids are finally going to receive the Body of Christ, that all that other "stuff" should be perceived as just getting in the way and delaying the actual SACRED thing about to happen.

I think it is in part our fault as religious educators that we have not yet found a way to break-through to our kids and their parents and help them to put things into the right perspective. Perhaps our new "Do This In Memory..." program will be a good first step. Although, it does have some elements of (dare I say it) active participation! *grin*