Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

Remember our Lent Tree?

Here it is after it is completed!  How lovely!

During Holy Week we followed our Bringing Lent to Life book, and on Palm Sunday we lit our Holy Week candle we made.  During the Triduum, we changed our table to reflect, and set aside, each individual day.  We read from the Bible, watched the Jesus Movie (a lovely cartoon that tells of the life of Jesus), Emily went to Good Friday camp while Oliver and I did an ecumenical walk, we did Stations of the Cross at home together, said family rosaries, and read through the Passion.  Lent wasn't perfect (did stay out of the drivethru and even made it to Confession), but overall I felt it ended on a holy note.

Holy Thursday:  Our table had bread and wine, which we passed around and shared.  We read about the Last Supper and Jesus' time in the garden.  Emily wanted to represent Jesus this year, and washed all our feet.

Good Friday:  table in red, crucifix present (one she made at Good Friday Camp).  We read the Passion, and did Stations of the Cross.

Holy Saturday: We waited with joyful hope and prayed and read from the bible.

Easter!  He is Risen!  Alleluia!

The different table clothes, candles, crosses, etc, were a striking visual to bring home each day's events, to all hearts, young and a little older :)

Teacher's Prayer

Saw this on a prayer card and think it is perfect!

Teacher’s Prayer

I want to teach my students how

To live this life on Earth

To face its struggles and its strife

And improve their worth.

Not just the lesson in a book

Or how the rivers flow,

But how to choose the proper path

Wherever they may go.

To understand Eternal Truth

And know the right from wrong,

And gather all the beauty of

A flower and a song.

For if I help the world to grow

In wisdom and in grace,

Then I shall feel if I have won

And I have filled my place.

And so I ask your guidance, God,

That I may do my part

For character and confidence

And happiness of heart.

Lent Tree

Here we are in the midst of Lent, and I am finally getting around to doing our Lent Tree.  This post I wrote last year on my family blog sums up the season quite nicely.  We are using the same book as last year, Bring Lent to Life, and have got our Lent tree up and running.

Here is how it looks this year, bare just like outside.  Wait until Easter to see how beautiful it becomes, similar to our own personal transformation as we work with ourselves through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during this Lenten season.  Stay tuned for the update!

Jesse Tree

Part of our Advent celebration this year was to make a Jesse Tree out of felt, so we can reuse it in years to come.  Read more about it here, this is how we modeled ours, with the exception of adding the Magi for the Epiphany celebration.  We worked on it over Thanksgiving weekend, and displayed it in our dining room prominently.  I really like this tradition and love how it connects the Old and New Testament, in the culmination of the birth of Jesus.  Perfect!

Here are some pictures of this project: