Our Lenten Journey

For you that are not sure what this Lenten journey is all about this post may be helpful.

Lent, from the Middle English word Lenten. This meaning springtime - the time of lengthening days. It is a period of forty days of fasting, prayer and penitence before Easter. There is a strong Biblical foundation for observing a forty day period of penance and anticipation. The Scriptures are full of holy forty day periods. Perhaps only known to God of the number of forty.  This forty days is Christ agony in the garden. ( Each time we miss the item or task we have given up for Lent we think of why we have given it up. In doing this we remember Christ. We remember that he gave his life for us). You may also be wondering why we fast during Lent? Fasting is something the Bible says all of us as Christians are to do. Each Friday we eat three light meals. No eating  between meals. We also abstain from meat. Why would we abstain from meat? We do this because Christ sacrificed his flesh for us. On Sundays we celebrate his resurrection in the Mass.  As for prayer. Prayer always pulls us to Christ. Building a relationship with him daily. How blessed we are to be part of this Lenten journey. Here are a few things we are doing during this Lenten season to help our children as well as ourselves grow closer in Christ. One of the first crafts we made is our Lenten Charity Countdown Cross. We started with 40 coins. Each day the children take a coin off and add it to our Give Box. At the end of our journey we will be donating these coins to our church  as well as other  spare change we are adding daily. Another great idea I found while browsing the web for Lenten craft ideas was the Christ Crown of Thorns. Each time someone in our family preforms a good deed we take a thorn out. This allows the children to see  we can help reduce the  sadness Christ has over the the sin in our world. As we are striving for daily holiness. We have also chosen some of our favorite items for our Lenten tub. A tub placed on top of the refrigerator filled with some of our favorite materialistic items. As a family we have given up television. As well as fasting and adding Lenten prayer books to our daily mass readings. You may remember my post on our churches Marti Gars party and Ash Wednesday. In doing this we are on a spiritual journey with Christ. Examining our souls. Separating us from our worldly norm. As we meditate on  the true Easter story. The ultimate sacrifice. Thanking the Lord for loving me as he does and giving his life for our salvation.