Finally, we made it. The wait is over, and it has arrived. It is Holy Week, the holiest of all the weeks in the Church calendar. We anticipate it. We look ahead to it. We hope for it. But, are we ready for it?
With all the build up, there is no reason we should be unaware or unprepared. Yet some of us will still claim, that somehow we did not see the imminent arrival of Holy Week coming. Truth be told, it has been foreshadowed since the first chapters of the Gospel of Luke, and since the first pages of the Bible itself.
In the opening procession of Palm Sunday Mass, which begins Holy Week, the crowds cheered Jesus’ joyful entry into Jerusalem by proclaiming “glory in the highest” (Luke 19:38). This echoed the choirs of angels who, with similar ovations, pronounced Jesus’ jubilant entrance into our world at his birth (Luke 2:14). Furthermore, the appearance of an angel to Jesus during his passion at the Mount of Olives, and likewise to Mary before Jesus’ conception at Nazareth, again highlights how Christ’s trials of Holy Week are connected and suggested from the very beginning of Luke’s Gospel.
Even prior to the evangelist, the images of Holy Week are reflected all the way back to Genesis Chapter 2, with human beings banned from the paradise of the garden because of sin. Once more, we are able to recognize the link to the Palm Sunday Gospel, when we hear Jesus promise paradise to the penitent thief, and sin is finally conquered.
While it is possible, we may have missed these aforementioned prefigures that alerted us to the onset of Holy Week. Hopefully, our actions during the season of Lent leading up to this holy time, helped to prepare us. After all, our fasting was meant to enable us to drop a few of the excesses and clutter from our lives, and not merely to drop a few extra pounds from our waist. Our almsgiving should have attempted to fill the void of someone else, instead of filling our ego with a sense of self-importance. Our prayer was intended to draw us closer to Christ, rather than being something we discontinue as soon as Holy Week is over, and we have crossed it off our calendars.
This is because Holy Week is centered on the cross. These disciplines we have been practicing these forty days, were to become regular practices and parts of our daily existence. Forty represents newness and change, such as when God created a new covenant with Noah after forty days of rain, or when Jesus began his ministry after forty days in the desert. We too are supposed to be made new, after these forty days of Lenten trials.
It is our newness, our change, our transformation that signifies whether we are really ready for Holy Week. Being ready means being different than we were before before Lent. We should have been dying to the sinfulness and wickedness of our lives during these weeks of Lent, so we could be born again in God’s glory and mercy during these holiest of days.
Holy Week concludes with the Easter Vigil, where the Scriptures declare Jesus resurrected. He is no longer trapped in the tomb, having risen victoriously over this place of death. We are to follow his example and free ourselves from what binds us. We are to step out of the darkness of our lives, and walk with Christ into the light of the new day. We are to walk out into the world to spread the Good News with our words and with our actions.
This is Holy Week. It is now here. Are we ready for it?
For additional reading and reflections on Holy Week, click on the following links:
RCL Benziger mediation booklets, Lent, Year C
RCL Benziger’s resource “Take Up Your Cross”
USCCB March 26, 2016 Bible Reading
Scott Mussari is the Director of Faith Formation at St. Columban Church in Loveland, Ohio and can be reached at smussari@stcolumban.org.
Many Latin American cities and towns spend the months leading up to Lent busily preparing the carnival celebrations that, for many observers and participants alike, are a spectacle of excesses of every type. Yet Carnival time, in its beginnings, had religious connections.
Carnem-levare, meaning “abandoning meat”, is the Latin root of the word carnival. And there is its link to the Catholic calendar and practices. It may have been only a day of celebration prior to Ash Wednesday, indulging in a more lavish meal before entering a period of fasting and abstinence. It is time for us to recover and refashion the intended meaning of carnival.
For Catholics, Lent has always included abstinence from meat and fasting on Fridays. In fact, prior to Vatican II, the Church called for abstinence from meat every Friday of the year, not because it was a healthy thing to do (along the lines of “meatless Mondays”), but because of its sacrificial value in making us aware that Friday was the day of Jesus’ Death on the Cross for our Salvation.
