Children can help us understand the true meaning of Christmas when we look at the world through their eyes.
More than having just “visions of sugar plums dance in their heads,” many children seem to grasp the power of a God who comes among us as a poor baby.
For the winter 2022 edition of Extension magazine, we turned to some extraordinary children to help us see our God and our world through their lens.
These words and images come from two groups of children whom our donors support through their generosity.
They come from different cultures and parts of the world, but what they share in common is faith—faith in the midst of terror, violence and war.
The first group is from Sacred Heart Catholic School in Uvalde, Texas, whom Catholic Extension Society has supported with scholarships and healing ministries. Many of these children were directly impacted by the mass shooting which took place in May 2022 at Robb Elementary School.
In addition to facilitating a project in which they wrote letters to Pope Francis, we asked the children to draw a picture of the Nativity answering the question, “If Jesus came today, where would He be born?”
Additionally, we reached out to the children of Ukraine, displaced by war and housed in a convent with religious sisters. This ministry has also been supported by our donors this year.
Catholic Extension Society has supported the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States since 1979. This relationship provided us an immediate and effective pathway to help the Catholic Church in Ukraine as it cares for vulnerable people in the war-ton nation. Our support helped Church leaders evacuate, shelter, feed and comfort families, orphans and the elderly. These refugees continue to rely on the outstretched arms of the Church as the war rages on.
They gave us letters and Christmas art to contemplate.
In the midst of the brutality that they have witnessed, these children of Uvalde and Ukraine give witness to their faith in a tender God, born in a manger, who is capable of bringing them heavenly peace.
These writings and drawings, along with our reflections on them, are presented to you as a reminder of the hope we share across the country and world, in a person named Jesus who said, “Let the children come to me” (Mt 19:14).
Nativity drawings from Ukrainian children
Vlada-Maria is 11 years old. She and her 8-year-old sister, Khrystyna, and their family escaped from Russian rocket fire. They found shelter in the convent of the Basilian sisters in Lviv.
The sisters are sheltering in the convent to protect her from “the terrors of the night [and] the arrow that flies by day.” (Ps 91:5).
The innocence of youth is no protection from the ravages of war. Vlada-Maria’s Christmas scene is striking in its starkness. Where are the shepherds, the farm animals, the Wise Men, the heavenly chorus, the drummer boy? Even Mary and Joseph are missing. It is just the baby Jesus, in an “X”-marks-the- spot-manger. Is this what war makes a child feel? Alone? Vulnerable? A target? But the guardian angel saves things. Her wings are a roof for an open manger. Her robes are a blanket for swaddling clothes. Her Mona Lisa smile promises an abundance to come. Her folded hands and shining heart are light for this dark and silent night.
“Silent Night,” the world’s favorite Christmas song, was written in Europe in the early 1800s, a time of intense warfare, widespread famine and social chaos. Just like today’s Ukraine. The song’s beating heart is a plea for “heavenly peace.” It expresses our yearning for “love’s pure light” and the “dawn of redeeming grace.” This is Vlada-Maria’s prayer. The prayer of the Ukrainian people. It is all there in her picture. It is all there in our hearts.
Her sister, 8-year-old Khrystyna, drew a beautiful Nativity scene that captures the Christmas spirit of peace and hope:
Another child in the convent painted this Nativity scene. In the convent, the children have felt protection, acceptance and love, much like the child Jesus in this picture, who is protected by His parents, angels and a sturdy roof over his head.
This child of the illustration below prominently featured the guiding light of the Star of Bethlehem:
While sheltering in the convent, some of the Ukrainian children have received the sacraments of baptism, holy Communion and reconciliation. They are being fed both spiritually and physically during this terrible war. As Jesus requested, “Feed my lambs.” (Jn 21:15).
The following message was written by Vlada-Maria and Khrystyna. In the midst of their distress, they are thanked the donors of Catholic Extension Society for helping give them a safe place to shelter.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
We are from the city of Kramatorsk. Presently we stay at the Basilian monastery in Lviv.
Thank you for your generous and open heart, that you allow God to act through your actions. Thank you for helping us in this difficult time for Ukraine, and difficult time for us.
May the Lord generously bless you and grant you His mercy.
You will always be in our hearts.
Sincere thanks,
Vlada-Maria and Khrystyna
P.S. Ukraine will prevail!
Nativity drawings from children in Uvalde
The Christmas story never stays still. Life experience shifts our perspective. We discover new meaning. New details emerge. We cannot tell the Christmas story without, in some way, telling our own story. We asked the children of Sacred Heart Catholic School in Uvalde, Texas, about Christmas.
They have special lenses through which to see the world, formed by everything they have and are going through. We asked them, “If Jesus were born today, where would He be?”
Jesus would be safe, they said. Above all, He would be safe. Safe from the terror of tyrants like King Herod that stalk the innocent. Safe from the perils on the open road that plague refugees like Jesus. Safe from the encroaching darkness that wants to swallow them whole. Safe from being in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night all alone.
One student, Camilla, reaffirmed God’s intention that Jesus be born in a simple manger. “Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God. … Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” (Phil 2:6-7).
The children of Uvalde said that today Jesus would be born at home, wrapped in a warm blanket in His mother’s arms. They want to hold the baby Jesus because He would be so tiny and cute. They would be right next to Him. They would sing to Him. There would be light. There would be angels, lots of angels.
The children of Uvalde have many opinions about the Wise Men. Some have them staying in a hotel and arriving in fast cars. Others have them video calling the baby Jesus. Most agree that they would bring Jesus terrific toys.
When asked where the baby Jesus would be born today, some of the children of Uvalde reimagined the manger. They swapped it out for a hospital bed in which the baby Jesus lies. Many of them drew detailed pictures: IV bags on a stand. An oxygen mask. Heart monitors. A tray of medicine. Hand sanitizers. A hospital curtain closing off the waiting room. The children of Uvalde have clearly spent too much time in hospital rooms. It is a new lens through which they look. In almost all the renderings, the doctor tells Mary, “Your baby is healthy.” The best news. The only news that matters.
One child drew a beautiful “Morenita” (dark-complexioned) Madonna, a powerful reminder that Jesus has come for all people, all cultures and races, for all time.
The children of Uvalde said that the first order of business would be to take the baby Jesus to see Pope Francis. They are big fans of the pope and feel that Jesus and Pope Francis would get along just fine.
One child asked the baby Jesus to come and bless Uvalde. Another feels that Jesus is born in all the places of the world—why pick just one? To another still, Jesus is born in her heart for which she is so grateful.
The Christmas story never stays still. Just ask the children of Uvalde. They believe in the non-abandoning presence of God. They believe that the birth of Jesus means that love rules and that the poor, suffering and lonely have a special place in God’s heart. And to that, we join the heavenly chorus as the angels sing,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth, Peace to people of good will.”
See more illustrations from the children in Uvalde below:
May the simplicity and beauty of these children’s heartfelt art and words bring us all closer to the true spirit of Christmas.
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