During the season of Lent, the Church calls upon us to practice three disciplines: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Plan now for how your family will put these into action. A great resource for families is the material that comes through the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl program. Rice Bowls will be distributed at the Masses the first weekend of Lent (February 29-March 1). There are recipes, stories, prayers and suggested activities in the printed materials, and even more resources on-line at CRS Rice Bowl-Families. At this link, you will find activity sheets, prayer ideas, saint stories and more. See below for more ideas:

Ash Wednesday
 
Bring your children to Mass or one of the Services of the Word on Ash Wednesday, February 17. (Mass at noon; Word Services at 5:30 and 7:00 pm.). People of all ages can receive ashes. If you’ve been to church the night before to witness the burning of the palms, they will make a great connection between the two!
 
Prayer
 
Lent is a great time to enhance your family’s prayer habits. You might choose a special, simple prayer to say at mealtime. Maybe you want to make a goal of helping your child learn a memorized prayer or two during Lent. Remember to pray for those who are hungry or in need in any way! Make sure to make weekend Mass attendance a priority.
 
Fasting
 
Children are not required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday like adults are, but Catholics of all ages are encouraged to “give something up,” or replace an old habit with a better one. Maybe your family can pick one evening where everybody fasts from screen time. Parents can put down their devices and get down on the floor to play with their little ones. Find things to do together other than watch TV or movies.
 
Another possibility is to give up dessert once or twice a week and give the money that would have been spent on it to the poor. Maybe there is another treat that can be skipped now and then. Be creative!
 
Almsgiving
 
This leads us to the third Lenten discipline. We are called to share what we have with those less fortunate. Some ways to do that include:
 

• Put your pennies (or dollars!) in the Rice Bowl on your table throughout Lent.
• Make it a priority to give to the food pantry. Have your child pick some things out for that purpose when you grocery shop together.
• Visit a care center or a neighbor and bring them a treat. Share the joy of your children with someone who might be lonely.
• Go through the toy box together and pick out a couple of things (in good condition) that your children no longer play with and donate them.
• Do the same with their clothing.