No matter what level of faith people have, Lent is a time of year that always captures attention. Not least because we mark the beginning with ash on our forehead! Maybe it’s because of long established cultural norms here in Ireland that we’ve always associated Lent as a time when we ‘give things up’ and you might find, in conversation with others, that it’s never really considered as a time people look forward to!

In previous years, we looked at some things we can do personally to help us take a different approach to Lent and really grow in our faith. But what can we do to help our families? Perhaps we’d like to use this time not only to develop our own faith, but to help our children or even some of our adult siblings, colleagues and friends? 

Read on for some ideas on how we can encourage and support our family and friends this Lent.

For the children

The Lenten Sacrifice jar is a great idea for children from Catholic All Year. Every time they make a little sacrifice or do a good deed for another member of the family, they can drop a dry bean into the jar. When Easter arrives, these dry beans can then be exchanged for little chocolates or jelly sweets. Over Easter when they continue to make those sacrifices or do something in service for the rest of the family, they can take one out!

Having great resources available for children for the season of Lent is another way to help them grow in their faith but it’s important to discern well and choose wisely. Our children are more impressionable than we might believe and so we should make sure that the books and reading material we make available for them is not only attractive but edifying. Jennifer Kehoe, a previous guest on the Hearts+Minds podcast has a wealth of experience in this area and has a wonderful page called Beautiful Illustrated Children’s Books available both on Facebook and Instagram. She posts information on lots of books and often runs ‘seasonal’ series.

For the adults

Actively abstaining from something is an excellent thing for us to do during Lent as it helps us to grow in virtue and be more mindful of the needs of others. Denying ourselves some kind of little pleasure, whether it's chocolate, Netflix or daily social media scrolls, also draws our minds upwards to things of Heaven. To ponder why we are on this earth and to consider what our ultimate purpose is; a relationship with Jesus so as to be with him in Heaven for all eternity.  

But instead of ‘giving something up’ why not encourage others to ‘take something up’ as well? Sometimes we can get so caught up in what we’re giving up that we focus only on the logistics of it and forget to think about the spiritual benefits. By taking up something, perhaps even to replace the time used in things you’ve given up, can really help to focus our attention. Some practical suggestions might be, to read the Gospel reading from Mass for each day (apps such as iPray with the Gospel are great for this), begin the day with a morning offering or recite a rosary.

Praying the Stations of the Cross is a practice of prayer that has been encouraged down through the centuries as a way to walk alongside Christ before his death on the cross. It can be prayed at any time of the year but it is particularly associated with Lent and is a great way to enter into the scenes and imagine ourselves as one alongside Him. This video from Theology of Home explains the concept of praying the Stations so eloquently and they also have some beautiful Station of the Cross cards which would make a great gift as it makes praying the Stations more accessible.

Let us know in the comments what you’ll be ‘giving up’ or ‘taking up’ this Lent. What would you add to our list?