Our young Catholics, and some not so young, have heard little about the spiritual, physical, social, and ecological value of abstinence and fasting. One might say that these practices give us a home run of benefits, and something we can promote without shyness among the young and our peers. Although not obliged to abstain until the age of 14 or fast until the age of 18, Canon Law is very clear that the duty to practice some form of penance binds us all: “The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.” And the duty extends to those outside the age brackets for whom it is a requirement: “…pastors of souls and parents are to take care that minors (my emphasis) not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are also educated in a genuine sense of penance” (Code of Canon Law 1250-1251).
Together with the spiritual value of penance and abstinence, it will be fruitful for young Catholics to understand the wisdom of the Church’s ancient practice in alignment with what our medical and nutritionist communities have more recently discovered about the effects of excess consumption of meat and sugar, two of the traditional omissions from our Lenten menus. Abstinence has social dimensions that should lead us to almsgiving, the other Lenten practice, for the sake of those who suffer hunger and lack many of life’s essentials. While individuals may find it difficult to find ways to channel those alms, Catholic service organizations such as Catholic Relief Services (crs.org), Catholic Campaign for Human Development (usccb.org), and Catholic Charities at home (catholiccharitiesusa.org) have been doing so for years. And equally important at this juncture of our planet’s life is the reduction of our carbon footprint, which can be done in part if the close to 1 billion members of the worldwide Catholic community who may be meat consumers simply lower their consumption of meat (see Laudato Si’ 50).
Let us each consider what we might do to reclaim the intended meaning of carnival, and to truly honor the Church’s practices of fasting and abstinence as practices leading to spiritual growth and change, and as works of justice.
For more visit:
Marina A. Herrera, Ph.D., obtained her degree at Fordham University, taught ecclesiology at Washington Theological Union, Empire State College, and New York Theological Seminary. She has written and given conferences and lectures on Latin American religious history and practices in this country and abroad, and now collaborates with many religious publishers to bring quality materials to Spanish-speakers in the US.
As we begin the new academic year, it is worth our while to know what issues parents think are most problematic. According to Elisabeth Wilkins, editor of Empowering Parents, the top five concerns of parents as the school year approaches are: (1) Unmotivated children; (2) Paying attention and behaving in class; (3) How to get kids out of bed in the morning; (4) Homework problems - teaching kids to bring it home, do it, hand it in on time, and not hate it; (5) Bullying behavior - from both sides of the fence - as victim or bully.
Parents play an essential role in the development of their children’s faith and life. Looking for ways to collaborate with them to addressing their concerns provides an excellent way to begin the school year. As St. John Paul II taught in Familiaris Consortio (no.17), every “family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love.” One of the significant challenges every teacher and catechist has is encouraging and supporting families in their important role.
Here are a few suggestions you can use to assist families:
The theme of Catechetical Sunday this year is “Safeguarding the Dignity of Every Human Person.” It is certainly a topic of interest that could spark many conversations on how we live the Gospel message in our daily lives, as well as what we can do to bring hope and joy to the world. Today’s students are frequently referred to as “Generation M” because they have never known a world without mobile devices. It would definitely be worth the time to discuss how to use these tools to live out the message in Matthew 25, for example.
Finally, Pope Francis’ letter, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, provides many ideas that you can use to engage students in caring for the earth. Introduce your students to the patron saint of ecology, St. Francis of Assisi, and encourage them to consider ways they can follow his love for the earth and all its creatures. Every small step taken in our classrooms can make its way into the family home to create better stewards of all.
Here’s to a wonderful academic year!
Lois DeFelice has served in the Archdiocese of Chicago for more than 40 years, primarily in liturgy and faith formation on the parish, diocesan, and national level. She is a wife, parent, and grandparent.>
Un domingo, en medio de los preparativos para la catequesis, unos padres de familia se acercaron y compartieron conmigo lo difícil que era llevar a sus hijos a la catequesis. Preguntaron: "¿Cómo podemos animarlos?".
