Homegrown Catholics: February 2015

Lent, the season of preparing your soul to be renewed in Christ's unconditional love, mercy and forgiveness. It's the 40 days prior to Easter Sunday that encourage us to transform our lives in radical ways to seek God and a desire to honor him with our whole lives. These are some ideas so you can spend the next few weeks preparing activities, crafts, meal plans and places in your home that honor traditions and will help your family reflect on the lessons of Lent.

HomegrownCatholics.Etsy.com

All the activities that require printing can be found on my Etsy shop in file including:

Lent Journal Prompts & Activity Plans (12 pgs)

Mini Lent Booklet (2pgs)

Lent Calendar Poster (1pg)

Prayer Bookmarks (1pg)

Lent Worksheets (2pgs)

Copywork Pages (2pgs)

Examination of Conscience (1pg)

Morning Offering (1pg)

Almsgiving Jar Label (2pgs)

Pray - Fast - Alms Cards (4pgs - 48 cards)

Lent Tracking Calendar (1pg)

40 Day Jesus Tree Cards Bible Study (5pgs - 45 Cards)

Jesus Images to Color or Craft (2pgs)

Taste of Reconciliation Label and Gift Bag (2 pgs)

Act of Contrition Posters (2pgs)

Stations of the Cross Craft (2pgs)

A LENT JOURNEY - Daily Devotional for families

If you're looking for a family devotional for Lent, this post is full of inspirational prayers, copywork, activities and reflections. For ages 8-18. It can be kept private, or used as an educational activity for your homeschool or faith formation class during Lent. This is my most favorite family resource, created new for Lent 2019. THIS IS FREE to print out (CLICK HERE). Otherwise it is included in the PDF file on my Etsy shop.

EVEN MORE HOLY WEEK & EASTER IDEAS

{click on picture to go to post}

MARDI GRAS

Mardi Gras or Pancake Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday or Carnival…. is the day before the beginning of Lent. It's "The Feast Before The Fast." It's traditions are easily found online. Our family celebrates with a big pancake meal and crafts including masks, necklaces and glitter! If you have a King Cake, you might be hiding a little plastic baby inside to be found!

ASH WEDNESDAY

We begin Lent with Ash Wednesday. While it is not a holy day of obligation, it is good practice to use this day and week to begin reflection on dying to ourselves. I recommend taking your whole family to Ash Wednesday service. Everyone is welcome, even non-Catholics. Many people take pride in wearing their ashes throughout the day at work and outings, just like someone might wear their "I Voted" sticker, but in a manner of reminding others that we must die to ourselves (our worldly desires) if we want to be like Christ.

Weeks prior to this day, remember to bring in your old blessed palms from last Palm Sunday. If you forgot, they can be buried, burned or cut apart to be disposed properly.

HOLY WEEK IDEAS ARE HERE: Prioritizing Holy Week

- Including Palm Sunday Craft, Holy Thursday meal, Good Friday activities.

PRAYER - FASTING - ALMSGIVING

Take advantage of this opportunity to include the whole family in bringing each other to the full potential Christ intends for them. Create a plan of action for the traditional acts during the 40 days of Lent. To help you out, I created these cards with 42 pages of ideas (incl in the file)!

Keep Track of your good deeds with a Lent Calendar (incl in the file).

SAMPLE

REFLECTIONS of LENT IN YOUR HOME

LENT PATH and LENT PLAN worksheets (click on image to print, incl in the file)

The Lent Journey PDF FILE includes a children's booklet, a smaller version of these sheets to keep in tow.

CREATE A JESUS TREE (included in the file for purchase) to reflect on 40 daily scripture readings.

CREATE A PRAYER SPACE or HOME ALTAR for reflection.

This may include a mini Stations of the Cross I created (included in the file for purchase). We simply cut and color the illustrations, then glued them to our popsicle stick crosses mounted in clay. You might add purple in several ways including cloths and ribbon. We often have a Crown of Thorns that is a vine wreath filled with toothpicks that are removed when good deeds are done or sacrifices are made.

Make a Portable Kneeler as guided by Catholic Icing like we did! Make a Prayer Pail where you add written petitions. Have a collection of prayer books and cards, as well as rosaries.

A WALL OF INTENTIONS
I have this nice magnetic space where I can feature these foam magnets we made. It's the 5 Loaves and 2 Fish. The Fish remind us to pray for ourselves, our wants and needs. The Loaves remind us to pray for others: the suffering, the church and leaders, the poor, the military, and our community/friends/family.

I think we've all seen the lovely ideas on Pinterest and Etsy for chalkboard intentions. Whatever you have available is always best!

A HOLY HOUSEHOLD: I created some mini posters to hang around the house to inspire a Holy Household. Our favorite is the Soap=Repentence that is placed near our hand soap in the bathroom. Just click on the image to print for free!

Inspirational and Prayer Posters are easy to find on Pinterest and would be valuable whether you tape them up or give them a frame. These are a few of my favorites!

CREATE HANDS ON ACTIVITIES

Our children really like their hands on Montessori Stations of the Cross inspired by Catholic Icing.

Magnatiles + Calvary/Golgatha

Design a Suncatcher Cross with black construction paper, contact paper and tissue paper squares.

SACRIFICES

"Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see God!"

A sacrifice made during Lent requires giving up bad habits that keep us from leading holy lives. What sacrifice do you hope to make this season? Many Catholics are noted for giving up foods and basically going on a diet during lent. While that does teach self control, it seems out of context for this religious experience. Whatever you choose, it should be something that is keeping you from becoming a saint. Perhaps it may not be something you give up, rather something you need to start doing! Sacrifice develops a personal change that in turn people see God in you, rather than being boastful of our hardships.

