Lent: Don't Miss This Opportunity!

Do you have a plan for Lent?

I just finished my project and found myself connecting it to Lent.

The assignment was to teach a doctrine using the Rites of the Church. This is very important because everything we teach needs to be centered on our Liturgy. If the center of our faith is the Eucharist, we should always be pointing to those rites, and the sacramental rites.

I chose the doctrine of Eternal Life and used rites from the funeral Mass, Baptism, Penance andthe preface to the Eucharistic prayer for the 1st Sunday of Lent. The objective was to teach the reality of Eternal life and that what we do in life determine that reality, with the grace of God and the sacraments, naturally.

My proclamation was "What we do in life echoes in eternity" and yes, I used the film Gladiator as well.

With Lent approaching I included a project to challenge the kids to think about what they are doing. Middle AND high school students are old enough to do more than "give up candy". I made a picture of a grave marker. On it they would put their name, qualities people would say about them at their death and then qualities they WANT to be said about them when they die. On the flip side they would put their lenten resolutions that would get them in the habit of achieving those qualities. I made it a "lift ticket", complete with wickets. You could either use name tags or glue the two pieces of paper over a wicket.

If I have the chance I'll post the whole lesson.

In any regard, be sure that you are preparing your students to enter into Lent. This is a marvelous opportunity to assist in the formation of your kids and get them thinking about putting to death those things that do not assist them in the goal of heaven and start thinking about ways of living holy lives to get to heaven.

What are you doing? Share with the class!