It may feel that we’ve been in Lent for a long time already, but that’s just your cabin-fever or home-school fatigue talking! It probably feels like we don’t need any more ‘mortification’ as we’ve had quite enough already over this past year, but it could be that Lent this year is
even more than usual, a timely opportunity for refreshing our spiritual life as individuals and as a family.        

The three traditional Lenten practices for bringing us closer to God and each other are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Here are some suggestions for taking advantage of this special season of the Church and changing things up a little! Even trying one Lenten practice could have a really beneficial effect on our spiritual and emotional wellbeing.

PRAYER
Try to keep Sunday as a special day, set aside to honour the Lord, attend Mass (online or in-person when we can ), make space in the day to be together as a family and share a meal together, or maybe have a fun activity!


Take part in the Ash Wednesday liturgy.
Our own Liturgy Commission has produced a guide here which even includes instructions on how to prepare ashes for you to use at home. 


A guide for following this liturgy has also been published by the Bishops' Conference of Scotland here. 

The Scottish Bishops have also prepared a resource for praying the Stations of the Cross at home.  Available here

Or try Stations of the Cross designed specifically for kids.  Click the image opposite to download ► 

Bishop John will be saying the Rosary live every night at 9pm, you can join in from his Facebook page here.

Why not try a family prayer time, even as a one-off, or more regularly, where you all pray communally together? You can use traditional prayers such as the Rosary (even just a decade), and you can also encourage more personal spontaneous prayers, by inviting anyone who wants to share a prayer of thanks or intercession (A 'Please Bless prayer). Mums or Dads can lead the way or prep an elder child to do this as an encouragement to younger children, or vice-versa!

If you feel really adventurous, you could try Lectio Divina (Latin for Divine Reading)! It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Read the Gospel outloud together and then, after a short time for reflection, each share what meaning you took from it. 

FASTING
Delayed gratification of our desires, even good ones, in addition to being spiritually beneficial, is a well-established psychological principle for success and happiness in life, so what’s not to like? Ask for inspiration of what would be best for you or your family to practise this Lent. Agreeing together what to do in common will generate more ‘buy-in’.

As well as giving up some kind of edible treats, think about fasting from social media or other kinds of media, e.g. TV or games. This can be partial (specific platforms or restricted hours) or total (much harder!). It’s probably a good idea just for mental and physical health to limit time on media and engage in something more active for our whole mind and body.

You can fast from almost anything, including teasing others, leaving a mess, being noisy, criticising or moaning, arguing about clothes, make-up or time in the bathroom. The idea isn’t to be perfect, but to practise giving up our own preferences and appetites so we can grow in self-control and consideration for others.

ALMSGIVING
We can still sacrifice something we would normally have for ourselves and share our resources with others, or find ways to help those around us, even though it’s more difficult to do this in person. Within our house we can help each other or share a word of encouragement or appreciation. Call, write or message to encourage someone remotely, especially people who might be isolated, as Pope Francis suggests.


You can still get a WEE BOX from SCIAF and this year all Lenten donations are doubled by the UK government so our giving goes twice as far.  You can order online at WEE BOX 2021 (sciaf.org.uk)    



Mary’s Meals is another very worthwile charity

and also accept online donations, click here to donate

Try having a jar for donations in the house or take something out of online spending budgets to share with those less fortunate. Ask children about who they would like to share with and why.

DARE TO SHARE!
One sure fire method of increasing humility and mortifying ourselves is to make a public witness of our faith.
We can all #ashtag on Ash Wednesday, post our palm crosses on Good Friday or share memes about Lent and Holy week.  We can even display a palm cross in the window for Holy Week.
Of course, we don’t want to display our charitable acts in public, but we can share our favourite charities on social media and encourage others to share as well.

However we participate in this great season of Lent,
let's make it one to remember  -  for all the right reasons!