Death

One more thought pertaining to children from my Celtic readings:

"It was only days after the Dunblane massacre in Scotland in 1996," Newell says "that a child from Portsmouth, in looking at a crucifix said, 'That is like the Dunblane children.' We believe that the grace of moving into a further union with God was given to Jesus in his horrific death. Can we affirm that to be deeply true for all people, whether they die peacefully or violently, suddenly or expectedly?"

"The tendency has often been to try to shield children from the dark side of the Christ story. . . In the religious education of children we have tended instead to concentrate on images of the good Jesus, gentle and kind. Should we wonder then why later in life the Christian inheritance for so many seems to be lacking? When they begin to witness and experience injustice and sorrows for themselves, have they then the tools to look for grace in those painful situations? Or do they simply begin to doubt the half-truths that the Church has given them in its avoidance of the reality of suffering and death for each one of us?" (One Foot in Eden, p 85-86)