Dynamic Catholic is giving us free tools to have the "Best Lent Ever!" They are encouraging us to stop giving up chocolate and do something that is life-changing! Check it out here

For young children, their general innocence can make this hard to understand. This is where it is easiest to focus on giving up material things in our life. Might I suggest Making a Sacrifice Bin. This is a box or bin that everyone in the family adds at least one item that is their favorite, that they would like to offer up for Lent. For adults, this may be a credit card. For children, it may be a favorite toy or game that is often focused on. For this modern day, giving up Minecraft or the Wii system might be in order. But remember to replace the time spent with that item with prayer. If you give up 15 minutes of Minecraft each week, that could be spent saying the rosary. If you give up watching a late night show, you can read a spiritual book or the Bible.

Other families may choose to have a display for their sacrifices. You might have a 'Bean (being) Good Jar or Crown of Thorns. The concept is that you fill the jar with a bean each time to make a sacrifice. On Easter, those beans are replaced by Jelly Beans or a special treat. The Crown of Thorns is a wreath full of toothpicks that are removed for each sacrifice. On Easter, they can be replaced with flowers and be a wreath for your Easter Candle.

Sacrifice Beads. These are a string of beads with a holy medal and crucifix on each end. Beads are moved while praying a decade of the rosary or when making a sacrifice. You can also find a child-level story in your Catholic Children's Treasure Box books. [Craft directions][Kits at Oriental Trading]

Some things that are hard in life, we lovingly call "Our Crosses." These can be offerings to God in a penitential way. To show this to our children, we once had them carry a real wood cross. It got dirty and tattered, and it was never convenient or easy. This might be a daily thing, or on Sundays when we are more relaxed about the things we've given up for Lent. You can read about it at "The Crosses We Bear." On Easter we transformed the cross into a lovely Rosary Holder. It taught our children that God makes things new. That our crosses that may seem like burdens can make us the beautiful people we are meant to be.
Many who are in love with St. Therese will enjoy making

"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me." Luke 9:23

FASTING AND ABSTAINING
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday during Lent are obligatory fasting days where you eat one larger modest meal and two smaller meals/snacks which do not include meat. All Fridays during Lent follow suit by allowing only fish (a symbol of Christ) to be eaten, no meat. Traditionally this is for ages 14-59, but it is a good practice for children to join in on. It teaches them a lesson in sacrifice and penance. It also makes the transition to adult faith practices easier.
*Catholic.com: Why do Catholics fast and abstain during Lent?
*USCCB: Fast & Abstinence Obligations
*About Religion: Should Children Fast?

So what should we eat?

LENT MEAL PLAN

If you're interested in meatless Friday ideas, or an entire 7 week menu for Lent, check out the link to our kitchen blog! Lent is certainly not an excuse to make a pit stop at a fast food restaurant for a fish sandwich, or a date night at Red Lobster. Friday should be a mindful change in the week, focusing on your meal prayer and quiet reflection on personal sacrifices you've made during the week. But in an effort to teach young children, you can make that prayer and reflection a group sharing moment. In our family, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in impromptu/spontaneous prayer in addition to our traditional meal prayers.

GIVING ALMS

It's also a time to drop your saved change in a Rice Bowl , volunteer at a local food bank, or food for the poor service such as Feed My Starving Children or Kids Against Hunger. You can make your own Offering Box from a simple milk carton or jar. There a many ways to give back to your church and community. This is the perfect time of year for Catholics/Christians to volunteer, as the rest of the world seems more mindful about doing this during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

*BONUS* In the file you can purchase at the top of this post, is a coloring sheet you can wrap around a jar or container for your "LENTEN ALMSGIVING." Sample below!

CONFESSION & REPENTENCE

God forgives us on so many levels with second chances and even twenty-fourth chances! As a Catholic, this is more complex than just being sorry and being born again in Christ. It is a constant movement within our hearts, asking for forgiveness and expressing it outwardly by attending the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is VERY important that as a family you discuss what the Church teaches regarding making a confession. Consider using my First Reconciliation Activities to teach young children about being truly sorry. I include a fun sensory project called "A Taste of Confession" (tags incl in the file), a lap book, and other activities.

God wipes away all our sins. You can show this with a science experiment or make a custom wipe off/dry erase board!

"For those who are weary, lay your burdens down at the foot of the Cross.

God will bear your burdens and give you strength."

Lent Resources

*Disclosure: All links are affiliated and purchases through these links give me a small payment for referrals. This helps me continue to make time to give you Catholic family resources on Homegrown Catholics blog and Facebook. Thank you for using these links to make your recommended purchases!

Books About Faith and Life

The Holy Bible

Not of This World: A Catholic Guide to Minimalism by Sterling Jaquith

The Seven Sorrows of Mary: A Meditative Guide by Joel Giallanza CSC

Daily Devotionals

Bringing Lent Home with [Mother Theresa]: Prayers, Activities, Reflections, and Activities for Families by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle

Above All by Elizabeth Foss

To The End by Blessed is She

Walk in Her Sandals: Experiencing Christ’s Passion Through the Eyes of Women by Kelly Wahlquist

Lent: One Day at a Time for Catholic Teens by McGrady

Come Clean: A Teen Guide to Reconciliation by LifeTeen

Examination of Conscience Guide [Children] [Grades 6-12]