Instructions on how to prepare your child for his/her First Communion, including discussion on dealing with distractions during time of Thanksgiving prayer.

DIRECTIONS Receiving Holy Communion for thefirst, or the hundred and first, time is like nothing else in the world. It's a wonder we can take it so calmly. Of course, if we could grasp what happens, we would die on the spot. Saints have. Blessed Imelda died after receiving Communion from the hands of Our Lord, but for the restof us there is little chance of that. The rest of us have trouble remaining recollected long enough to say Thank-You with simple graciousness. We salute baseball stars and Hollywood beauties with wild enthusiasm, and we take Communion so calmly. We greet new cures for our physical ills with bounding optimism, and we consider whether to communicate daily without even a quickened pulse. We act as though the important thing is how long men will live, not how many will get to Heaven. Preparing for First Communion Unless we carefully reassemble our values, helping a child to prepare for First Holy Communion is apt to be the sum of catechism lessons learned, trips to rehearse the procession, shopping tours, dress fittings, and last-minute reminders to get film for the camera. All these things are normal and good and in the right scheme of things, humanly speaking — but they are not the heart of the matter. Perhaps it is necessary to justify the early reception of First Communion. "After all, do you honestly think they understand what it's all about — at seven? " The objection that a child should wait until he can understand what he is doing when he receives Holy Communion is no objection at all.