This year Kristus Aman is blessed to have 25 children, who received the Sacraments of Penance & Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist for the first time. For their final preparations to receive both the sacraments the children attended a camp held on 15th October 2016. The camp started off with prayers and praise & worship, and continued with sessions. The theme for the first session of this camp was the Holy Eucharist and Mass.

There were 4 presentations, selected from the Catechist of the Good Shepherd for this part. A visiting presenter from JCC Audrey and their teachers Melissa and Pauline presented The Cenacle/Last Supper, The Altar, The Priest Vestments and The Good Shepherd to the children. These presentations brought focus and awareness for the children on Jesus, and the sacrifice of his Body and Blood for our salvation. This sacrifice of His Body and Blood continues today in the Mass through the priest. To conclude this part of the camp, there was a pop quiz on the mass.

The camp then continued with the focus to prepare the children for the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation. Michael, our Catechetical Coordinator talked to the children on "The Forgiving Lord". Covered in this section were topics relating to what are sins, what sin does and the need to go for confession. Another point stressed is that God loves us and wants us to reconcile with him. We have the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation, and through the priest sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with God. Before the closing of the camp, the children prepared for their confession with the examination of conscience.

The camp concluded with prayers and final praise & worship session.

Before confessions began, Fr. Michael had a short interesting talk with the children, on priest vestments and importance of confessions. The children then had their confessions heard by Fr Michael and Fr Sebastian.

The next day, on the 16th of October, the children attended the 7.30 am Mass to receive their First Holy Communion. Fr. Michael's sermon for the mass that morning was specially catered to the children. Fr. Michael talked to the children about Amen and the Precepts of the Church. One message Fr. Michael stressed to the children and the parents was that they must attend Sunday Mass and Sunday school.

Reactions or feedback from the children on the whole experience were positive. They enjoyed the camp, finding it interesting and a different way of learning about their faith, something very different from what they experience in Sunday school. Many were very afraid of the Confessions, lest they forget what to say to the priest but felt very happy after that. They were happy that their sins were forgiven. For the First Holy Communion, they were happy that now they have received the Bread of Life, but found that it tasted strange.

The feedback from their parents was that they were happy to be so involved in the camp, making the materials, preparing the food and setting/clearing up the place. As they were working in teams, they managed to get to know each other better and made new friends.

May these 25 children continue to grow in their faith and no matter what happens in their life, may they remember that they have Jesus in them.