How one family celebrates Lent

We have been slowly discovering the beautiful traditions of our Faith. Sometimes, after learning about certain Traditions of the Catholic Church, we make our own home traditions in order to reflect a particular liturgical season.
Not many years ago, we thought of Lent as this “obligatatory time” to give up chocolate and go to the occasional fish fry. We had fallen into a pattern of taking home a parish bulletin laden with Lenten advice and simply laying it on a shelf never to be picked up again. Of course, we made sure to “get our confessions in” before Holy Week, but it was out of habit. When I was lucky enough to have Good Friday off from work, I used that day to shop to fill Easter baskets full of delicious treats and to perpetuate the “Bunny thing.” Lent was just this long period of meatless Fridays - not a hardship when you really like all things seafood - in February and March.

Something behind this pattern was “off” to us when we began to realize that Lent was meant to be something spiritual. We started to understand that “mortification of the body” (I.e. fasting and abstinance) was not a torture to be endured, but an opportunity to focus those energies on repentance and prayer. It also helps to put us in touch with those suffering on earth as we prepare to walk Christ’s Passion during Holy Week. As we realized the significance of Lent, we wondered why we were so willing to brush it off as unimportant. I was at a loss as to how to achieve that “atmosphere” of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer.

After some thought, our family discovered a way to decorate our home, our Domestic Church, in order to assist us in remaining presently in Lent. Finally, we unpack the same linens we used during Advent and drape our family altar, dining room table, and fireplace mantle in purple. We then place some candle holders that I had decorated with simple pictures of the Stations of the Cross on our mantle. We can now easily do our own Stations of the Cross as a family whenever we feel the urge. I also picked up some small unfinished wooden letters that spell out “Repent”, or “Pray” so that we are reminded of the reason for this particular season every time our eyes are drawn to the purple cloth.

This tradition of ours is supplemented with appropriate field trips, more EWTN programs for children/adults, Lighthouse Catholic Media-style CD’s by good, solid Catholic speakers, and quiet, seasonal music that does not become celebratory until Easter. We have found that Lent is a great time to have a retreat or to give even more of our time and talents to a community charity or to give a little more of ourselves at our parish. Of course, we still prepare for the family’s Easter traditions and we still bake a lot, but it has now been placed in its proper place in this Domestic Church and we praise God for that.