Focus on the Mass For Lent - “...And With Your Spirit!”

Over these past few weeks we've been taking some time to look at what we do and say at the Mass. Our hope is that, this Lent, we can become more conscious of what is happening every time we go to Mass so that it not only becomes a richer, more rewarding experience for us, but that we will be able to grow as Christians and be brighter lights of Christ's love for the world.

Last week we looked at the words “The Lord be with you!” and how God uses this greeting as an invitation to allow Him to do something great in our lives. This week we want to look at our response to this invitation. 

As Father says to us, “The Lord be with you” we respond to him with one voice, “And with your Spirit”. Why might we say this to Father Antony?

In the Mass everyone has different roles. As baptized priests, we have a role and Father Antony, our ordained priest, has a role. As the Mass begins Father reminds us that God has a great plan for us and we respond by reminding him that he, our ordained priest, also has a great role – God is about to ask him to take bread and wine and, through the Spirit, turn them into the Precious Body and Precious Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

This amazing action is something that no one else can do for us. It is something that no amount of seminary schooling, priestly formation or theological reading could possibly prepare Father Antony for. It is only in and through the Holy Spirit, and the unique gifts of the Spirit he received at his ordination, that ordinary bread and wine, in an extraordinary way, can become Christ for us.

As the Mass begins and we enter into this great exchange of “The Lord be with you/And with your Spirit” we are invited to remember that God has something great planned for us, and we must also remind Father that God has something great planned for him; making Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our eternally loving God, real and present in the Mass and in our lives so that we can transform the world.

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Give Your Child’s Lenten Sacrifice A Focus!

Sacrifice is never easy. It's even harder when you're a kid. Here are three ways you can help your child with this traditional Lenten practice;

+ Have your children draw a picture of their Lenten sacrifice or write it down. Post it beside their bed or place it on your table. As you tuck them into bed at night or sit down at the table for supper, take a few minutes to ask each child how they are doing. Ask them if their Lenten sacrifice was hard or easy today. Spend some time talking about Jesus’ passion, and how even though it was hard, painful and tiring, he never gave up because of His love for them.

+ Encourage your child to choose someone to offer up their Lenten sacrifice for (ie: their grandma who is sick, a friend, etc). To “offer up” something is a beautiful tradition in our Catholic faith where, rather than complaining of our struggles or sufferings, we turn them into a prayer for someone else. For example: “Jesus, I would really like to eat this chocolate right now, but I offer it up as a prayer for my grandma who is sick.”

+Make sure to write their sacrifice down or post a picture of the person they will be offering their Lenten sacrifice for somewhere visible. Whenever your children want to quit or cheat on their Lenten sacrifice, remind them of who they are offering their sacrifice for. This gives their lent a focus and can help them persevere when it gets tough!

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Countdown to Lent: Focus On the Mass - The Lord Be With You!

Gideon and the Angel - He Qi

As the Mass begins we make the sign of the Cross and then right away Father Antony says to us “the Lord be with you!” How often to we say this without giving much thought to where this comes from or why our Mass might begin with an exchange like this? Do we realize, for example, how much of our Mass - such as this phrase - comes to us from the Bible itself?

There are a number of stories in the Bible where this phrase is used. In most of those situations a messenger of God is speaking to someone who is about to be invited to take part in God's plan in some amazing way. People like Gideon in the book of Judges who didn't think he had anything special to offer to God. When he was visited by an angel of God and told he, as humble as he was, would save his people from their enemies the angel began by saying “The Lord be with you!”

God has a plan for all of us and He has a plan for you in your life. When you come to Mass God has big plans for you in your family, in your marriage, where you work, with your neighbours and he wants you to be an active part of those plans.

When we hear those words God wants us to take heart and know that He is with us in His Word, He is with us in our struggles, He is with us in our joys and, most importantly He is with us in the Mass.

As Mass begins Father Antony, a messenger of God, says to us “The Lord be with you” and as we receive the Eucharist, the Precious Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is with us. Like he was with Gideon, like he was with Abraham, and with Moses, and like he was with Mary, our Blessed Mother.

When we hear those words “the Lord be with you” we should recall all of those who have gone before us and know with certainty that, yes, the Lord is with me and there is nothing I cannot do with him at my side.

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Lent in the Home: Cards For Shut-Ins

Sometimes giving up something for the 40 days of lent is pretty challenging when you are 5 years old. Rather than lent being a painful experience, with a little creativity we can help our children love this special time in the church!

One idea is to encourage your children during this Lenten season to make cards for those of our parish who live in Extendicare facilities, Personal care homes or are sick and unable to leave their house.
Have your children make a card (or two or three. Or 40!!) and then together you can either write a little note or prayer in it, draw a picture, etc. Most importantly make sure this lent to pray for the person who will receive it!

We will have a basket at the back of the church to collect all the completed cards. Have fun sharing the love of Jesus with others this lent!

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Lent In The Home: A Lent Box

This Lent, try making a Lent Box for your family to help explain the images and symbols of Holy Week to your children!

Print off the template from Kids and Glitter, color the pictures, and glue the box together.

Place the box in a visible and accessible spot in your home and speak to your children about filling it with money to be given to  the Church or to the poor this lent.

Encourage them by placing donations of your own in the box. This is a great way to teach them generosity.

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Countdown to Lent: Focus on the Mass - The Sign of the Cross

At the start of Mass we all stand and Father Antony makes his entrance into the sanctuary. Once there He invites us to begin “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and we all join him in making the sign of the Cross.