Por ser catequista y educador estoy atento a los detalles. En una de mis observaciones me di cuenta que frecuentemente los niños vestían atuendos deportivos de Chivas, las Águilas, los CUBS, los Blackhawks, etc. En uno de los retiros que tuve con los padres abordé este tema y les pregunté: ¿Cómo desarrollan los niños afinidad por los equipos deportivos? Unánimemente los padres respondieron: "Nosotros somos los que sembramos el ardor deportivo en nuestros hijos". Insistí, ¿cómo consiguen que se inclinen por sus equipos favoritos? Ellos añadieron, "cuando nuestro equipo juega, todos nos reunimos, hacemos una convivencia y alentamos a nuestro equipo sin importar si van perdiendo o ganando". Yo exclamé: ¡BOOM! y todos quedaron atónitos y en sus rostros se leía una pregunta: ¿Qué dijimos? Yo les dije, ESO, ustedes tienen la respuesta y saben exactamente como motivarlos no solamente para que asistan a la catequesis; sino, para que también desarrollen el ardor por el sacramento para el cual se preparan. Continué y les pregunté: ¿con qué frecuencia ustedes rezan, leen la Biblia, hablan de Dios o asisten a misa? Muchos respondieron: "Gracias por hacer que la asistencia a misa sea obligatoria porque de otro modo, casi nunca asistiríamos". Yo afirmé, así es. ¿Cómo podemos pedir a los niños que participen en eventos y ritos que no son parte de nuestras vidas? Está psicológicamente comprobado que exigir a un niño que sea parte de una rutina de la cual los padres no participan podría resultar contraproducente y hasta traumatizante. Muchos se rebelan y se meten en conflictos inacabables con sus padres. Esto era y continúa siendo una realidad en nuestras comunidades y programas de catequesis.
San Juan Pablo II, en su Carta a las Familias, afirma: "Los padres son los primeros y principales educadores de sus propios hijos, y en este campo tienen incluso una competencia fundamental: son educadores por ser padres. Comparten su misión educativa con otras personas e instituciones, como la Iglesia y el Estado". En este espíritu, el sentido fundamental del matrimonio es el de ser fértil y recibir con algarabía la vida nueva. Los principios y valores de la vida que los padres comparten el uno con el otro y transmiten a sus hijos dan forma al futuro. No podemos esperar un futuro fructífero si no hemos sembrado nada bueno en el presente. Los campesinos tienen bien clara esta visión, ellos no esperan cosechar donde no han sembrado. Si compartimos con nuestros hijos con ardor la belleza, riqueza y profundidad de la Eucaristía, dentro de nuestra iglesia doméstica, nuestros hijos también desarrollarán un acercamiento y sentido a los principios y valores de la Iglesia.
Héctor Obregón-Luna vive en el estado de Illinois y se ha desempeñado como educador religioso y en la pastoral juvenil por muchos años.
Somos misioneros en un mundo que necesita amor y la familia es el seno en donde se forma y alimenta ese amor para llevarlo a todas partes. En muchos hogares en la actualidad vivimos muy ocupados con la rutina diaria del trabajo, escuela y otras obligaciones. Nos olvidamos del tiempo para compartir y alimentar el amor familiar. El Papa Francisco en una audiencia general de enero reflexionó sobre los efectos de la ausencia de los padres en los hijos y en las graves consecuencias de una sociedad que, en la práctica, está formada por niños y adolescentes “huérfanos”.
Como padres de familia estamos llamados a formar en amor a nuestros hijos con nuestra presencia y dedicación en cosas tan sencillas como ayudarles en las tareas de la escuela, jugar pelota, y orar juntos antes de comer. La educación, el trabajo y los logros profesionales no pueden ocupar el primer lugar en nuestras vidas porque corremos el riesgo de perder lo más importante que nos mueve y alimenta para vivir.
La mejor herencia o legado que una familia deja es la compasión, perdón, servicio y otras expresiones de amor que quedan guardadas en la memoria para siempre. Esa misión debe continuar más allá del hogar, y no caer en el error de solo amar y servir a nuestras familias o amistades más cercanas. Nuestro entorno necesita gente compasiva que esté dispuesta a servir a los demás sin interés y especialmente a los más frágiles de quienes muchas veces nos olvidamos en nuestra sociedad.
En la misión del amor podemos aprender a dejar de juzgar tanto las apariencias y darnos la oportunidad de conocer el corazón de los rechazados que quizás solo necesitan de un poco de afecto y caridad para ser transformados. También en la misión del amor podemos aprender a ser más tolerantes con los que piensan o actúan distinto, y encontrar caminos de diálogo de respeto y aprecio.
