In our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Level 2 PSR atrium, we have a meditation on the History of the Kingdom of God. In this meditation for 7-9 year old children, we go through the three major moments of salvation history: Creation, Redemption and Parousia.
CREATION: We talk about the way God created the world, how much love He put into what He was creating, and how we as humans are special and set apart from the rest of creation.
REDEMPTION: We talk about how God came as a human in Jesus, and how he came to save us from our sins, and restore our relationship with God, and redeemed us.
PAROUSIA: We talk about the waiting and anticipation of the time to come, the Parousia, where God will be all in all, and there will be no more sickness, sadness, or pain, and how wonderful that will be!
Recently one of our Level 2 catechists, Clare Galuzny, gave a child this presentation who had already seen it last year. She wanted to review it with the child before diving into deeper lessons.
"We are living in the time of Redemption," she said. "We're awaiting the next moment in history, and that moment is..."
Excitedly, the child cut her off, threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, "The Parousia! My favorite!"
Oh, buddy. It's our favorite, too.
It was just so wonderful to see him be so excited about this time to come where God will be all in all, and all bad things will be gone from the Earth. The catechist and child then launched into a beautiful discussion about choosing God, and how He desires everyone to be a part of this day to come, and oh what a day it will be!
Let's take the example of this second grader today, and live for the Parousia, choose God in all things, and await with joy the day to come where he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and restore humanity to perfect relationship with Him. We cannot wait to join you all on that day, because it will be the most joyful day in all of Salvation History!