Help your kids encounter God in nature

The practice of reflecting on God using the natural world as a sort of “icon” for the divine has been neglected by many Christians who are put off by the secular practice of treating nature as the only way of encountering God, along with the tendency of New Age spirituality to divinize nature. But ignoring the ways that we can encounter the presence of God in the natural world cuts us off from an important part of our tradition, not to mention a way of experiencing God’s presence with a sense of awe, wonder, and joy. Dive deeper to find five ways of praying with nature.

5 easy activities for a Lenten retreat for kids

Last year when Catholic mom Karrie Marascia was looking through her church bulletin, she saw that an adult Lenten retreat was being held for most of a Saturday. She had an idea about doing a smaller version of a retreat for her family and gave it a try with her eight children. Online you’ll find the activities, and how they worked out, from putting together blessing bags to an in-home Stations of the Cross.