It’s here. Lent. Ash Wednesday. After a rip-roaring Mardi Gras, Baby Gwen made it her special task to mortify my flesh by getting up at 4:45am…Pretty typical wake time. But it hurt a little more after eating too many cookies and staying up too late. So here I am gulping coffee while she chomps on banana and we wait in the dark for the rest of the family to wake up so we can go to Mass.
Lent is sneaky. It really is. No matter what week it starts, it always seem to creep up on you. If you’re needing some last minute Lent ideas, here’s a few thoughts:
- Bury the Alleluia
I made this super fancy, impressive (ahem) Alleluia rock with glitter glue and my expert digger, five-year-old Benjamin, has promised to help me bury it today. We’ll dig it back up on Easter Sunday to celebrate the return of the “Alleluia” in the Mass. I don’t remember where I first read about this idea to help little ones observe Lent. I didn’t come up with it (but you can take a minute to be impressed by my glitter glueing skillz…if only you were crafty like me, right?!)
- Lent: 40 Days and 40 Ways by Lauren Gulde
You can follow me on Instagram (@haleycarrots) where I’ll be joining in with Abbey.
- Listen to Lent at Ephesus by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. We LOVE to listen to Advent at Ephesus during the Advent season and this new lenten album is just as beautiful.
- All the ideas for Lent from my Liturgical Living at a Glance post for March. Lots of resources from around the web.
- Real Food Lenten Recipes and Reflections in Feast! We’re eating the Black Beans and Rice Slow Cooker recipe tonight at our house. But Haley, is your book really any good? Or would buying it be a lenten penance?, you ask. Well, here are some recent reviews from Amazon about it:
Haley and Daniel’s approach to liturgical living is one of the best I’ve seen to date. Mixed in with the recipes are great reflections on their faith and liturgical living approach that seems so achievable for a normal, busy family. The recipes are easy to follow, thoughtful and at times clever (the Epiphany cocktail is a favorite) filled with foods your family will eat (and probably already cook with), that won’t blow your budget for the month and won’t require a cross-country trek to find rare or odd ingredients.
The best part of the book is the overall impression that celebrating a Feast Day does not have to mean a huge celebration or ordeal. It can just be simple, thought out meal – no crafts, no long speeches or passages to memorize – with your family allowing you one moment in your busy life to sit down and reflect, if just for a few minutes, on the inspiring life of someone who lived fully in their faith. A great approach for the modern, Catholic family.
I really hope this might be the first of many cookbooks from the Stewarts!
Great book with yummy recipes, beautiful pictures and information about the Liturgical Year. As RCIA Catechumens, we are excited to learn about the Christian Year, the Saints, etc. The author has shared some wonderful ideas on celebrating the seasons. You feel as though you have been invited over to her home to learn. Thank you!
P.S. If you liked our book, feel free to leave a glowing review on Amazon. If you didn’t like our book, feel free to just forget the whole “reviewing it” idea. Ahem. 😉
*links to Amazon are affiliate links. Thank you for helping to support Carrots!
Wishing a holy and fruitful Lent to each one of you! Time for cup of coffee number two and getting ready for Mass while Gwen takes a morning nap (when you wake before 5am, apparently you’re ready for a nap at 6:45am….or at least I am)!
This is such a cute idea! And I think that is some mighty fine glittering. We were just listening to the new Advent album by the Benedictines of St. Mary, Queen of Apostles last night, trying to sooth the baby to sleep. I think he likes choral music, I used to feel him being active at church when the organ and choir really got going.
Have a blessed Lent!~
Feeling babies in utero wiggle in church has to be one of my all-time favorite experiences 🙂
Love the burying the Alleluia! I am doing something similar to Kendra’s Lenten Sacrifice Beans this year (our first Lent) and I am always looking for nice ways to get my 4 year old involved. I think we will make an Alleluia rock this Easter and we will have it to bury for next Lent. (Except in MN we very likly could be under snow on Ash Wednesday. Perhaps it will get burried in snow? And if the snow melts and the ground thaws we can bury it again before Easter? haha!)
I started going to Mass regularly at Eastertime last year and I for one cannot wait for the return of the Alleluia and especially the Vidi Aquam. That is my favorite!
I am really loving starting to live liturgically. We are taking baby steps to it for now, but I really love it.
Have a blessed Lent, Haley!
Baby steps is the only way to do it! Also, I just don’t know how you survive in the snow. I’m made when I can’t wear flip flops in March. Clearly, I live in the right state. 😉
I love the idea of burying the alleluia — such a great visual!
We had a lot of fun! Benjamin is already getting antsy about digging it up, though. It might be a long Lent 😉
These are fantastic ideas that are very easy, no trip to the store required. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Laura!
This is such a thoughtful post! I’m one of those people who’s kind of in a Lenten frame of mind all year long, so I’m always at a loss for how to mark the actual season when it rolls around, especially when life with little ones makes you feel like you’re already in a state of constant deprivation and self-sacrifice. This activity is the perfect thing to get me out of my own head and into the anticipatory spirit of Lent! Thanks, Haley.
You’re welcome!
Heh, I feel like I’ve paid my Lenten mortification by daring to take 3 kids under 4 years old to a 7 PM Ash Wednesday Mass…by myself. We made it just long enough to get the ashes and then we left (since we can’t partake of the Eucharist anyway), and there was lots of flailing, sobbing, yelling, and general hissy fittery. Officially mortified…in every sense of the word!
Hi Jenny,
I was going to say “I feel your pain”, but really I only have one child, so my mortification cannot be as hard as yours- but he is 4 and he is very high energy and as we have only just begun going to Mass (we are in RCIA, too) it is not normal to him yet to have to sit sort of still and not talk the entire hour. Just know that you are not alone, and though it may feel embarrassing, the Church welcomes young families with an open heart and open arms! We just got my son baptized last month and in the middle of his baptism, my amazing priest says, “You know, I am not sure if I have ever met child with the enery that this one has, let us prepare him to use it for the Lord.”
hahaha! I’ve been there, Jenny. Well, with the many small children, not the by myself at 7pm Mass! You’re a brave soul!