Here’s something you don’t see every day: a three-year-old saying Mass—UPDATED

A friend in Florida sent this my way, with an explanation:

Samuel Jaramillo from Medellin, Colombia; 3 yrs. old, orphan of both parents. Being raised by his grandmother, who attends daily Mass with him since he was a baby. On his wish list last Christmas – a Mass kit. And look what happened next.  And all the prayers done by memory.

UPDATE: A reader writes:

As darling as this little boy is, isn’t this against Catholic doctrine?  When I was in grammar school (at least 100 years ago – I’m surprised I remember it) the nuns told us that we were NEVER to imitate the Priest – that what he does is only allowed to him.  In fact just last year the issue came up when a number of our congregation were raising their hands when the Priest raised his.  Pastor told us that this is not allowed.

It is certainly a fine line – you don’t want to stop the obvious piety of the child but doctrine is doctrine.

Fr. Z answered a question about this some time back:

It is not a sin for children to “play Mass”. As a matter of fact, I think it’s great… for boys.

The only problem I can think of is if, as they got older, they would be less than respectful of what they were imitating.

He also linked to other blog posts of his where he discussed the question.  And he posted a video of his own—sent to him by FOB (Friend of the Bench) Brandon Vogt 🙂 See below.