I Wish I Could Be There

     Earlier this year, we did a presentation of the Mystical Supper work. We sat down on the rug as a group, and listened while one of the teachers read about the Mystical Supper from the Holy Gospel.
     After she finished, she took out 13 icon figures - 12 disciples and Christ, a table, and small models of a chalice and loaf of bread.
     As she read the Mystical Supper passage again, she moved the icons around the table while the children sat watching intently. There were 15 children, and not a single one made a sound.
    Even after the conclusion of the presentation, everyone sat stilly and silently for a few moments before one child, a 5 year old, stood up and somberly said,
     "I wish I could be there."
   The teacher walked over to our Holy Table work (used to teach nomenclature for all the items we see in church), picked up the model Holy Chalice and said to the child,
      "But you are there! Every Sunday, you get to go to the Mystical Supper."
    I wish I had a pure enough heart to approach Holy Communion with the kind of joy that illumined his entire being upon hearing that.

The first time the teacher reads the Gospel passage, she reads it from the Holy Gospel itself, with a candle lit and making the Sign of the Cross before and after. The second time, when she reads while moving the icon figures, she uses this Scripture Booklet, which contains only the passage that is needed for this work.
That way, when the child does the work, those that can read can read the relevant Scripture to themselves or ask an older child or teacher to read it for them.