"I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013, hosted by
The title of this link-up intrigued and challenged me: how could my family "keep the love in Lent?" What could we do to make Lent 2013 more meaningful? How could we use this time to better show our love for others? The answer quickly popped into my head: through more prayer!
I feel called to put a special emphasis on family prayer this year. Sure, we pray before meals and at bedtime, and occasionally say a decade of the rosary or the Divine Mercy chaplet while driving to sports or dance. But it isn't enough, especially during this liturgical season which calls us to a deeper connection with Jesus.
I'm ashamed to admit that as our lives become busier ad busier, we have begun falling into a pattern of rote, mechanical prayers. We say them quickly and without much thought. We need to slow down and really contemplate what we are saying.
To help us in this mission, I decided to transform our St. Valentine's Tree into a Lenten Prayer Tree. We will use the tree to keep track of our prayer intentions, while giving more meaning to the actual prayer process.
Jennifer, at Catholic Inspired, has some wonderful printables for Lent, which I decided to adapt for our tree. I printed out her Lenten Prayer Chain and her Chain of People printables. Jennifer's chain printable should help us move from rote prayer; it includes suggestions like "Say an extra Hail Mary for people with a disability" or "Say an Our Father for children who don't have a mother and father." We will use it to help us focus on a group of people of people who need our prayers.
We will use the Chain of People printable to focus our prayers on individuals--friends, family members and others who need special prayers, like an aunt who might be having health problems or a friend who is suffering financial difficulties.
Each day, we will take a link from the chain and read the prayer intention on it. We will also take a paper figure and draw details on it so it resembles the family member or friend for who we want to pray. We will place that figure on the tree.
Here's a tray I've set up with materials to create our "people" each day:
I also asked each person in the family to write their Lenten prayer resolution on a purple card like this, which we have placed on the tree:
We will follow this "Change of Heart" Idea from Loyola Press to keep track of our progress on our Lenten resolutions. We place a heart on the tree for each day that we have made progress toward our spiritual resolution.
Here are some photos of our Lenten Prayer Tree:
I'm hoping these simple activities will help us turn to prayer in a more meaningful way.
What activities do you do during Lent to make your prayer more meaningful for yourself and your family? Please share ideas in the combox!
Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog
Link-Up 2013! We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Discover new Catholic Blogs to follow!
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darling idea. i'm regretting getting rid of my indoor spiral topiary. it would have been perfect for such a thing.
ReplyDeleteprayers for a fruitful lenten journey filled with love and peace.
Thank you for stopping by, Lena. I'm not 100 percent happy with this tree; as my husband says "it looks a bit awkward!" I will have to fiddle with it more when I get a chance! A topiary would work nicely with these embellishments/reminders.
DeleteHaving a liturgical tree is a brilliant idea, Cheryl...Love it! You incorporated your prayer idea with Jennifer's chain perfectly. It's just beautiful. We keep a prayer box on our home altar/prayer table all year round. We keep our prayer intentions in there to "lift up" and the kids love to keep it updated.Thank you for sharing and may God bless you loving Lent!
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
DeleteI love the idea of a year-round prayer box on the prayer table. It would be a great way to continue our practice, which I hope will become a part of our lives after these 40 days!
I absolutely love the tree to "create" people. One of my children is having difficulties with some other kids at school, so this would be a perfect way to pray for those that don't necessarily love us back as well as for our friends. Thank you for this amazing idea!!
ReplyDeleteSheila,
DeleteI love that idea! I think that by praying for a person, our hearts become less hardened to them. Perhaps it will shine through and the children who are giving the problems will see it and lighten up a bit. We've dealt with those type of issues here too. Praying for your child!
We are also trying to pray more in this house. I agree that as we get busier, it just seems to move to the back burner. I'm making a conscious effort to pray individually with each child everyday.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of praying with each child individually each day. As the kids have become older, they tend not to want me to "tuck them in" and do prayers with them. But I think I will gently insist; it gives me time to talk individually with them and share the specialness of prayer.
DeleteAwww, that is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI want all of your crafty moms to come decorate my house for Lent! (And, well, just in general.)
Me too! (I'm not too crafty--I've seen so many beautiful ideas on Pinterest!)
DeleteI really like how you incorporated Jennifer's Chain of people into your Lenten prayers. It is a great way to give children a visual and keep them actively involved during prayer time. I will try that as a way of keeping my children focused on the person we are praying for while we say the rosary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Elisa! I'm a great believer in incorporating 'hands-on' methods to encourage praying, even as my kids get older.