El amor es una misión que se sigue escribiendo todos los días y necesita de nuevos misioneros dispuestos a vivirlo y compartirlo. Las noticias alrededor del mundo, por lo general, no son alentadoras, pero de nosotros depende cambiar el rumbo de nuestro entorno más cercano y sembrar semillas misioneras de amor que poco a poco construyan una sociedad más misericordiosa como Jesús nos encomendó.
“Les doy este mandamiento nuevo: Que se amen los unos a los otros. Así como yo los amo a ustedes, así deben amarse ustedes los unos a los otros” (Juan 13:34).
Javier Iván Díaz es docente, cantautor y conferencista de OCP.
Este año que pasó mi familia se reunió para celebrar las bodas de oro de mis padres. En esta celebración me di cuenta del gran regalo y ejemplo que tengo en ellos. Su fidelidad en el amor y su compromiso matrimonial sirvió para que perseveraran en este caminar por 50 años. Al reflexionar más profundamente en este evento, me he dado cuenta que, gracias a ese amor que viven ellos y del cual nace nuestra familia, he podido encontrar y llegar a conocer y entender el amor de Dios.
Cuando mis padres renovaban sus votos en la iglesia ante su hijo sacerdote y rodeado de mis otros hermanos, nietos, nueras, amigos y familiares, para mí fue un momento muy íntimo y emotivo. La celebración litúrgica me proyectó a la realidad divina a la cual nosotros, los seres humanos, solo llegamos a conocer de una manera que aunque sacramental es incompleta. Empero, al tratar de entender nuestra fe en el Dios Uno y Trino, nos basamos en imágenes, analogías y conceptos que surgen de nuestras experiencias de la familia humana. El amor, la paternidad y maternidad, la filiación, la fraternidad, la adopción, y todo otro tipo de relaciones comunitarias nos sirven como lente por el cual filtramos la experiencia inefable de la relación de amor de Dios con nosotros.
Este año, como Iglesia tendremos la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre la familia. La semana del 22 de septiembre, delegados de diócesis del mundo entero se reunirán en Filadelfia con el Papa Francisco para el Encuentro Mundial de la Familia. El lema del encuentro es “El amor es nuestra misión: La familia plenamente viva.” Con miras a este acontecimiento se ha desarrollado un libro preparatorio para la catequesis con el mismo título del lema. La catequesis que el libro brinda se centra en diez temas enfocados en la familia. Los obispos de Estados Unidos nos invitan a reflexionar y considerar cómo las familias se pueden fortalecer en estas áreas.
Como parte de nuestro objetivo de apoyar la misión catequética de la Iglesia para fortalecer a las familias, RCL Benziger ha solicitado a escritores que se destacan por su experiencia en el ministerio de familias que escriban artículos que profundicen en estos temas. Los artículos proporcionan al lector un punto de partida para la reflexión y muestran perspectivas sobre los desafíos que enfrentan las familias de hoy y ofrecen ideas útiles para apoyar y nutrir la vida en familia.
Este mes de marzo, al celebrar la festividad de San José, esposo de María y padre de la Sagrada Familia, dedicamos esta serie de artículos a San José y a la Sagrada Familia y pedimos su guía y apoyo en esta labor.
El Dr. Francisco Castillo es redactor principal para RCL Benziger, es además profesor adjunto de estudios religiosos y escritor y poeta.
As we reflect on the journey of this year, we rejoice in the seeds that were planted to grow disciples. We rejoice in the educators who have helped to plant those seeds.
Teachers, catechists, and administrators in Catholic education are a gift from God and are some of the most inspiring people in our lives. Inspiration comes in many forms, from simple everyday life to extraordinary exceptions. In my own experience over the years, I have met educators in Catholic education that inspire by:
I am humbled and continually inspired by these people living the joy of the Gospel. These ministers in Catholic education choose faith, and witness that faith thereby inspiring both faith and action. As committed disciples of Jesus, God has chosen these ministers, and in the words of St. Paul,
I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6
RCL Benziger is grateful to all ministers in Catholic education for their dedication and commitment to the teaching mission of Jesus Christ. May the upcoming summer months bring time for relaxation and reflection to once again be renewed for another year in forming disciples.
Anne P. Battes is the Publisher for RCL Benziger.
