LifelongFaith Associates

Lenten Activities 
Choose one or more activities for you and your family during Lent.
​Watch for new suggestions each week & the Sunday Mass reflections.  

For the Family

Daily Activities 

Lenten Prayer (CRS)
God of hope, 
You journey with us through the desert. You challenge us to become more like Christ. During this Lenten season, may our prayers, fasting and almsgiving give us the courage to go forth from these 40 days in the desert to share our gifts with the world. May our encounter with you allow us to bring your hope to all of our human family. 
​Amen.
​
Lenten Activities & Cross (Good Ground Press)
During the 40 days of Lent, you can create a resurrection cross. Simply download and print the cross (below).  It comes with 40-plus activity suggestions that will ready you for the great feast of Easter. The cross is an ideal family project. May this Lent be a time of grace to you.
lent-cross-activities.pdf
File Size: 160 kb
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My Lenten Calendar - 40 Crosses (Loyola Press)
This Lent children will show their love for Jesus by doing something for him each day. To show what they have done, they will color a cross each day to match one of the good deeds on the calendar.
2019-40-crosses-english.pdf
File Size: 61 kb
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2019-40-crosses-spanish.pdf
File Size: 61 kb
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Lenten Family Calendar (Sadlier)
Designed for families, Sadlier’s Lenten Calendar offers a Scripture passage for reflection and a suggestion for an action, prayer, or contemplation for each day of the Lenten season. Print a copy for your family. 
lentencalendar_2019.pdf
File Size: 6056 kb
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Lenten Family Calendar (Loyola Press)
Print the Lenten family calendar and post it in a prominent place in your home to help you honor the season of Lent. With ideas for practicing the traditional pathways of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, your family can take simple steps to a meaningful Lent.
lentenfamcalendar.pdf
File Size: 219 kb
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Serving Those in Need - CRS Operation Rice Bowl

Through CRS Rice Bowl, we can share the journey with members of our human family around the world, and commit our Lenten prayers, fasting and almsgiving to deepening our faith and serving those in need. Go to the CRS website to review the family activities. 
  1. Use your CRS Rice Bowl (or a bowl on your table) and Lenten Calendar daily to guide your prayer, fasting and almsgiving (see below). Make a commitment to give each day to the Rice Bowl and then, at the end of Lent, send the money to Catholic Relief Services. 
  2. Read the Stories of Hope and daily reflections to inspire your Lenten journey—and guide your Lenten almsgiving.
  3. Prepare simple, meatless meals on the Fridays of Lent to eat in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world. For recipes go to www.crsricebowl.org/recipe. 
  4. Download the Operation Rice Bowl Lenten App for daily activities.
crs_lent_calendar_eng.pdf
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crs_lent_calendar_spn.pdf
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For Parents 

Daily Lent Reflection for Parents

Daily Lent Calendar
Develop a habit of connecting to the daily Lent Calendar with short activities for Read-Pray-Reflect-Act each day during Lent. 
Best Lent Ever
Best Lent Ever is a free email program that will guide you on an incredible journey toward the-best-version-of-yourself. From Ash Wednesday to Easter, you’ll discover ways to transform your life in forty days.
Living Lent Daily
Subscribe to Living Lent Daily,  an e-mail series delivers daily reflections based on the Scriptures of Lent, drawing out lessons of mercy. The messages also include suggestions for further exploration of Lenten themes through additional online articles and prayers.

Weekly Sunday Worship & Activities

Sunday, April 7, 2019: Fifth Sunday of Lent - John 8:1-11
Be sure to continue with your Lenten activities this week. ​​

Symbol for the Week

Place a clear glass bowl with rocks at the center for your table. Read the story of the Woman Caught in Adultery together as a family once or twice during the week. Pray together daily. 

Dear Lord, we give thanks for your gift of forgiveness, teach us to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to others.
The Gospel Reading John 8:1-11: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040719-yearc.cfm

Read a short commentary on the Gospel: Sunday Connection.

Take a few moments as a parent to reflect on the story of the Woman Caught in Adultery: 
www.americanbible.org/resources/lectio-divina 
​
Read the story of the Woman Caught in Adultery together as a family: John 8:1-11

Do a coloring page together of the Woman Caught in Adultery. ​​​
woman_caught_in_adultery.pdf
File Size: 275 kb
File Type: pdf
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Sunday, March 31, 2019: Fourth Sunday of Lent - Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Be sure to continue with your Lenten activities this week. ​

Rembrandt  The Return of the Prodigal Son, c. 1661–1669

Prayer for the Week

Pray the "Lord's Prayer" daily this week with a special focus on God's love and forgiveness. ​
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass
against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
The Gospel Reading Luke 13:1-9: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/033119-yearc.cfm

Read a short commentary on the Gospel: Sunday Connection.

Take a few moments as a parent to reflect on the Parable of Prodigal Son: 
www.americanbible.org/resources/lectio-divina 
​
Read a children's version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son: www.dltk-bible.com/cv/lost_son.htm

Do a coloring page together of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. ​​​
parable_of_the_prodigal_son.pdf
File Size: 184 kb
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Watch a Video of the Story of the Prodigal Son

Read a Children's Storybook

Those Darn Squirrels! 
by Adam Rubin (Written for ages 4-7)
It’s often difficult to offer a fresh perspective on something so familiar.  In a welcome new interpretation of a very well-known parable, Dr. Amanda Brobst-Renaud shares that this parable is one of invitation. The parable of the prodigal son is one that “invites us to sit with the younger son in the messes of his own making, with the elder son in the bitterness and fear of being overlooked, and with the father as he leaves the comfort of his home to bring in all that is lost and all that feels forsaken.” Those Darn Squirrels! is the heartwarming story of Old Man Fookwire and his hatred of everything except birds. Mr. Fookwire becomes depressed each year in the fall when the birds leave, so he decides to hang bird feeders in order to keep the birds around longer. Enter the squirrels who enjoy the birdseed just as much as the birds. A competition of wits ensues as Fookwire seeks to outsmart the squirrels and fails. In the end the squirrels recognize Mr. Fookwire’s sadness and decide to bring him joy. The School Library Journal notes that this story is “a symphony of regret, respect, and sweetness,” which is also an apt way to describe our gospel lesson for today, too. As we are able to see ourselves in each of the three characters in the prodigal son parable, we will find ourselves in each of the three characters in Rubin’s book, too.
(http://storypath.upsem.edu/lectionary-links-rcl-march-31-2019)

Sunday, March 24, 2019: Third Sunday of Lent - Luke 13:1-9
Be sure to continue with your Lenten activities this week. ​

Activity for the Week

Gather your family and show a spring flower in bloom. Recall that in the fall this flower was a dry bulb (if a flower bulb is available, show this as well). Talk about the hopefulness and patience shown by those who plant flower bulbs in the fall in the hope that they will bloom in the spring. (Place the flower on your dinner table for the week.)

​Read aloud part of today's Gospel, Luke 13:6-9. Compare the parable of the barren fig tree to your discussion about spring flowers. Consider the patience and hopefulness that God has with us as he works with us, calling us to return to him when we sin.

Offer prayers of thanks and praise to God for his patience and hopefulness towards us.

During the week take time to pray  Psalm 103.
The Gospel Reading Luke 13:1-9: usccb.org/bible/readings/032419-yearc.cfm

Read a short commentary on the Gospel: Sunday Connection.

Take a few moments as a parent to reflect on the Jesus' Temptation in the Desert: 
www.americanbible.org/resources/lectio-divina 
​
Read the Gospel together: Luke 13:1-9

Do a coloring page together of Jesus and the Fig Tree. ​​
fig_tree.pdf
File Size: 521 kb
File Type: pdf
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Read a Children's Storybook

Making the Moose Out of Life 
by Nicholas Oldland (Written for ages 3-7)

In the midst of a scripture lesson about repentance and perishing, we discover a theme of patience from God, but to a limit. It’s almost as if Jesus’s hearers are being told, “Quickly! There’s still time to repent if you do it now before God notices.” Jesus utilizes the story about the fig tree to show us that grace is there and it abounds, but God’s judgment also exists. As a disciple of Christ, each day we have is a chance to repent and a chance to receive grace. Oldland tells the story of Moose who just wouldn’t do things that others were doing. He’d always find an excuse: too wet, too windy, too cold. But Moose began to realize that he might be missing out on some things, so when Moose is shipwrecked he learns to do. Moose even enjoys! Eventually Moose is reunited with his friends and they are delighted to see that the old Moose is gone and a new, more fun and adventurous Moose has come home. In a way, we are like Moose if we chose to delay our repentance, or even if we decided to judge too quickly. Not making a choice means that ultimately we’ll lose out.
(​http://storypath.upsem.edu/lectionary-links-rcl-march-24-2019/)

Sunday, March 17, 2019: Second Sunday of Lent - Luke 9:28b-36
Be sure to continue with your Lenten activities this week. 

