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Highlight
the weeks of Lent with a purple marker on your family calendar
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Create a
candle display similar to the Advent wreath at Christmas time. Light
one candle each week during Lent. Try making a cross shape by placing
them in a baking pan.
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Easter/Spring tree- place a tree branch in a clay pot. Add paper
leaves or colored eggs to the limbs each time a family member does a
good deed or helps without being asked!
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Place a
pretzel alongside dinner plates each evening to remind us to pray.
Pretzels are a long-time, Lenten tradition, reminding us of the Holy
Trinity.
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PRAY
together before meals, at bedtime, in the car, before doing homework
or watching TV. If you already do this, try doing it more often or
with the children leading / choosing the prayer.
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Brighten
someone’s day with children’s colorings/drawings/extra projects from
school! Send the art in the mail or hand deliver. Remember those who
may be sad, lonely or ill.
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Make your
own family Easter candle. Take one large or tall candle and add one
colored ribbon each week of Lent. Light it for the first time Easter
morning. Comment on growing through darkness to light / from Winter to
Spring / remembering Jesus is the LIGHT of the world; of our lives!
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From:
“Catholic Family Catholic Home” by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND.
Burying Alleluia -- the word “Alleluia” means “Praise the Lord”. We do
not use this wordat Mass during Lent. Print the word on a piece of
paper and hide it at your house (maybe in a purple box on the kitchen
table). Cover it up and “unveil” it at Easter!
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From:
“Building Catholic Traditions” by Paul and Leisa Thigpen.
Pretzels – Make your own! Humble pretzels, a long-time Lenten
tradition, were popular due to the ingredients they were lacking
(eggs, milk, butter, lard) and because their shape represents arms
folded across the chest in prayer. The SALT reminds us we are Salt of
the Earth. The three parts rolled into one remind us of the Holy
Trinity.
---talk with children of the history and symbolism of the pretzel
---place one alongside placemats each meal to remind us to pray
---make home-made ones from bread dough or try cookies (Betty Crocker
pg. 107)
