PORTUGAL, Sr. M. Paula Leite. In the Year of Mission, our MTA is the GREAT MISSIONARY. Through the Pilgrim Mother, she travels on the road of our lives and sets out to visit our families. 250 children who took the Pilgrim Mother into their homes “invaded” our Tabor Centre on 5 June to visit the shrine – the “Pilgrim Mother’s home.”
Small Missionaries
The day was filled with great joy, prayer, sharing and fun. For six months — from Advent until May — the children received the Pilgrim Mother monthly in their homes, together with the “MP3 + 3” Project Kit. The project is geared towards catechesis and seeks to motivate and help children to engage in practical missionary actions based on the liturgical seasons.
The children arrived by bus with their catechists and the parish priest. The day started with Mass, followed by a procession to the shrine. The small missionaries led the way with their Pilgrim Mother images and the kit.
Inside the shrine, they presented their artwork and the Pilgrim Mother images and listened to a short explanation about the shrine. This was followed by a picnic lunch in the Tabor Centre gardens and surrounding forest. After lunch the Aveiro Girls’ Youth, in collaboration with the Boys’ Youth, provided several fun activities. The programme started in front of the shrine with lots of dancing. Everybody – young and old – danced, imitating the actions of the four young people at the door to the shrine. It was really hot, but nobody seemed to mind. One of the youngest girls – only six years old – challenged one of the priests to dance: “Aren’t you going to dance?” He answered: “I don’t know how” and she responded: “Copy us!”
Finger Prints
This atmosphere of joy and participation continued in the Shrine Competition that followed. The groups were divided by age and were given a range of different challenges. It was impossible to be unaffected by the joy, laughter and noise that surrounded these activities. As a result, time flew, and soon it was time to start the long journey home and soon it was time to gather again in the shrine for the sending out. During the Shrine Competition, one of the children received a small cardboard shrine and an MTA card.
Two large cardboard shrines were presented and will be sent to the two participating parishes. Each child was also invited to leave their finger prints. Each catechism class had their own colour.
After an afternoon snack and another gift from our Pilgrim Mother – a lollipop – they left joyfully, waving until they were out of sight and promising to return to the “Pilgrim Mother’s house.”
Translated from the Portuguese by Sarah-Leah Pimentel, South Africa
