Walking through Holy Week as a family

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, Holy Week, is the most sacred time of year. During this special time, we enter into the passion of Christ — his crucifixion, death and resurrection — through liturgical celebration and personal conversion. While the season of Lent is a very important time in the Church, it is helpful to remember that our Lenten practices (prayer, fasting and almsgiving) are meant as preparation for the three days of the Triduum. There’s more help online to help you celebrate Holy Week at home.

Walking through Holy Week as a family
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St. Patrick’s Day: Joy during Lent

It sticks out like a sore, green thumb in the middle of a sober liturgical period. As a lifelong Catholic — and a lifelong Irishman — I struggle with squaring my prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial with a holiday (one of my favorites) whose excesses include dying an entire river green. When I’m supposed to be fasting and giving things up and attending penance services, along comes this holiday — this feast day — that contradicts the whole Lenten vibe with its parades and corned beef. Find more about Saint Patrick online.

St. Patrick’s Day: Joy during Lent
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Tips to remain devoted to your Lenten sacrifice

How can we remain devoted to our Lenten sacrifice? We have some tips on the web site to help you out. Here’s one: Keep a cruxifix nearby. A glance at the cross can remind us of the sacrifice the Lord made for us. It also demonstrates His great love for us. Perhaps we can keep a cross in our pockets during those 40 days. When we feel tempted to deviate from our sacrifices, we can clutch that cross in the hope of being given the strength we need. Find more tips online.

Tips to remain devoted to your Lenten sacrifice
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How to teach about Lenten sacrifice

An important lesson of Lent is sacrifice. So often, this lesson is lost in the cacophony of our consumer world. Sacrifice is not easy. It’s more than giving up a bad habit. It’s about recognizing what distracts you and surrendering that yearning for what you think you want. Sacrifice can be emotionally painful and demands commitment. But doing something difficult helps us understand ourselves in a deeper, more meaningful way. How do we parents find a way back to the lesson of sacrifice? How do we instill the importance of this message when we are bombarded daily with the counter message of consumption and instant gratification? Visit us online for some help in how to explain sacrifice to your Catholic kids.

How to teach about Lenten sacrifice
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