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What Is Lent?
What is Lent? The Catholic Lent is spent with some version of Lent fasting and abstaining and it begins on Ash Wednesday which starts the 40 days of Lent. Eating meat for Lent traditionally meant that Catholics only ate meat once a day with no meat on Ash Wednesday and all of the Fridays of Lent, especially Good Friday. The specifics depend on your local bishop since there are local matters of circumstance like some bishops allow Catholics to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day when it falls on a Friday in Lent. Contact the Chancellor's office in your diocese for the rules in your local Ordo.
What is Ash Wednesday? The Roman Catholic Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Catholic Lent season that represents the forty days that Our Lord Jesus Christ spent in the desert preparing Himself for His public life. Forty days before Easter Sunday, Catholics remember the meaning of Ash Wednesday by reading the Epistle and the Gospel for the day from the Catholic Bible that tells the story of Man's fall and Original Sin and God's word to "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." (Genesis Chapter 1)
The Catholic Lent includes Passion Week, Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. All of the weeks leading up to Easter remember the prophecies made about Jesus in the Old Testament and His public life in the New Testament. We read the foretelling of His coming, Death, and Resurrection and then we read of His historical Death and Resurrection. His Death was the promised Redemption, the promise given to Adam and Eve at the time of their Fall, the Original Sin. Through Adam death entered the world and by Jesus Christ death is vanquished! The better we prepare through Lent fasting and praying, the better we will rejoice on Easter Sunday morning! What is Lent without sorrow for our sins, prayers and sacrifices? Most people use this as a time for more serious spiritual reading and we would like to recommend our Catholic ebooks, especially The Mystical City Of God. Shrove Tuesday Is The Day Before Ash WednesdayIn a way, our family starts our little Catholic Lent the day before Ash Wednesday or Shrove Tuesday. We don't make too, too many festivities on that day since it is hard to eat up leftovers during the rest of the week. We usually have ice cream or something like M&Ms or Skittles for the little ones so that we can store them till Sunday. We make a point of not having too much so that it is not a sudden dearth to no treats during Lent!We also try to have dark clothes ready for Ash Wednesday Mass the next day. Another time we try to have dark or black clothes is for the Good Friday liturgy. We try to prepare ourselves as for a solemn funeral, it is the Burial of Jesus.
What Is Lent But The Best TimeTo Pray The Stations Of The Cross! The Traditional Stations Of The Cross Plus The Resurrection Having a booklet to read is a handy way "visit" all 14 Stations of the Cross even in your own home. There are fourteen Stations of the Cross in the traditional Stations of the Cross. During the Year of the Priest, as asked by Pope Benedict XVI, it is a good idea to say extra Rosaries for our priests and the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Sorrowful Mysteries are an excellent Rosary Meditation for the season of Lent when one doesn't have the Stations to read. Even the new Racolta still gives a plenary indulgence for praying the Stations under the usual conditions!
What Is Lent For Little Ones? Tan The Way Of The CrossLent activities for children can answer the question, "What is Lent?" in a way that gives them generous ideas to show their love for Jesus. It helps to show them the pictures of the Way of the Cross and tell them the general story of Holy Week. It is a great idea to use a booklet like a photo album for the littlest children.
Give the children ideas for making sacrifices or saying extra prayers. We have used what a dear friend taught us to do with a Crown of Thorns made of very salty dough and toothpicks that the children can remove when they do a sacrifice for Our Lord. On Ash Wednesday braid the dough to make the "Crown". then as the dough is drying, insert many, many toothpicks, especially if you have many children. It is similar to the straws in the Crib for Baby Jesus during Advent. We were happy to have had to reload several times since the children's enthusiasm caused them to make many sacrifices, yet the children were sad to add thorns, too. Watch out! Those toothpicks can be oweee! They can also get stuck so hard that we had to use vise grips to get some of them out. Other Lent activities for children are to make a "calendar" path of blocks or a grid of calendar squares 7x7, to cover the weeks of Lent, on a large piece of paper or poster board with Lenten symbols. Then we made a legend of hearts for acts of Charity, Crosses for sacrifices, diamonds for Mass and Rosaries, pearls/circles for other prayers, etc. Each child had his or her own different colored pen to make the marks. This worked wonderfully well since they saw the times that they were slacking and worked harder on the other days. We outlined Laetare Sunday in pink and decorated days like Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Feast, St. Benedict... Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter with little piles of ashes (dots), THREE leafed shamrocks, palms, the three crosses and a radiant sunrise, etc. This was the best project we have done for Lent since the children saw the fruits of their efforts in a more varied way with the different sacrifices, prayers and acts of Charity. What is Lent without preparation? What is Lent without good reading? Please share how you prepare for a Catholic Lent and include a picture on the form below if you like. Thanks for the great ideas! Aquinas and More Catholic Books and Gifts has many books on the Passion and Death of Our Lord so that you may prepare well during Lent.
Share your Ash Wednesday And Lent Traditions Here!What is a Catholic Lent without preparation? A Catholic Ash Wednesday and Lent call us to offer something for the love of Jesus during the 40 days of Lent. Which are your favorite preparations for the Lent season? Prayers for Lent, Lent fasting, prayers for Lent, special Lent recipes? Fasting for Lent and not eating meat during Lent on Fridays can make the food for Lent an interesting menu! Ash Wednesday and Lent Traditions From Other Visitors:Click on the links below to see the Catholic Lent traditions from other visitors so as to make the Lent season more fruitful for your own Lent.
Lent Recipes
I found these online. They sure sound good!:
Stations of the Cross pictures
The Lent Season in Sweden So nice to read about your Lenten activities. We make the Crown of Thorns just like the one you make. The difference is that when the children have taken ... 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,...
Treasures in Heaven
For very young children, I like what we did last year: Our New Lenten Tradition For Lent, I wrote a nice long list of forty penances for the family to do on one color of paper. Then on another color of paper, I wrote a long list of ... old form We don't eat full meal.... We drink coffee in the morning and soup in the evening but in lunch time time we eat full meal but only fish.
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From What Is Lent to Catholic Liturgical Calendar page. From What Is Lent to St. Anne's Helper Roman Catholic Catechism page.
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First Communion!
Confirmation!
