Lenten devotions and activities
Fast by eating healthy and as a family. Set the table and enjoy one another’s company. Make a firm promise to absolutely not buy any fast food (Fast from Fast Foods). Sacrifice time to make delicious healthy home-made meals that everyone can enjoy. Stay away from desserts and sodas.
Submit your recipe to St. Gabriel Radio to share with other radio listeners.
Pray. Make time for heart-felt, personal prayer. Talk heart to heart with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Pray the Seven Penitential Psalms (Psalm 6, 31, 50, 101, 129 and 142).
Worship as a family on the meaning of the Christian life. Find and discuss key Scripture verses as a family, like Jonah: In Matthew 12:39-41, Jesus, points to the story of Jonah as a sign of his own destiny and touches on the issues of sin, obedience, and God’s mercy. Post Bible verses, especially the words of Jesus, wherever a busy family is sure to see them. Talk about them at dinner or on the way to school – especially how verses apply to events in our daily lives.
Pray the Holy Rosary. Meditate prayerfully on the Passion of Jesus (Sorrowful Mysteries) every day during lent. It would be even more effective, if the whole family prays it together.
Pray the Stations of the Cross. Take yourself back in time to the Holy Land, retracing the steps of Jesus on His way to Calvary.
Rediscover the Sacrament of Penance with resources provided by the USCCB (United States Catholic Conference of Bishops)
Do a very humble and sorrowful confession. Take the time to go over a very good examination of conscience and write down your sins so as to not forget them. Never ever conceal sins because of shame. Especially be sorrowful for sacrilegious sins like having received Holy Communion with a mortal sin on your soul.
Love sacrificially. Some families may find spiritual value in giving up something for Lent – television, sweets, video games – not as a penance, but as an outer symbol of dying to self during a season of spiritual reflection. Showing sacrificial love to family members in the day-to-day household relations takes this to a new dimension through acts and words of kindness at times of stress and sharing the things dear to us.
Practice the Spiritual Works of Mercy as well as the Corporal Works. Beneficiaries of the Spiritual Works of Mercy enter a fast track to grace. The poor, hungry, sick, persecuted, and those in mourning need the Spiritual Works of Mercy at least as much as they need food, clothing, and shelter.
Disconnect from social media and News. Fast from Facebook, blogs and use your Cell Phone, computer, to the absolute minimum. Help your children to break their dependence on video games, electronic devices, and TV.
Stop watching the news. Instead use this time to pray for the world governments. What good does it do us to be depressed over all the evil things going on in the world that we have no control over? This time can be much better used to love and communicate with our families and make our home a happier world where they can see the difference.
Smells and Bells, don’t forget the smells. Bake your own pretzels (check your own cookbooks, library or Internet for recipe – or buy the frozen ones). Pretzels originated as early Christian Lenten treats, designed in the form of arms crossed in prayer.
Forgive and pray for those who have hurt you. Forgive everything from the past, once and forever. Holding on to pain from our childhood, our parish, our spouses, does more harm to our spiritual life than you can imagine. Pray for all those who are undermining Catholic doctrine and liturgy, too.
Keep a Lenten journal with your spiritual insights, special intentions, people you want to pray for, hurts and disappointments that you want to offer up, and progress reports on your Lenten resolutions.
Plant the seeds of new life: As Lent begins, help your children plant crocus, daffodil, or hyacinth bulbs in a bowl of sand, covering halfway. Leave in a dark closet for two months, keeping soil moist (a process known as forcing bulbs). When shoots appear, let them bask in the sun. Don’t forget to leave one bulb unplanted as a reminder of how they began.
Stop taking the Salvation of The World on your Shoulders. Jesus is the savior of the world. Let us not forget, salvation starts with our own souls and family. Let us get down on our knees and pray for the pope, bishops, priests, religious, laity, secular leaders, fathers, and mothers everywhere. Then, give the messiness of life over to God, Mary and the Saints to take care of it. God is still in charge of the Church and the world. We are only His humble servants.
Lent Around the World
Creating family traditions helps parents pass on the Faith to the next generations. You can explore new ideas from other countries.
Take a look at Lenten traditions from Around the World for ideas on how to make your own family Lenten traditions. (from Our Sunday Visitor)
Phillipine culture is rich in Catholic traditions, especially for Lent and Easter.
Traditionally, especially in Europe, during Lent there were no weddings, no dancing, no singing. No flowers or alleluias in churches.