The Easter season speaks new life to us in so many ways. Here in the Midwest, where I live, pansies and crocuses are blooming, seedlings are flourishing, gardeners are preparing the soil for the spring planting, the sun is shining, and joy is in the air.
Joy is in the air! For the People of God it sparks as the fire is lit in the dark of our most holy night, as the story of our ancestors in faith is told, and as the abundant waters of Baptism are poured. Joy is in the air in the sweet fragrance of Sacred Chrism, and as we take our place in the magnificent procession to the Table of the Lord where we say with faith and hope renewed, “Amen!” We believe!
Joy is in the air as we sing again, with full voice, on-key and off-key, our Easter Alleluias and the hymns that define the season and remind us of what has happened in history, and in our midst today. Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the holy anthem rise! Jesus Christ is risen today! I know that my Redeemer lives! ¡Resucitó! This is a day of new beginnings!
Joy is in the air, and we need to take time to savor, celebrate, appreciate, and cultivate this Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. The Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar remind us that the Great Fifty Days, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, are to be celebrated “in joy and exultation as one feast day” (see UNLY 22).
So, make a plan! What will you do to bring more joy into your life this Easter Season? Will you savor a good spiritual book, take longer walks in the light of early evening, or begin a gratitude journal to capture the joys each Easter day brings? Will you take time to find a new Easter outfit that outwardly express the change that has taken place within you as you prayed, fasted, and gave alms throughout the forty days of Lent? And how will you cultivate joy in your home? Will you create an Easter candle for your family prayer table, spring clean the windows to let the sunlight in, or try a new recipe for an Easter dessert?
Consider ways to share Easter joy with those you work with, live near, study with, or communicate with from afar. Call or write the person who has been on your mind and in your heart. Make room at your table for neighbors and neophytes. Revisit the Works of Mercy, and make a commitment to live these practices so that others may come to know the Good News of Jesus Christ, our true reason for Easter “joy and exultation”, through you.
Help your students and the children, youth, and families you serve celebrate this season of joy, too. Go to RCLBenziger.com for a listing of Easter resources for students and teachers, including: Preparing the Easter Table and Welcoming the Alleluia; Celebrate the Saints and Solemnities of Easter; The Blessing of Seeds; Adorning an Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary; The Spirit’s Presence; and more!
Christ is risen! Christ is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Joy is in the air!
Mary Malloy is a Senior Editor for RCL Benziger.
The calendar tells us spring is here, and for many in the country this is a welcome relief! The Church’s liturgical calendar tells us that we are coming upon Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, the most sacred days of the Church’s year.
Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, beginning on Ash Wednesday with the prayer, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” The days of Lent leading up to Holy Week have been a time to reflect on our individual call to follow our baptismal promises and live a Christian life. Several key words can help to focus on the importance of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum.
DISCIPLESHIP
At the Last Supper we receive the mandate from Jesus to serve others. After Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, he tells us, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash on another’s feet” (John 13:14). A disciple is one who follows in the footsteps of Jesus. The re-enactment of the washing of the feet is not just for Holy Thursday, but is meant to be a visual reminder of living as a servant-disciple the entire year. How are we doing in following the command of Jesus to be a servant to others as we live out our individual call to discipleship?
HOLY
To be holy means to be set apart to do something special. Each of us is called to holiness - to be holy as the Lord your God is holy. Holiness is being in communion with God and sharing in his very life and love. The Holiness Code from the Book of Leviticus (chapters 17-26) helps us to focus on three things - faith in God, gratitude to God, and remembrance of God. This is not only a holy time but also a time for us to remember our call to holiness, and see how we are living up to that call.
SORROW
Good Friday is the most solemn day of the Triduum, when we gather for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion and Death. The vivid accounts in the Gospel calls us to think about the Apostles - their fear, their sorrow, and their loss. The Apostles had been with their best friend Jesus for three years. Now he was gone; they too had run away. Their sorrow and confusion must have been overwhelming. This is a day to remember and experience some of that emptiness and loss. Often when we lose someone we dearly love, we refer to a feeling of emptiness in our hearts. Think of the emptiness, sadness, and sorrow the Apostles must have felt during Jesus’s Passion and Death.
EASTER VIGIL
The good news is that the sorrow and loss of Holy Week end with the joyful celebration of the Easter Vigil. And two wonderful words are part of that celebration.
