The Lenten Lottery

A few years ago, we were having a difficult time with prayers and such as my 3 and 5 year olds were so busy, homeschooling, gardening, caring for horses, and pregnancy with medical difficulties seemed overwhelming.

I was overwhelmed and my DH could not assist. Lent was upon us. We needed to do something to improve our prayers, practice penance, and begin to teach the little ones of our Catholic ways. The thought of trying to keep track of 4 children's penances and my own seemed impossible.

So, after much thought and contemplation, and permission from our pastor, we came up with something different. We decided to fill 2 baskets with a lottery of prayers and penances. A prayer from one basket and a penance from the other to be selected each night for the next day. We skimmed through the Raccolta and Treasury of Chaplets to find prayers and chaplets for our baskets. It was a wonderful thing looking at them with my husband and finding prayers which reflected humility, beauty, and challenge.

The penances we tried to vary from very simple; like only drinking water between meals, to the more difficult; making a card to take to a sick friend, and no complaining for the day. And of course we set penalties if a penance was not kept. For example, one who complained had to make a sincere act of contrition and then pray 3 Aves for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. We tried to incorporate the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy into our penances whenever possible.

It was not easy since the children were 3-12 years old, and we wanted to make certain that we all would have a reasonible chance to succeed. DH typed and printed the prayer and penance selections. In each basket they went. The lottery began. The children actually looked forward to see what tomorrow would bring and rarely complained. Focusing on one day made even the more difficult penances seem attainable and Lent went by quickly. My older children did keep a journal of what we did and prayed each day noting no only when and who failed, but also the funny little anecdotes which always accompany such tasks.

It has filled our minds and hearts with beautiful memories and achieved it's goal in teaching that there is joy in penance. So, this year will return to this lottery as the youngest are 5 and 6 years old. They need to learn as my older children did.