Saturday, March 1, 2014

Some Lenten Plans

Some years, I lay out pretty detailed plans for specific Lenten practices and sacrifices I would like to make.  I mean, I literally write out a list with very clearly worded rules to limit the possibility of "cheating."  This Lent, I feel like the busyness of our life is already going to lend itself well to various things I would have considered doing anyways, so I'm just going to let things sort of take their course.

For example, in the process of packing up our whole household for moving, we are inevitably going to do a serious purge of unnecessary stuff as we sort through every single item we own.  We'll be forced to eat a lot of things out of the freezer/pantry over the next month, because I don't want to have to move ALL that food.  And I'm guessing a lot of meals during Lent will be obligatorily simple because we'll be so busy packing/moving/unpacking/dealing with a brand-new baby!

I will admit, I'm pretty excited that being pregnant (and then breastfeeding) gives me a good excuse not to have to fast this year.  I don't know why, but fasting is *the* hardest thing for me.  I turn into a horrible human being very quickly when I'm hungry.  Tom has decided to follow the pre-Vatican II Lenten rules of fasting every day of Lent [eating one normal meal and two small ones, with nothing in between], as well as partial abstinence [i.e. meat only at one meal per day].  And this year, I don't have to feel guilty or wimpy for not joining him.

My main sacrifice is going to be giving up the internet anytime the kids are awake.  I can't even imagine how much more productive this is going to make me!  And how much more of an "available" mother...

I just need to make sure to work in some time amidst all this running around for some actual reflection and prayer.

We are moving across the street from a Catholic church.  Would I be insane to try to attend a daily Mass alone with two little ones and a newborn?


Lent for little kids

I've never done anything with the kids for Lent before since Sly seemed too young to "get it."  This year, I think he's ready for something simple.  He enjoyed "doing good things for baby Jesus" during Advent (as represented by a piece of hay he could put into the manger).  I would like to try something similar with him for Lent.  Mary Reed Newland (The Year & Our Children) suggests dying lima beans purple and having children add one to a jar each time they offer some sort of sacrifice.  Just as the beans (appear to) "die" when you bury them in the dirt, only to spring forth in new life, they remind us that when we die to ourselves, we will find new life in Christ.

We're going to try something similar.  Recently, Sly has been begging us to make him a little string of beads "like St. Therese had" to count up his "presents for God." 

 
Have you read the Catholic Children's Treasure Box books?  They are re-printed from the 1950s, and they are fantastic.  Sly loves the stories, and has learned so much about the Faith through reading and talking with us about them.  The writing is so much more direct and hard-hitting than most modern books for Catholic children.  This is where Sly learned about Therese's sacrifice counter.  One of the books tells the story about how she used one as a child (which, I believe, she writes about in Story of a Soul?), and has instructions at the end for making your own.


Every time the child makes a small sacrifice for God, he slides one bead along the string.  At the end of the day, he can tell God how many "presents" he has to offer Him.
Sly chose a St. Bernadette medal.  He's been talking about her a lot since her recent feast day :-)

Does anyone else have some good ideas to help young children (Sly is only three-and-a-half) understand a bit of the meaning of Lent? 
[I should note that my son refuses to do coloring pages, so I'm always looking for something more original!]

16 comments:

  1. We have done and will do again the path to Calvary. :) http://pinewoodcastle.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/circle-time-lent.html

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    1. Thanks for sharing! I'll check this out soon :-)

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  2. I feel the same way about fasting--I think Chuckie's going to fast every day too, and I'm glad I won't feel bad about not joining him :-) (because I wouldn't join him anyway...)

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  3. I'm new to your blog, and I wanted to say how great it is and very helpful for me! :) I have been wondering the same thing for my son, who is three. I definitely want to get the treasure box book and try making those beads. I also love the purple bean idea. I am not sure if my son would understand a sacrifice though...? I also have a little girl who is one and a half, and she might put them in her mouth. It is times like these when I feel kind of clueless, and wish I could have been a fly on the wall in the Martin home!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I think the concept of "sacrifice" might be a little above a 3-year-old's head, but not the concept of "presents for God", which is why I liked the way it was phrased in those books.

      This evening, Sly was asking to eat an apple right after dinner. I told him he needed to wait since we had just finished eating. He replied, "would waiting be a good present for God?" I was amazed!! I think he *is* starting to get it a little bit. You just need to make lots of suggestions to them at first for ways to do it.