PEACE
Whenever Jesus met the women and the Apostles after the Resurrection, his first words were always, “Peace be with you!” What a comfort to experience true peace! Peaceful people seem to know and understand that “all will be well,” and that peace is the absence of all fear, despair, and longing. Christians radiate the peace that the Risen Lord brings on Easter morn. And that is the peace we are called to share with each other every time we go to Mass.
It is so important to truly offer someone peace, that same peace Jesus brings to his disciples after the Resurrection and that Jesus sees in all of us. Mother Teresa was a fitting example of this, as she described finding peace in all people. We are called to see peace in each other and to share that peace with each other. Often at Mass we do a quick wave or nod to others during the Sign of Peace. This year, let us try not only to truly give a sign of peace, but to BE a sign of peace to others.
JOY
In all of the Easter stories, whenever someone meets and encounters the Risen Lord, they are so filled with joy that they have to run back and tell others that the Lord is truly risen. In the Eastern churches, on Easter morn, Christians greet each other with the words, “Christ is risen!” and the response is, “Christ is truly risen!” This is a joyful greeting and statement of the basis and foundation of our faith. It is a joyful reminder of the great mystery of Faith - Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
Each of our lives should be filled with joy - the joy of knowing Christ is alive and actively working in our lives today. That joy must be so powerful we cannot keep it locked up inside - we have to go out and proclaim and live that joy. Once we have recalled the sorrow and sadness of Good Friday, then we are able to experience the fullness of the joy of the new life of the Risen Jesus. That is the joy of Easter, the joy that must be a vibrant part of our lives. As disciples and followers of Jesus, we live and radiate that joy in our lives.
Ron Lamping is a Senior Sales Representative for RCL Benziger.
A conversation that fellow parishioners had with their two daughters a few years back made a big impression on me.
Lent was approaching, and they began talking about what they might undertake as a family for the Lenten season. They discussed options that would be meaningful, prayerful, and really help them discover more deeply the Lord in their lives. The homily that Sunday suggested families do something EXTRA for Lent rather than simply giving up candy, desserts, TV, or things that aren’t good for us anyway.
The two girls were excited. They started naming really wonderful ideas: organize a clothing drive; assist weekly at the neighborhood food pantry; help out younger students at school with their reading skills; and various other ideas.
The parents could have “jumped on the bandwagon” and tapped into that enthusiasm. But Dad, showing a great amount of wisdom, challenged, “These are great ideas, but what are you going to give up in order to fit these new activities into your spring schedule?” Being very involved in sports, music, and clubs at school, not to mention homework, chores, and friendships, the girls were suddenly reluctant to give up any of these things. Homework was suggested, but Dad just smiled!
I imagine many of our schedules are like those of the two girls. In our 21st century lives we are presented with great ideas and options for taking an active part in outreach efforts, all intended to make this world a better place. Thanks to modern technology, social media, and ongoing access to world news, such opportunities come to us from every direction and at every minute of the day.
But our Church continues to invite us to remember that we need to regularly declutter and create quiet time so we can simply “let go and let God.” Let God speak to our hearts. Let God guide us in our efforts. Even our Lord, who could have spent the 40 days doing more teaching, more healing, more feeding of the multitudes, instead went to the desert to pray and fast. He needed such uncluttered, unscheduled, quiet time in order to have the spiritual strength to be about his Father’s will.
So, what might help us at this point in history to more faithfully follow the Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in order to be about our Father’s will? Here are three practical suggestions:
Fasting Simplify, simplify, simplify! Is it possible to take your family schedule and clear it out a bit? If, for example, you are being pulled in too many directions at once, how can the demands on your time be simplified or reduced?
Prayer RCL Benziger’s free reproducible resources for Lent can be prayed with any age students or even on one’s own.
Almsgiving Intentionally look for opportunities to give money to those in need. My Dad has a $5 or $10 bill tucked into his wallet at all times. Its only purpose is to be given to the person he WILL meet who will need it more than he.
Going back to those two sisters, I really don’t know what they chose to do. All I do know is that they were going to put a lot of prayer and sharing into the decision-making process, which, in itself, is a great way to start Lent!
Do have a blessed Lent. Declutter the schedule, and create the quiet time that will nourish and strengthen you to be about your Father’s will.