Recently, in my class of seven-year-olds, we experienced death for the first time. Three grandmothers died within the space of two weeks. As a teacher of religion, what was I to say to these three sad little girls?

I wanted to be honest, and acknowledge the finality of death, and the pain of being physically separated from those we love. Yet, as a Christian, I live with the hope that death is not the end, but a new beginning. In the future I trust that we will be reunited with our loved ones. How could I share my faith in a meaningful way with these little students?

Mary As Comforter
As always, we started the lesson with a prayer. That day we chose the Hail Mary, and ended with time for personal intentions.

We prayed for Mums with flu, dogs who are too fat, cats with diarrhoea, kittens in need of a good home, and all the usual

things children like to remember. On this occasion, we finished with special prayers for the three grandmothers. There were

tears in the eyes of the three girls.

Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration. I decided that Mary could help me to comfort and console the little girls. I teach in

a country far away, and most of my students are not Christian; they come from a variety of religions and nations.

Nevertheless, Mary is seen as a very important person by all of them. She was Jesus’ mother, and mothers are central figures

in the lives of everybody in the class.

A Real Person
We pooled our knowledge about Mary, and of course the predominant image was of Mary as mother. For these children,

Mary is a real person. We drew pictures of her, and gave her lovely colourful clothes and long hair, either in plaits or

a pony-tail. In all cases Mary was perceived as being beautiful.

We discussed the birth of Jesus in a stable, his life on earth and his death on a cross. We imagined the sadness Mary must

have felt to see her Son die in such a terrible way. Next we moved on to the joy of Easter and the resurrection. Finally,

we came to Mary’s ‘taking up’ into heaven, the assumption.

Death and Assumption
This was the core of the lesson. One little boy said, ‘Well, of course Mary was taken up into heaven, because she was

special. She was the mother of Jesus, and she’s our mother too’. One of the bereaved girls shot up her hand and said,

‘We pray to Mary because she’s in heaven, and she cares for us, and will always help us’.

Yes indeed, I was reminded of the words of Jesus, ‘Let the children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to

such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs’ (Mt 19:14). Children have the knack of getting to the kernel of issues

without smothering them up in unnecessary details. All of these conclusions provided us with a springboard from which to

discuss the assumption and death. Death and assumption are inextricably linked.

Reason To Hope
Mary’s presence was a source of inspiration to the apostles in the early Church. Their sadness at her parting must have been

tempered with joy at the thought of her presence in heaven. They knew that Mary would be reunited with her Son, and that

her care for them would be no less in heaven than it had been on earth.

The assumption gives us reason to hope. In Mary we find a woman, a mother, who lived a faith-filled life, and who has preceded us to her eternal reward. Because of that we can afford to be optimistic, even in the face of death. Our beloved dead are all the hands of a loving Father. They also have in Mary a wonderful mother. In the meantime, she is our mother too, and she intercedes on our behalf. Let us ask her help in faith.