Niklaus has been noticing that there's this guy named "Jesus" that people talk about. The other day he noticed the cross on my neck and told me, "Mama, that's for JESUS, right?". I said that it was and tried to explain it a little, but I could see that the very theologically sound explanation skated right over his summer buzz cut and off into the windy, hot day. Then, he pulled on my skirt in church one Sunday (about 3 weeks ago) and asked me who that guy is up there on that cross, "Is that JESUS?". So, because he's shown such interest lately (I don't get too preachy with them too early) I hunkered down and showed him (easier since the bells call his attention!) the very moment that the "bread becomes Jesus, kind of like a magic trick, Niklaus. Jesus said to turn the bread into his body but that it would still taste like bread and look like bread. Same thing with the wine, it turns into his BLOOD but it still tastes like wine and looks like wine! Pretty neat trick, huh? Can you see it? Jesus told that to his friends right before some bad people took him and put him up there on the cross and killed him because he said he was God's son. He did it for US, he did it so he could go to Heaven and open up the gates so we could go to Heaven when WE die and be happy with Jesus for ever and ever!". I've been telling him that same story at every Mass and this morning was no different. At the beginning of Mass, he stared at the altar for a while, then, because things weren't moving fast enough for him apparently, he looked up to me and asked:
"When are they gonna take Jesus out of the gold box?"