Symbol of the Week

Place several large candles in the center for table. Light them each night to remember how Jesus shines brighter than everyone in the story of the Transfiguration.

Read the Gospel story together during the week. 

Pray this prayer each day. 

God, your light shines in the darkest corners of our lives. We give you thanks for calling us your own and loving us.
Strengthen us with this food and lead us where we will shine your light of love to all the world. Amen.
The Gospel Reading Luke 4:1-13: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021019.cfm

Read a short commentary on the Gospel: Sunday Connection.

Take a few moments as a parent to reflect on the Jesus' Temptation in the Desert: 
www.americanbible.org/resources/lectio-divina 
​
Read the Gospel together: Luke 9:28b-36

Do a coloring page together of Jesus' temptation in the desert. ​
transfiguration_coloring_page.jpg
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File Type: jpg
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Read a Children's Storybook

The Thank You Book 
by Mo Willems (Written for ages 4-8)

Taking a different twist on the Transfiguration narrative, the Thank You Book emphasizes the importance of simple words, such as “listen.” We can safely assume that the voice in the cloud is God who is instructing us to listen to Jesus. There are two instances in the Luke version of the Transfiguration story that speak to listening – on the mountain and upon the healing. On the mountain, a voice from the cloud declares to Peter, James, and John: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Later in the passage Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and the ill boy was healed. In Willem’s book, Piggie declares that they are going to thank everyone, to which Gerald replies in confusion, “Everyone?” Gerald is afraid Piggie will forget someone and tries multiple times to inform Piggie that they have in fact forgotten someone. Piggie won’t listen to Gerald, but when they do, Piggie is embarrassed at who they’ve forgotten. At the end we see that Piggie is grateful. This book could be used in two ways: to express the transforming power of words (as we see in the healing), or to express the importance of listening. Either way, the story reveals a character who is transformed by their partner and by their reader.

Sunday, March 10, 2019: First Sunday of Lent - Luke 4:1-13
Be sure to continue with your Lenten activities this week. 

Symbol of the Week

Place a bowl of sand on the table. During the week do a Sand Art project. After telling children the story of Jesus in the desert, talk about how dry it must have been in the desert. Hand out construction paper with flowing, horizontal lines across the page to divide it into three or four sections. Have the children apply glue with glue pens to each section and then sprinkle colored sand on to each section.
The Gospel Reading Luke 4:1-13: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021019.cfm

Read a short commentary on the Gospel: Sunday Connection.

Take a few moments as a parent to reflect on the Jesus' Temptation in the Desert: 
www.americanbible.org/resources/lectio-divina 
​
Read the Gospel together: Luke 4:1-13

Do a coloring page together of Jesus' temptation in the desert. 
jesus-temptation-coloring-page.pdf
File Size: 55 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Watch a Video of Jesus Being Tempted in the Desert

Read a Children's Storybook

 All in a Day 
by Cynthia Rylant (Written for ages 2 and up)

In her analysis of this passage, Sharon Ringe suggests that the devil is tempting Jesus to do good things (instead of bad-for-you things) in order to lure Jesus from focus on the will of God on which his ministry and mission are based. In the temptations, Christ is told, “if you are the Son of God, then…” Accordingly, Ringe suggests that the temptations are for the greater good of humanity. For example, “If you can turn this stone into bread, then surely you can provide enough bread for all of Israel and feed the hungry.” The board book All in a Day suggests that we are essentially guaranteed only this one day, so we must make the most of it. “The day’s all yours, it’s waiting now…see what you can do” are some of Ryland’s lyrics which help to remind us that there’s work to be done in each day we’re given, so let’s go see what we can do!
(http://storypath.upsem.edu/lectionary-links-rcl-march-10-2019)