Today we marked the beginning of the Season of Lent with a grade Liturgy which took place around the cross in our Prayer Space near the Labyrinth. The students prepared personal prayers in the classroom before bringing them to the prayer space where Mr Frazer led a liturgy at which they offered their prayers by burning them in a fireplace.
The messages we shared with the students today focussed on preparing for Lent through the following 3 main activities.
- We can Fast: Lent has traditionally been the season where we give something up, often sweets or a favourite food, in order to focus on the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. But Fasting is much more than a means of developing self-control. In Lent we can also Fast by giving up some of the things that we like doing. We do this to remind ourselves what sacrifice really means.
- Almsgiving: Giving to others is a very ancient practice; almsgiving was a normal thing to do long before the time of Jesus. In Lent we are called to almsgiving which means making the needs of other people our own. Sharing our material goods is often just the beginning of real Christian giving. We are also called to share our time tending to people in need.
- Prayer: In Lent we can pray We can thank God for all the wonderful things we have in our lives. We can also think about all those things we are sorry for in Lent and we can try to make right these things we are sorry for.
Please talk with your children about what it means to thank God for all that is good in your life. Also talk about the things in their lives that we want to make right. Those things we want to say sorry for and why we might want to do that, especially to people we love.
Next encourage the children to think of things they might want to thank God for or the things that they may want to say sorry to God for and give them time to do this privately.
