Lent Observances at Home

During this season of Lent, the children will participate in prayer opportunities at school. We will continue to celebrate Mass each Friday, but we will also pray the Stations of the Cross together.

Normally, each Lent, families have been invited to participate in the Parish Soup and Sacrifice on Friday nights. This year, the Soup and Sacrifice event has been canceled due to the pandemic. Even with the canceled event, there are still many ways that families can grow in faith together through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Are you looking for ways to grow in faith this Lenten season?

Prayer

• Pray a decade of the Rosary each evening together: How to Pray the Rosary
• Read the Gospel reading for the day together: Readings for the Day
• Attend the Stations of the Cross together on Fridays: Stations at OMOS
• Reflect on the Saints this Lent: Lent with the Saints

Fasting

• Focus on spending intentional family time together. Some ideas may include having dinner together each evening, playing a game together on Friday nights, going for a walk, etc.
• Discuss your family habits together. Have you developed any "bad" habits as a family? Make a plan to work together to create a new "better" habit? Some examples might include speaking to each other with kindness, listening to other members of the family without technology distractions, pitching in around the house to help keep the family living spaces organized.

Almsgiving

• Choose a charity and collect loose change over the course of Lent to donate.
• On Friday, eat a simple soup meal. Donate the money you would have spent on a normal Friday night dinner to the charity of your choosing.
• Donate gently used clothing that is no longer being worn to the charity of your choice.

The best way to grow in faith as a family is to work together and develop a plan. The season of Lent might look a little different due to the pandemic, but God is still calling us to a deeper relationship with Him.