One of the greatest gifts from being called by Jesus to be a part of His Church a few years ago, is having the privilege to guide our kids to grow in His Love and the understanding of the Catholic Faith. After the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, we found ourselves quickly at the door of Lent.
As a family who is relatively new to the traditions of Catholicism, we continue to learn how to make Lent a joyful and meaningful journey in preparation for the Easter Triduum. I have learned from the beautiful videos for kids from Pro Ecclesia Sancta on youtube that Lent is a time for purification and for getting closer to Jesus through praying, giving and fasting.
So how are we approaching this Lenten season with our kids? I am sharing here some tips for other families who may be looking for ideas, by no means we want to to put ourselves as models or compare ourselves to anyone. We are constantly looking for ideas that will work for our family. My husband and I have frequent discussions to find the right balance. He has told me stories about kids he knew growing up, who came from very involved Catholic parents and who ended up moving away from religion altogether. Because of that, we are very conscious of not overloading our kids. Our philosophy is more of guiding and engaging both the mind and the heart in the Love and Joy of Christ.
In terms of keeping the learning and sharing going, and in addition to participating in our Parish’ CCD program, we have discussions at dinnertime. We discuss all sorts of topics and we frame them for the kids, based on facts, science, our understanding of Sacred Scripture, and what we we continue to learn. It always goes too fast but we try to make the most of the 45mn-1 hour of time we have when we are all sitting at the table. In order to set a good tone of gratefulness, before eating we rotate thanking God for our day and the Graces we receive from Him.
Praying:
We received a beautiful book for Christmas called “On a Mission to Love, Rosary Meditations for Children and Families” by Debbie Staresinic and have been using the book to pray one Decade daily at bedtime. It is a joy to see the kids learn the different prayers and make them part of their lives. As for me, I have been trying to pray the Rosary from the Sanctuary of Lourdes on youtube, which they have daily in English, Spanish and French (and probably other languages too!). I know it seems like it is too much for many people from my generation, but I feel like it helps me remain centered on what matters.
Fasting:
The tradition is that on Fridays we fast from meat, and we only have one “main” meal. This doesn’t include kids younger than 14 years of age though. As I understand it, there are no “hard” rules about fasting. It is more about realizing, like Jesus said in Mathew 4:4 that “‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’”.
So even though we have talked about fasting and encouraged the kids to fast from candy during the week, I am even more interested in fasting from negative habits. During this Lent, I am trying to fast from perfectionism, to look less for perfection and more for play. We are fortunate to be part of the Salesian family with its focus on kids and youth, and recently learned about the Salesian Oratory Model. It is a wonderful model for families that includes the notion of play which is a great way to relate to kids (and adults!).
Giving:
I feel like we don’t have the giving part necessarily figured out yet. We talk about the volunteering we adults have done delivering meals, and we encourage the kids to help at home. We want kids to learn that giving doesn’t have to include money, and many times the greatest gifts are the time we spend with others, offering our time, a smile, a compliment.
The reward for us is seeing our kids grow in Faith and making Jesus a part of their lives. In closing, I would like to share two items they created independently of us. A picture by Leo (5) and a poem from Luciana (11) . May the remaining of your Lenten season be blessed, joyful and allow you to grow closer to Jesus.
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