Our Epiphany

I also teach 2nd grade PSR… sigh…

anyway, I was getting my class ready for yesterday’s scheduled PSR time of 9:00 – knowing full well that only a fraction of my 10 students were going to show. The fun for me is to figure out how many. Considering that I was surprised that we were having PSR the first Sunday after New Years, I imagined a few other people would be too… so I guessed somewhere between 4 and 6. We had 4 and one of those was my kid.

What to do, what to do. I really wasn’t in the mood to prepare a class anyway, and I certainly didn’t think pushing through their text and then reviewing the next week was the way to go. So I took advantage of the feast of the day and taught about the Epiphany and the wise men.

I learned a little bit while preparing myself. I never realized that the Frankincense tree had to be cut and the sap ooze out before it could be collected – or that the myrrh tastes bitter yet the aroma is sweet! I tried to tie that together with Christ’s passion and death for my 2nd graders – I saw a few glimmers so who knows, they might get the connection.

A couple of years ago, when my husband and I were enthusiastically trying to reclaim our Catholic heritage, we stumbled upon the house blessing… you know 20+C+M+B+04 on the doorpost. We encouraged our pastor to bless chalk and distribute it at all of the Epiphany masses. They even print a blessing and instructions in the bulletin now so it’s been a big success. My husband and I buy the chalk and break it into smaller sticks and then we man the three entrances to the church passing out the chalk.

My little daughter loved doing this… loved it!! People would pat her head and smile at her and she happily gave up her chalk. Interestingly it was the elderly women who had no interest in taking any of the chalk and couldn’t be encouraged or cajoled into it by a little girl’s smile either. Maybe they don’t want chalk in their doorway, or maybe they aren’t sure what it’s really for or they don’t see the point. It was interesting and all of us noticed it. Just something to wonder about.

Overall though it was another good experience for my kids and I think they see how one family’s initiative really can make a difference!