The Season of Lent

Boys & Girls,

This week we focused on the beginning of the Lent season. During this time, catechumens are journeying toward full initiation, and they will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Along with them, we also examine our lives, reject sin, and renew our call to baptism.

We discussed many things we wish to be delivered from this Lent. Some of these include selfishness, temptation to cheat in class, gossiping about others, forgetting to pray, and hurting someone's feelings among many others.

Let us pray...

Loving God, as a mother strives for the good of her children, so you call us toward holiness. Throughout these forty days of Lent, we look at all the ways we turn away from you, and we promise to do better. May the ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday remind us that we are creatures of the earth, formed by you from the ground, yet called by you to heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

During class, we worked in groups to come up with answers to several questions I asked you regarding Lent. Let's go over these...

1.) Why do we have a season of Lent?
We have Lent because people are preparing to be baptized at the easter vigil and these last 40 days of their preparation before Easter are so intense that we as a community journey with them and prepare to renew our own baptism.

2.) Why is Lent 40 days?
Lent is 40 days because 40 is a biblically symbolic number: the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years, Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. 40 symbolizes a significant amount of time during which one’s faith is tested and strengthened.

3.) Why do we start Lent by wearing ashes?
Ashes remind us of our mortality, and, when we come face to face with our mortality, we tend to become more willing to get our lives in order and focus on what’s really important. Kind of like Ebeneezer Scrooge facing up to his own death and deciding to mend his ways before it’s too late. In the same way, we wear ashes in the shape of a cross on our foreheads to symbolize our willingness to change – to die to sin – and to be born to new life in baptism.

4.) Why do we practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent?
We call these 3 practices – prayer, fasting, and giving alms – the Lenten disciplines. You’ll notice that the word disciple and discipline share the same root – from the Latin discere which means to learn. It takes discipline to learn to be a disciple of Christ. The 3 Lenten disciplines help us to learn how to follow Christ more closely. Prayer opens us up to God. Fasting purifies us. If we can control basic desires like hunger, then we can learn to control stronger desires that pull us away from God. Finally, giving alms allows God’s mercy to flow freely. We don’t give alms to earn grace but in response to God’s abundant and merciful grace that we have received.

5.) Why do we give things up during Lent?
We give things up during Lent as another way of practicing discipline. By exercising self-control, we can free our minds from desires for material possessions and pleasures and focus on the true happiness that can only come from faith in Jesus Christ. We give up things that are obviously unhealthy for us. We can also give up things that aren’t bad in and of themselves but that clutter our lives such as watching TV, listening to music, shopping, and so on. With less clutter, we can focus on what’s really important – our relationship with Jesus.

6.) Why do we give up meat on Fridays?
Jesus died on a Friday and so Fridays are seen as a day of penance. Meat is a symbol of luxury and wealth. To abstain from meat is a sacrifice for most people…a way of doing without and living more simply. Of course, if you’re already a vegetarian, then you should seek some other form of sacrifice – abstaining from a certain food that brings you great pleasure. And giving up meat is not an excuse to pig out on lobster. The idea is to eat simply.

7.) Why is purple the color of Lent?
Purple is associated with mourning and sorrow and during Lent we recall the suffering and death of Jesus. Purple is also the color of royalty and, through the death and Resurrection of Jesus, we come to recognize him as our king.

*Printed with permission from Joe Paprocki, DMin, Loyola Press, www.catechistsjourney.com.*

Homework:
1.) Write your Lent plan! This should be about a half page or 4-6 sentences.
2.) Make-up test for extra credit for those that scored 15 or below on the take home test. This is optional.
3.) Review the Operation Rice Bowl project with your parents and fill with loose change. Let's plan to turn these in the week before Easter Sunday.

Have a wonderful week!

Many blessings,

Mrs. D.