Religious Education News

We had a wonderful, prayerful Ash Wednesday mass to mark the beginning of lent. As the prep children were not at mass on Wednesday, Fr Justel blessed our Prep children on Tuesday with Ashes in a lovely prayer service. 

Have a discussion with your children about the three pillars of lent — Fasting, Almsgiving and Prayer. We have been thinking deeply about the meaning of lean and as a whole school initiative, we will say grace before lunch at 11 am each day in lent. 

Here is a fun way to get your family excited about lent and do something small that will prepare you for the resurrection of Jesus to come in Easter. 

Activity Centre: Fasting Cup 

Intergenerational Event—Getting to the Heart of Lent 

Adults and children decorate a cup into which you will place 10 fasting ideas that they have written on paper strips. On each day of Lent, the family will choose one of the 10 ideas from the cup and each family member will make a special effort to put that idea into action. At the end of the day, they will put the strip back into the cup. 

Refer to the Fasting Cup Activity Center Family Handout

In addition to ‘Fasting’ ideas, you can also include ‘Prayer’ ideas and ‘Giving’ ideas such as giving 10 minutes of your time to help with chores, make a phone call to a grandparent or someone in need, take or dog for a walk or saving energy and getting closer to creation. 

Although you can use any color of cup, purple is an excellent choice for this Lenten activity because purple is the liturgical color of the season. 

Vicky Pejic