Legion of Mary

Melbourne Senatus

Prayer with Action

Junior Fun Day September 2006

   The morning started around 10 AM with about 25 children from various Junior Groups, half a dozen parents and grandparents.  Led by Aurelio from the seminary in Carlton arriving with 2 young ladies one carrying a guitar.  Aurelio told me later that this was a special grace from God for him to be spending a day with the children.  Sitting in a circle we began with our Legion Prayers led by Aurelio.  Next he asked all the children to sit forming a circle on the floor and each one was to introduce himself saying a little about him/her.  Then Aurelio asked all the children to go upstairs on the balcony, when we were all seated on the comfortable cane chairs, some on the floor as there was not enough room and we began with a beautiful song led by the guitar.  The song was called Eddie’s Song to Mary.  This was peaceful with children’s voices singing it felt like being in Heaven with Angels singing to Mary, there were 2 songs in total.  Next Aurelio surprised us by uncovering on a small table in front of us a very old wooden statue of Child Jesus.  This statue was about 50cm in height and was carved out of wood; this reminded me of perfect hands to carve this, St. Joseph’s works.

     Aurelio told us that he found this statue in the rubbish tip, he took it back to the seminary cleaned it up and now has a special place in the seminary.  Aurelio continued sharing with us the child Jesus story in Prague and how this came about, the child Jesus was missing one palm of his hand, Jesus said “take pity on me and I’ll take pity on you.”  Then Aurelio handed out the chaplet of the Holy Child Jesus together with special beads for the chaplet and we all prayed the chaplet together.  A very special morning was felt by all, next Catena was said and it was time for lunch, the smell of pizzas and other delicious food made us all hungry.  As we shared our lunch I noticed all the children wanting to sit next to Aurelio but so did the poor adults to ask him questions, and Aurelio handled this patiently.

     After lunch the children were full of energy so Aurelio played a game with them, the children formed a circle and Aurelio was in the middle he told the children he was a scary monster and had the keys to way out, he would put his keys on the floor and anyone picking up the keys without Aurelio touching them was a winner.

     You should have heard the screams of the children trying to get the keys without being caught; it was funny when Aurelio started his floor Russian dance to catch the children.  Afternoon tea was served as most were thirsty from the game. Then Aurelio called us back upstairs, how that Senatus balcony served as a little Heaven for the day.  Another song to Mary lead by the guitar, next Aurelio told us a story on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the way he told the story was very special as Aurelio bought with him a bunch of red roses to fall from under his jumper just like St. Diego, then he showed us the beautiful full size scroll of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  All the children were eager to touch Our Lady and Aurelio allowed this.  I noticed throughout the day children paying special attention to Aurelio as if caught in the spirit of God, Aurelio had more gifts for us.  He arranged for a friend of his to make rosary beads and framed a picture of child Jesus, a gift to share with each one of us.

     Then it was the time for our goodbyes, but not without a colouring competition and our final Legion concluding prayers.  Thank you to all a truly special day was felt by all of us present………………………………..Silvana Bodzay

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Juniors’ Fun Day 2006

About 25 children and youth attended the Juniors’ Day at Magnificat House on Saturday, 9^th September.

The day was led by 5^th year Seminarian, Corpus Christi College, Aurelio Fragapane who organised the day’s activities.  The opening prayers of the Legion were recited and then followed games, singing and talks. After some warm up games, Aurelio led the children in a series of reflections. The theme was ‘listening’.  Amazingly, the children sat quietly through all the talks as Aurelio guided them through each meditation.  He told them the beautiful story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and also spoke to them about devotion to the child Jesus.  For this talk he brought in a beautiful wooden statue of the child Jesus which he had rescued from a rubbish heap!  At the end of this reflection Aurelio presented each of the children with a beautiful framed picture of the Infant Child Jesus of Prague, as well as a pair of Rosary Beads.

Everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch of pizzas, party pies and sausage rolls.  This was followed by ice-cream cones, lollies and chocolate biscuits.  No-one went away hungry!

The end of the day came all too soon, and despite pleas from the children wanting to play some more games, it was time to say the closing prayers.  Showbags were handed out and everyone reluctantly went home. 

A heartfelt thanks to all the adult legionaries and parents who helped on the day with the activities, setting up and cleaning.

See you all again next year!........................... ……………....Lucy Sgro

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