Lent starts this coming Wednesday (February 13, 2013). For the forty days of Lent Christians focus on fasting, praying and alms-giving as a way to prepare our hearts for the great celebration of Easter. This year our family will be fostering the spirit of Lent in our home with a focus on environmental sustainability.
Fasting
In the past we’ve opted to eat simple vegetarian meals on Friday. We will continue to do this but this hardly seems like a challenge for us since we eat vegetarian meals three to four days a weeks. So….
One thing that has been on my heart for the last few weeks has been water conservation. For the first time in my life I see where our water comes from. All I have to do is look out of my window to the lake from which we take our water. This Lent we will be fasting from excess water use. We will learn how to conserve our water, collect rain water and reuse grey water. We will be taking part in World Water Day on March 22, 2013 and sharing our findings along the way.
Praying
There were a few new Lenten prayer books that I had planned to purchase but in the spirit of sustainability I chose to look through the books I already own. I chose two books from our home library: Rediscovering Catholicism and A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms. I plan to set aside some time each day to read a little from these books.
With the children we will read through various Bible stories and books about Easter and Jesus. Elizabeth Foss has a nice list of Lent books for children if you’re looking for ideas. It is also my hope to expand our evening prayer time with the children.
Alms-giving
Once again we will be taking part in the Share Lent Campaign through Development and Peace. They have a solidarity calendar to download and print. This year’s theme is Human Dignity.