Building Cathedrals
Yesterday morning, the priest at our church gave a thoughtful homily on preparing for Lent, which will begin in a couple of days on Ash Wednesday and continue through Holy Thursday. There are many years when I feel like Christmas has just ended when the Lenten season begins, but this year Easter falls so late that I actually feel somewhat prepared for Lent to begin! Nonetheless, I appreciated that our priest spoke to us about preparing for Lent, which he compared to preparing for the beginning of a race. Just as runners want to make sure that they arrive at a road race on time and with the proper mentality, so too should we as Christians arrive on Ash Wednesday ready to begin our journey through the Lenten season. Rather than muddling through the first couple of days (or weeks!) of Lent, our priest was challenging us to get off to a good start so that we could make the most of this season.
I was also gladdened to hear our priest speak of the joy that comes with the simplicity that characterizes the Lenten season. Lent is a time to be introspective, to examine our consciences, to shed bad habits or wrongly ordered attachments, and to get back to the basics of what we believe and who we are as Catholics. It is a time to take advantage of the sacrament of Reconciliation more regularly than we might otherwise do, and a time to invite our friends and family members to do the same. The fruits of all of this are a deep and abiding sense of peace and joy, for we know that these things are right and good. We also know that we can only come to Easter glory through the Way of the Cross – as our priest often says, “Christianity without the Cross is not Christianity at all, it is something else, an imitation.”
Perhaps it would be helpful for us to share ideas about how we will help our children prepare for this Lenten season. What will you be doing with your kids during Lent? Which activities have been fruitful for your kids at different age levels? Last year my son was almost 4 years old, and we made this Crown of Thorns, which was great at first but then fizzled out after a couple of weeks. Let’s share some new ideas for Lent 2009!
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