Tomorrow, February 27th is Ash Wednesday which marks the
beginning of Lent. Catholics will attend Mass and be marked with ashes. These ashes come from the burnt Palms from last year’s Passion Sunday. The ashes mark the beginning of the season of renewal. These ashes are a sign that we
have heard the call to turn away from sin. Lent provides us with the opportunity to grow closer to God and to renew our commitment to the call to live a holy way of life rooted in our Baptism. The Lenten season draws us to pray more deeply, to reflect on those ways in which we are not living out our call to be faithful disciples of Christ, to seek forgiveness and turn away from sin. At All Saints Catholic School we have a
number of ways in which we will be using this time to turn toward Jesus Christ
and to ask for His continued presence in our lives as we journey to Easter.
There will be many visual reminders that it is Lent in our school
- Crucifixes and statues will be covered in purple cloth
- The bulletin board in the main hallway at both campuses will remind us that we are in indeed on a journey
- Classroom projects will focus on Lent
The opportunities for prayer and reflection are
as follows:
- The children will each be receiving a cross to take home. On the cross they are to keep track of “good deeds” they did throughout the season of Lent and to return it
after Easter break - We will be praying the Stations of the Cross weekly during Lent
- We will have a special Lenten prayer and reflection read each morning
- The entire school will be spending five minutes right after prayer and announcements completing a Lenten activity
- The teachers will be spending the morning of February 24th on a mini retreat
- The teachers will be gathering for prayer each morning to read the Scripture reading for the day and a short Lenten reflection
before bringing the children into the school.
The ways in which the children will be sacrificing or “giving something up” during Lent:
- The first five minutes of their lunch hour will
be “silent” lunch as a small gesture of sacrifice - We will be doing a penny challenge at the school to raise tuition money for the nephew of one of our staff members whose mother is in her final stages of life on this earth after suffering from cancer, so that he can attend All Saints Catholic School.
We invite you to also enter into this sacred season by responding to God’s call to a “change of heart” and to find ways to spend time together as a family praying and serving others.
