"One day I began to think about how the first Christians transmitted the faith to their children. And I came to the conclusion that those first Christians, being baptized Jews, did it as their fathers had done with them. Their parents had told them about the world being created by God, about Abraham, Moses, the Prophets and the Kingdom of David, etc."
"They (Jewish converts) who had believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, who had learned to love him and to follow his teachings, would tell their children about Jesus, about the Holy Family of Nazareth, about his parables, about his commandment of Love, about his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven, and about the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (...). But who is Jesus really? This is revealed in the book"..
This is how one of its authors, Pedro de la Herrán, a priest and specialist in religious pedagogy, began his words about the book "Jesus" at the presentation ceremony that took place in the auditorium of "Alfa y Omega", in the heart of the historic center of Madrid.
Help for the encounter with Jesus
Shortly after, De la Herrán recalled an expression of Pope Francis in his Exhortation 'Evangelii gaudium': "I will never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI that lead us to the heart of the Gospel: 'One does not begin to be a Christian by an ethical decision or a great idea, but by an encounter with an event, with a Person, which gives a new horizon to life and, with it, a decisive orientation'" (Deus caritas est).
"Well, this little book that is being presented today would like to be a help to make this encounter with Jesus possible within the family," said Pedro de la Herrán. "The purpose of this book is to help parents, and their children from 9 years of age and up, to know and love Jesus more and to discover in him the face of God," he said.
Jesus' offers children and their parents a simple and attractive approach to the figure of Jesus Christ, is illustrated with original drawings by architect Mariola Borrell, and follows the outline of the twenty mysteries of the Rosary.
Gloria Galán: parents reading with their children
The co-author of the book, Gloria Galán, mother of a family, graduated in Teaching and teacher of Religion, added in the same line of family catechesis: "I have been a catechist for more than thirty years and I can see, week after week, how the task of transmitting the faith to the little ones is becoming more and more complicated". In this book about Jesus, "the ideal is that parents accompany their children in reading it, I am sure they will like it as much or more than they do, because I think it is a book that is easy to read and agile".
"The fact is that, apart from the problem we all know about the secularization of society, in recent years we are also facing the difficulty of making minors understand slightly abstract ideas or concepts, knowledge that is alien to the purely practical and immediate," said catechist Gloria Galán.
Reading comprehension difficulties
"As you have probably heard these days in the media, children's reading comprehension has declined significantly in recent years," the co-author continued. "But for me, as a Christian and as a catechist, I don't care so much about the origin of the problem as I do about its solution, since we have to adapt to the times, and ours are these."
Galán then detailed some of the difficulties he has to deal with in the classes: "One of the difficulties is that the children do not understand many of the words that are common for us and even less those that have to do with ideas or concepts; for example, if I tell them about a miracle of Jesus, they identify it with magic. Then I explain that no, a miracle is a 'supernatural event', but this answer does not clarify anything for them, because they do not know the term 'supernatural'".
Faced with this problem, the authors decided to "make the stories in a language that is simple, easy to understand, easygoing, but at the same time dignified, so that the book would appeal to children and their parents alike. It is not a little children's story," said the teacher and catechist.
As for the chronology, "the idea of following the scheme of the 20 mysteries of the rosary seemed to us the most appropriate, since it really is what most resembles an 'ordered' biography, which goes from the annunciation to the coronation of Mary".
Children canonized or in process
At the end of each chapter, Gloria Galán reminded Omnes, "we recommend reading the life of a child who is either canonized or is in the process of being canonized. We have also tried to make the language as accessible and easy to understand as possible (martyrdom, mortification, offering, are words that are unfamiliar to children).
These are very short stories that "show how following Jesus is not an impossible thing," adds the catechist, "but that children are also capable of God." Among them are Carlos Acutis, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Maria Goretti, Laura Vicuña and Domingo Savio, for example.
"I sincerely hope that you like the book as much as we do, and above all, that it will be a very valuable help in helping the little ones to get to know and fall in love with Jesus," said Gloria Galán, who also writes theater for children and currently publishes catechetical books for infant and primary education.
Manuel Bru: a "service of evangelization".
Almost by way of conclusion, the Episcopal Delegate of Catechesis of the archdiocese of Madrid, Manuel Bru, congratulated everyone for the initiative, and especially "Don Pedro for his passion and rigor during so many years at the service of catechesis: a service to the evangelization". Manuel Bru highlighted the originality of "the itinerary of the Rosary, which I find very interesting, narrative catechesis and biblical resources. The maximum support," he said.
The 'Jesus' book also includes videos and songs (with their QR)to add new facets to the message, which can be placed in the context of the 'new evangelization'", agreed Pedro De la Herrán, who currently directs and publishes in DYA Editions Catechesis, an initiative also of the businessman Manuel Capa. Ediciones DYA has as its objective the publication of family catechesis of Catechumenal inspiration, and is part of the Telefamilia Foundationwhich is chaired by Andrés Garrigó.
