Kids & Sacraments- A Review

As Easter approaches, we within the Catholic Church welcome in and support many individuals of all ages who are all participating in new Sacraments and being welcomed into the Church.  It is such a beautiful and exciting moment to witness God working through others within the gift of the Sacraments.  If you, your child, a family member or a friend is receiving a Sacrament a wonderful resource during this preparation are Kids & The Sacraments videos from Paraclete Press.

This video series includes four parts including Baptism, Reconciliation, Communion and Confirmation each being about 10-15 minutes in length.  With each Sacrament Father Ken gives a brief explanation of the sacrament in words that are easy for anyone to understand.  They then interview different children within each section asking them how they interpret different words or concepts about the Sacrament.  They finish by showing something special about each Sacrament and examples about what specifically occurs within each Sacrament.  I highly recommend this series for anyone preparing for a Sacrament as they would be a great addition to the library of any parish or home.

1.  Baptism: 

Here they discuss what it means to be a Child of God and how we become sons and daughters of God within the Sacrament of Baptism.  They also discuss water and what water symbolizes and means.  This section concludes with Fr. Bob Powell discussing the baptismal font in his parish and beautiful images of baptisms.

2.  Reconciliation:

Within this section they discuss the grace of forgiveness and friendship/relationships.  They talk about how you know that someone is your friend and how you would treat them.  They continue by discussing how God is our friend and us wanting to be in communion with Him.  Fr. Bernard Baris gives an in depth tour of what occurs when you go to Reconciliation and discusses how it is like talking to a friend about what you have done wrong and asking for forgiveness. 

3.  Communion:

This section was both my children and my favorite from the series.  Here they talk about how Jesus is present with us in Communion.  They discuss how the Sacrament of Communion is like Thanksgiving and discussed what we think of when we think about Thanksgiving.  They also talk most importantly about how we can be present to Jesus when we receive Communion and how to keep Him alive within ourselves after!  Next they walk us through a wonderful tour with St Mary Angela who shows how they make altar bread at their convent and how the bread becomes the true divinity of God at the consecration. 

4.  Confirmation:

Here they discuss the role of the Holy Spirit and what the oil symbolizes and means.  They beautifully discuss the different types of oil and chrism used for different events within the Church including Confirmation, Baptism, Anointing of the Sick and Holy Orders.