For most of us, the sign of the cross is something that comes very naturally, almost instinctively and we can do it and say the words often without even thinking about what we are doing and why.

When we call on the name of God on the name of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit we are becoming aware of God's presence. We are gathering in His name and reminding ourselves that He is with us. In the early Church this action and these words all on their own were considered a form of prayer.

When we make this sign and speak these words we are taking ourselves back to our own baptism, where we were first claimed by God in His name and marked forever by the sign of His Cross. As Mass begins, we are taken back to that singular moment in time when we were filled with God's grace and began a new kind of life in the Church, the Body of Christ.

We call God “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. God gives us His name and gives us permission as His sons and daughters to call on Him. God invites us into his home, saying “Come, be with me.” We are moved out of our regular lives and into a space prepared for us by our loving Father. It is a space where He invites us to be filled with the grace we will need for the week to come, a space where he invites us to be near, to gather at his table and be fed.

But we have to get to Mass on time so we do not miss it. If we come in 5 or 10 or 15 minutes late, we miss this invitation, we miss the joy of calling on our Heavenly Father, and being present as He replies.

What things are keeping you and your family from getting to Mass on time and missing this important start to the celebration? What changes might you make, what help might you ask from God so that you can be more involved and engaged, and take in this grace-filled moment “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”?

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Lent in the Home - A Lenten Skittles Jar!

This is a simple Lenten activity that your kids will love to do through lent! On Ash Wednesday set out a small mason jar for each child with their name taped to it and a big bowl of skittles (or you can use jellybeans). Identify one action to go with each color. As they complete the action they can put a skittle in their jar and are not allowed to eat them till Easter Sunday!

You can make your own actions based on the ages and needs of your children. Here is an example of what some of the colors could represent:

Red is for the blood Jesus gave for us. Each morning choose something that can be sacrificed (given up) to earn the red Skittle. It must be something that the child would have had the opportunity to have or do that day.

Green is for the palm’s cool shade. Green Skittles can be earned for good deeds.

Yellow is for God’s light so bright! Yellow Skittles can be earned by sharing God’s light through showing kindness to others.

Orange is for prayers at twilight or bedtime. Orange Skittles can be earned for attentive behavior during bedtime prayers / Bible reading.

Blue is for sweet rest at night. Blue Skittles can be earned for going to bed without fuss.

Purple is for Jesus’ days of sorrow (or His Passion). Purple Skittles can be earned by apologizing to anyone we hurt with our words or actions.

Pink is for forgiveness and each new tomorrow. Pink Skittles can be earned when we forgive those who hurt us, whether or not they apologize to us.

Lent is a great time for moms, dads and kids to discuss all the wonderful ways Jesus invites us to be more loving, and practice showing his love to others. Throughout the coming weeks we will be sharing a host of ideas to make Lent a time for growth in faith and love for you whole family.

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Countdown to Lent : Focus on the Mass

Only two weeks to go before the start of Lent (Ash Wednesday - March 5). Have you made any plans? Thought about what you might focus on? What about the Mass?

Lent is traditionally a time for spiritual reflection. It is an invitation to enter more deeply into our relationship with Christ. We do this through three particular Lenten practices; prayer, fasting and alms-giving, all of which help us to re-order our lives and center them on Christ, drawing us closer to his heart.

This Lent, we invite you to focus your attention on the most important prayer of our Church, that singular, prayerful work we call the Mass. Pope Francis, in his most recent general audience emphasized that “At Mass, Christ gathers people around him "to nourish us with his word and his life. This means that the mission and identity of the church begin and take form there.” Everything else that we do this Lent, and throughout the year, flows from our celebration of the Mass; our personal time of prayer, our individual discipline of fasting, our reaching out to others through charitable giving.

It's easy for us to forget just how important this celebration is to our lives. If you've been going to Mass regularly for most of your life, it can seem pretty routine. We can find the prayers, the readings, the psalms and the music happening around us without much need for our own participation. We can find ourselves simply going through the motions, missing the very graces we will need to be Christ for others in the rest of our week.

The simplest way to focus on the Mass is to begin keeping a “Mass Journal”. This could be a small notebook, it might be a section of your own, prayer journal, it could even be the 'notes' app on your smartphone. In the coming weeks we will be providing small notebooks for you to use but whatever method you choose this Lent, the most important thing will be to use it at every Mass you attend.

Once you have it, the following simple steps will help you to use it;

1.Before Mass begins, ask God to help draw your attention to one thing, just one, about the Mass that day. It might be something in the opening prayer, it might be a line from scripture or the psalm, it could be something Father mentioned in his homily or even the chorus from one of the hymns that keeps running in your head.

2.Pray the Mass. Participate as fully as you can in the prayers, the responses and the times of silence throughout the Mass. Engage your senses; watch what is going on, listen to what is being proclaimed, use your voice to join in the prayers and hymns.

3.Write it down. Before you leave the pew, take out your notebook, your journal or open your app and simply jot down one thing. Just one. Is there a word from scripture or a line from the psalm that has stuck in your head? Did something Father said get you thinking? Is there a hymn or a prayer that your mind keeps wandering back to? Don't be concerned with elegant prose and wise words, a word or two, one sentence at the most is all you need.

4.Say thank-you. You began by asking God to help draw your attention to some part of the Mass, and he has answered your prayer! Take just a few moments to thank your heavenly Father for giving you just one thing to take home with you today.

This week Pope Francis asked “Do you go to Mass because it's a habit or a time to see your friends...Or is it something more?" This Lent, take up the challenge, focus on the Mass and let God help you make it “something more”.

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