Lenten Preparation Checklist

In preparation for Lent, I am sharing my Lenten Checklist.  This is being posted mostly for my own accountability and records.  I am definitely a list maker! If it helps anyone else out there looking for ideas then all the glory to God!  Many of these things are gleaned from past years of reading and hearing about what other families do in their own domestic churches.  We are so blessed by our Catholic community of bloggers who so generously share their ideas, time, and talent.  I am incredibly grateful to God for this.  I have listed some helpful Lenten blogger links at the bottom of this post.

1.  Lenten Team Huddle

We held our Lenten Family Meeting that I like to call our "Team Huddle".  We brainstormed about ideas that we had for making a fruitful Lent as individuals but also as a family team.  Extra ways to Pray, Fast, and Give Alms were placed on our family calendar. We discussed the importance of making it to the "Super Bowl" (Heaven) one day.  The Season of Lent is opportunity for us to train-up our souls to be a winning Christian Family Team.  Hubby spoke to the kids about being good disciples of Christ before we can be good Apostles.  This includes being good followers by living our faith.  Each individual went away with homework to come up with their own individual lists, apart from the family calendar, to grow closer to Christ over the 40-day course of Lent.  Our theme for our family Lenten Journey is "Create In Us A Clean Heart , O God."

2.  Lenten Spiritual Reading 

Lenten Spiritual Reading books were given out at our Lenten Team Huddle.  We have agreed as a family to add more spiritual exercises to strengthen our journeys.  This includes daily reading.

  Angel Baby will be read to (Misc. spiritual board books)

Three of the younger children will be reading these books:
Our 1st Grader will be doing Grade 2-3 (with help)
Our 3rd Grader will be reading Grade 4-5
Our 6th Grader (12 yo) will be reading the Teen book

I am trying these for the first time so I hope to follow-up with an opinion.  So far, they look good.  

As I mentioned earlier, our oldest son will be doing a self-guided retreat with hubby and I, using this book.  The three of us will be reading 10 pages a day and trying to meet weekly to discuss.

Our 3 readers were also given this Lenten Gift to help with daily spiritual reading and prayer:

We are learning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, using this abbreviated version to start with! 

3. Lenten Calendar

We used this tri-fold board to make our Lenten Calendar this year.  It serves as a reminder of our family Lenten goals.  It is also a visual countdown of the forty days and keeps track of the special Feast Days during Lent.  There are so many neat calendars that different families make.  Ours is certainly only one way to do it.  Click on this previous post for more information about our calendar!

4. Home Altar Change

We changed our Prayer Table/Home Altar cloth to Purple for Lent!  

Since March is also dedicated to St. Joseph, we also hung our St. Joseph canvas and displayed his holy cards.

We found that these cute little picture holders (someone gave this one to me for a gift) come in handy to display holy cards!

Isn't this St. Joseph picture a great find from the Dollar Tree?

5.  Sacrifice Beans and Kindness Jar

It 's time to put out our Sacrifice Beans and Kindness Jar!

Many families use this idea to enhance their family Lenten Journey.

I have a previous post here with explanation on both the Sacrifice Beans and Acts of Kindness Jar.  My list of things that go into the Kindness Jar is posted here.  This is another way we incorporate daily Prayer, Sacrifice (Fast) and Service (Almsgiving). 

6.  Lenten Candles

Boy, it sure is tough to find purple candles!  Last year I just used white.
This year I decided to paint my own for our dinner table centerpiece during Lent.  We light one purple candle each Sunday (much like Advent).  Except for Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday during Lent) when we light the rose colored candle.  The candles are set in sand to represent the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, hence our own 40 days of Lent...cleansing our hearts and souls and preparing for new life.  The 7th Sunday is Easter Sunday and we can light our Paschal candle after that!

7. Lenten Decor
Last year I finally found some purple fabric to drape our cross.  This cross hangs on the landing of our staircase, now ready for Lent!

My Liturgical Wreath for the month of March is Lenten in color and spirit.  All materials came from the Dollar Tree, of course!  (Minus the Crucifix) Am I a Dollar Tree addict or what? The lilies represent St. Joseph since the month of March is dedicated to him.  My tutorial for this wreath and a St. Patrick's Day wreath can be found here.

Create other sacred decor like this candle wreath:

Make Resurrection Pots to plant Easter grass in preparation for Easter!

More Helpful Lenten Links:
Lenten Mega Post
Homeschool Goodies
The Catholic Toolbox
Paper Dali Lent For Children
Holy Family Classical Homeschool Academy
Family in Feast and Feria 2011 Lenten Plans
Family in Feast and Feria~Daily Lenten Devotion
Catholic Icing
Catholic Mom's Helper~Stations of the Cross Booklet
Karen Edmisten~A Meaningful Lent
Showers of Roses
Cherished Hearts At Home

 I read this scripture over at Shine Like Stars and found it perfect to share for Lent!

"Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain."

~Philippians 2:14-16~