A Quiet
Lent:
Our
Quarterly Check In
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| Our living room Olive Wood Crucifix (made in the Holy Land) along with marbles and doll house dolls on our fireplace mantle. Since we "flipped rooms" I really need to put some fabric or paint behind the crucifix so it stands out from the wood paneling. |
Life has been one series of obstacles to overcome after
another since Thanksgiving week of last year. We have had one set
back after another, sometimes multiple events at the same time like a
frozen water pipes, backed up septic system, broken washer and fridge
with emergency car repairs while trying to get to a family funeral in
Iowa.
But Lent is now upon us. A time of preparation for
Easter-a time for renewal. A time to focus on what is really
important-our faith in Jesus Christ-our Lord and Savior who sustains
us through all things-good and bad.
This past January, just like in all previous years of
home schooling, I went through the stage of, “Okay, what can I add
to 'spice up' our home school year?”, because of course-it was me
who was bored with our status quo-not the kids necessarily. So, I
signed Jessie and I up for an advanced cake decorating class that was
going to be held on one of those few evenings each week that we
didn't have something else scheduled. It took my sweet twelve year
old looking at me with tears in her eyes for me to realize that our
already packed schedule was “just enough.” That what I really
needed to focus on was just getting the kids through the curriculum
we already had planned, thus I ate humble pie and dropped us out of the class.
So, when we planned our Lent activities, we kept that in
mind, especially since a late Easter will overlap with our spring
sports starting. As a family we chose seven things to focus on:
1. No meat on Mondays or Fridays.***
2. Mondays: Pray Divine Mercy Chaplet-aim for 3pm
start.
3. Pray Stations of the Cross on Fridays, either at a
local church or in our own home. (Last year we always did it at home
after Jason and I both got home from work.
4. Sundays: only watch saint movies, documentaries or
Christian related programming. Also, only read Bible or other
religious readings.
(We just signed up for Pius Media dvd movie rental as
an economical way to add more children's saint and bible videos for
the little ones to the older movies that we already own. We will
also be trying to order some dvds from the library as well. I wrote
down a list of top rated Lent movies that we hadn't seen yet to try to
watch: here, here and here are the 3 main lists I am working from. Though they don't really have any animated films on them I just realized.)
This past Advent was when we put together our first
Advent basket of religious books, cd's and dvds. This year is our
first time for completing this activity for Lent as well. On the
Sunday before Lent we organized our movies and put the religious ones
all together in one place. I'm still trying to find where all our
different religious books have spread throughout the house (or at
least the ones I'm hoping we'll focus on this Lent), but already
tonight Katie picked out a “Catholic Baby Board Book Bible” for
us to read at bedtime. I'm planning on ordering some of the Easter
Books from this list and this second list in order to add to our
collection. Most likely the books will go into the Easter baskets,
though I may put out one or two during Holy Week.
5. Wednesdays: replace our family prayer hour at home
with attending our church's Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts,
along with their alternate week Lenten soup meals.
6. Saturdays: all day work on our family's St. Nicholas
Project
(Last 4 Saturdays of Lent)
7. Crown of Thorns: Quiet and usually unknown personal
sacrifices.
(See here for the recipe we used this year.)
We put over 100 thorns in the crown and the goal is for
each of us to break off several thorns each week when we “offer
something” up to Jesus, like sharing a toy with a sibling that we
don't want to do or when we refrain from saying something mean, or
just sitting quietly with a child taking forever to do their school
work. There are lots of blog posts out there about the practice of
the crown of thorns. Last year we never got our crown made, and two
years ago we ran out of time to get it painted gold with beads glued
on during Holy Week for Easter Sunday, but we are an ever hopeful
bunch that we might just “get it all together” this Lent:) I
made the dough and Jessie braided the 3 lengths of dough that Katie
and Anna helped to roll out. Katie and Anna also helped us to put in
the toothpicks before we cooked the crown so they were both asking to
pull out a thorn while it was still cooking. (Libby was thankfully
sleeping or else she would have been involved too.)
We each made personal goals as well. For instance two
of the family members decided to give up desserts for Lent while I'm
hoping to focus on a few organization projects that I hope will keep
adding to our family's peace.
We're just five days into Lent and it's already been
challenging. Three of us are fighting colds that are becoming sinus
infections. Joey and Jessie also started off their Ash Wednesday
with orthodontist appts. Jessie had an almost 1/4” gap between her
front two teeth that closed up in less than 8 hours with
the new brackets they added to her wire. Needless to say, she's
basically fasted the last two days away in pain. It took a lot of
perseverance for us to make it to (and through) Wednesday night's
liturgy...but no one wanted to not make a family goal just three days
into Lent.
I write all this not to brag about our Lent plans, but
as an encouraging post. I know I am always looking for “new
inspiration” or ideas on what how to make this or that better in
our family life. But sometimes the tried and true are the best
things to do. Each family has it's own rhythm and uniqueness, what
works for me may not work for you. This past year I've really been
quietly fighting within myself about getting the kids to more (or
different) activities...but God keeps “closing those doors.” He
keeps focusing me on our quiet home life. Reminding me of St. Thomas
More's quote,
“The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are
of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.”
I
have to keep focusing on the fact that we are NOT a town family. We
live 35 minutes from town, so I shouldn't feel the need to “keep
up” with all the other families in having my kids attend this
religious activity or a different one. I also work anywhere from
2-20 plus hours per week, so that cuts into our family time. We also
still have 3 little ones who need consistency in their lives, which
is hard to do when one tries to run older children to evening events.
Right now, I just keep finding that “less is more” for peace in
our home. There may come a time when youth group is important, but
for right now, home as a family living a liturgical prayer life is
way more important.
So,
from the late night stillness of our home I wish all of you a blessed
and quiet Lent. May you find yourselves drawing closer to our Lord
each and every day.
May you feel the
gentleness of God's sweet mercy each and every day in your homes and
personal life,
Stephanie
***As Byzantine Catholics we received a special
dispensation to switch our meatless fasting from Wednesdays to
Mondays. We
will be saying extra prayers on Wednesdays as part of our
dispensation.
Financial disclosure: I do not make any money from any
of the above links that I linked to.
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