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  4. I don't think you'd be insane to attempt daily Mass with three little ones, but I'd suggest setting a goal of getting there 1 or 2 times a week. There's a mom who I see at Mass from time to time with seven children who range in age from about 9 or 10 to 6 months and she manages. Her two youngest are both younger than my daughter who is almost 2 1/2. If there's a cry room at the church you'd probably have it all to yourself during daily Mass. I know ours is empty during Daily Mass but another friend of mine will take her kids to the cry room if they're acting up at daily Mass.

    Those treasure box books are great. My middle daughter was hooked on them when she was around four years old and the stories stuck with her. I read parts of these books to my kindergarten CCD kids and they will all sit and quitely listen to the stories and ask when I'll be reading the next part of the story.

    I still have no idea what I'm giving up or taking on for Lent. I guess I better come up with something soon.

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  5. Can you please post how you made sly's beads?

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    1. The second photo shows the instructions right out of the book! If you click the picture, it should open larger in a new window. If you're still not able to read it, let me know :-)

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  6. In college it became apparant to me that men and women are just so different when it comes to fasting.The men's household used to do really restrictive lenten fasts every year and it was beneficial for them, but the women's household would attempt the same things and all of us would just get nasty and cranky towards each other. And the spiritual directors who were overseeing the households warned us that it is always thus. I've never been tempted to go back to that, especially now that I'm pregnant/lactating every lent. I'm sure the convants have strict fasts though so it must be possible to do it well, maybe direction from a spiritual advisor would help? At any rate, I don't think I'm overattached to food in an unhealthy way (certainly I could do better with sweets) so giving up all the food probably shouldn't be my focus anyway. My husband and I give up alcohol together and the whole family gives up sweets and dry cereal and we do meatless Wednesdays (in addition to Fridays). Other than that we try to focus on the taking up, rather than giving up.

    I think attempting daily Mass would be really good. Might as well get into the habit right away right? I think that when you're postpartum, the main thing is to listen to your body and allow yourself to change your mind if it isn't working.

    My kids love resurrection eggs. http://www.thissimplehome.com/2012/03/homemade-resurrection-eggs-printable.html

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    1. That's an interesting anecdote about men and women fasting. We've already noticed the same thing in our own family. Sly doesn't get too cranky when he's hungry, but Stella turns into a total wreck (same with her mom...).

      Thanks for some good ideas! We've done meatless Wednesdays in the past too. The "no dry cereal" penance is a good one. It would actually be pretty tough. I rely too much on really quick and easy breakfasts around here. Not eating dry cereal would force me to actually cook or prepare something every morning.

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  7. Hi there! I've been reading for a while, but thought I would comment on this one! I make little crowns of thorns for my kids by sticking toothpicks in a tiny grapevine wreath from the craft store. They get to tell us a sacrifice that they made each day and pull out one "thorn". At Easter, when all the thorns are gone we put white flowers in the wreaths to represent the graces blooming from their sacrifices and put their Easter candy in the middle. Even the littlest ones love to do this and I think they learn what the meaning is overtime!! God bless you this lent!

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    1. I've seen ideas like this before, but had forgotten about it. This is a really nice symbol. Do you make a separate one for each kid? Is the wreath on a form of some sort (i.e. what makes the toothpicks stay in place)? Thank you!

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    2. Yes I do make a seperately one for each kid and just put a little tag on each with their name on it... Otherwise they fight over whose is whose, even though they are all the same;) I stick the toothpicks all the way through the wreaths, they are just made of twisted,dried vine so there is some space between the wrapped vine and it looks more thorn-like that way. Hopefully that makes sense? I can email you a picture when I make them for my kids if you want.
      -jamaica

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    3. Please do! My e-mail address is on the blog. Thanks :-)

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  8. I've been reading your blog since you posted the link on the Catholic Mamma's board. I always enjoy your content.

    I absolutely love the Catholic Children's Treasure Box books and would highly recommend them as well. I actually have the original books from the 50s which my mother bought for my older siblings (I'm dating myself here!). I grew up with them and they had such an impact on the way that I viewed my faith growing up. I've read them to my older children, who also loved them and I'm reading them to my younger children as well. I don't know why TAN doesn't print all of them though. I have all 40 books and I haven't found them available beyond 20.

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    1. You're so fortunate to have the whole set! So far, we only have #1-10, but I definitely intend to get #11-20 as a gift for the kids soon (maybe for Easter?).

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