DeleteA simple, lovely, concrete idea. Thank you for sharing it. As I read your post, I thought about the cards I made with my children last year that we just started re-using this Lent. They might help you and your children. Check them out at http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/2012/01/blessings-for-new-year-printable-flip.html if you wish.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Martianne, for showing me those blessings flip cards! I love them, and pinned them to my "teaching catechism" Pinterest board. I can see how they would especially appeal to the kids in my catechism class, in addition to my kids.
DeleteI was just talking with my best friend about prayer and the conversation sounded a lot like the first few paragraphs. Thank you for the encouragement and great ideas! God bless you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Sarah Therese! It is along the line of your blog post, about "driving through life" in a rote way, rather than taking time to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us, and to thank God for that beauty.
DeleteI love your Lenten prayer tree idea! :) We're using our Jesse Tree as a Jesus Tree this Lent, I got the ornaments from the St. Brigid's Academy blog. :D We are also using Jennifer's Lenten prayer chain. :) Thanks for this great post! Thank you, too, for joining the link-up! God bless you and yours always! :)
ReplyDeleteBless you and your family, Tina. Thank you for co-hosting the link-up. It has been so inspiring to read about what others are doing.
DeleteI really like the daily focus on prayer that this tree inspires. The "Change of Heart Tree" activity makes me think of Advent as a child, when we'd add a piece of straw to a manger for each good deed, ultimately making a warm welcome for Jesus. That activity and this one keep us focused on our daily actions rather than simply announcing big plans and winging it as we go. Thanks for sharing! Good Lent to you.
ReplyDeleteRegina,
DeleteThe "Change of Heart" activity reminds me of the "straw in the manger" activity, too. It is important to stay focused on the little things we can do, especially since the world only shouts about the huge accomplishments. Thank you for stopping by!
Hi Cheryl, you know I was wondering if you were planning on adapting your St. Valentine tree into a Lenten theme. How wonderful that you keep a visually appealing liturgical tree! I wan't familiar with the Change of Heart Tree from Loyola Press. I'm going to check it out and see if I can somehow adapt it to use in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can relate to the feeling of prayer life turning into more of a mechanical obligation than purely from the heart. It's hard to pray the rosary and stay focused on the mystery! I need to redirect myself repeatedly :)
May God bless you and your family Cheryl! May He shower you with His love and abundant blessings!
Thank you for stopping by Noreen! Always love your comments and insights! Wishing you a blessed and meaningful Lenten season!
DeleteI really like the Lenten tree idea. We had done a Lenten Chain a few years ago, but have not done it in a while. One of the things I love so much about Lent it the ability to try new things are really focus on prayer and new ways to pray as a family. God Bless!
ReplyDeleteI agree Katie. Some things work better than others, depending on your family. It's great that the internet can give us so many inspirations!
DeleteHello! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post! I don't think that you should feel ashamed about the fact that your lives keep getting busier and busier - sometimes that's the nature of family life, of raising kids, of meeting everyone's needs. BUT, what is so beautiful, is that you teach your kids to think about the Lord in the midst of daily life and activities by praying in the car together or while waiting in line, or doing dishes etc., etc. God is with us always, and we can be with HIM always!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan, for reminding me that this is important too--to teach them to think about the Lord during the hustle and bustle of life!
DeleteGreat idea! We are trying to do a family rosry for Lent each night to add more family prayer time, too! I hope your Lent is fruitful!
ReplyDeleteMichelle
I love the idea of a regular family rosary each evening. Things will slow down a lot for us during Holy Week -- I think maybe we will do that after supper each night. Thank you for the idea, Michelle.
DeleteI really like that tree you have! And brilliant use of the Chain of People. I think next Lent I will borrow some of your ideas and implement them in my house.
ReplyDeletePlease do, Kim! Stop by when you do and let me know how it goes.
DeleteSomething easy that we do with our kids is counting to forty after grace before meals. It helps us recollect a little more and we get to suffer just a bit looking at our dinners without being able to eat until we're done counting. Plus, now my three year old can count!
ReplyDeleteI like that idea--counting to 40 after grace. I think I will try that!
DeleteI love your Lenten Prayer Tree! We're trying to say one decade of the Rosary before dinner...kind of like Kendra's counting to 40...although my toddler isn't always all that cooperative! I made this prayer and mystery counter and posted about it. It includes a free printable and it's perfect for families like us tackling the Rosary for really the first consistent time...just one decade at a time! http://www.equippingcatholicfamilies.com/2013/02/revolving-rosarywith-free-printable.html
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. I like the concept as it really helps focus prayer back on where it should be focused...prayer. It becomes less of a rushed activity and more of the spiritual activity it was intended to be!
ReplyDelete