That's a good point. While I think we've all met kids who are precocious and understand the Eucharist very well, in the normal course of human development most kids don't develop abstract thinking skills until age 11 or 12. That matches my own experience. When working with first Holy Communion classes, there are always at least a couple …
That's a good point. While I think we've all met kids who are precocious and understand the Eucharist very well, in the normal course of human development most kids don't develop abstract thinking skills until age 11 or 12. That matches my own experience. When working with first Holy Communion classes, there are always at least a couple kids that want to know how Jesus can fit in such a small box. That's a good indicator that they don't quite grasp the Eucharistic presence.
I'm not saying that kids younger than 10 *can't* demonstrate a sufficient faith in the Blessed Sacrament to receive it; I'm just saying that we shouldn't *assume* they're able to do so until they're 10 years old. (In fact, I actually encouraged a woman talk to her pastor about having her child receive Holy Communion before the normal time last year.)
That's a good point. While I think we've all met kids who are precocious and understand the Eucharist very well, in the normal course of human development most kids don't develop abstract thinking skills until age 11 or 12. That matches my own experience. When working with first Holy Communion classes, there are always at least a couple kids that want to know how Jesus can fit in such a small box. That's a good indicator that they don't quite grasp the Eucharistic presence.
I'm not saying that kids younger than 10 *can't* demonstrate a sufficient faith in the Blessed Sacrament to receive it; I'm just saying that we shouldn't *assume* they're able to do so until they're 10 years old. (In fact, I actually encouraged a woman talk to her pastor about having her child receive Holy Communion before the normal time last year.)