"Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals..."

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The First Christians by Marigold Hunt

One of the families we co-school with agreed to study the Acts of the Apostles for our Fourth Quarter religion class.  We hadn't thought, "Wow, doing the Acts of the Apostles will line up perfectly in the 4th Quarter with the liturgical year."  It just happened that way and I'm so glad it did.
 Unfortunately, fate had it that the other mom, who was supposed to teach it, got put on bed rest due to some complications in her pregnancy (prayers for Joy, please!)  So, I was on tap to pick out how to proceed.  She didn't mind me stepping in and taking over (thankfully) and so I found a short curriculum.  However, my kids were not enjoying reading the Acts of the Apostles straight from their Bible.  They read it, but did not enjoy it. But, they did realize we were reading it right along with the daily readings.
Last year, I had picked up Marigold Hunt's The First Christians, which is a re-telling of the Acts of the Apostles that is extremely accessible to kids, but it got put on the "read later" shelf.  This week we've been reading it out loud and the kids have been following up with their workbooks.

One of the things I love the most about this book was Hunt's mentioning that what the Apostles were doing was creating the "Active Orders" of the church and what Our Lady was doing was creating the "Contemplative Orders" by praying for the Apostles, their work and the world in general.
I recommend the book, especially this time of year, where we get the Acts instead of the Old Testament for our first reading.  The kids have been getting a charge out of hearing the daily readings, which we do together at the beginning of the school day, and seeing how they correspond to how Marigold Hunt tells the story.  If you've never read St. Patrick's Summer or The Life of Our Lord for Children or A Book of Angels by Marigold Hunt, you might consider picking up a copy, especially St. Patrick's Summer (my favorite of all of them).