originally published to the Catholic Connection
I’ll be honest, I don’t have a strong history of faithful success with Lent. Like a lit match, I flare with pious enthusiasm for fasting, penance and almsgiving, but my glow dims when I slip out of my practices. Before I know it, it’s Easter Sunday and I’m found feeling spiritually dry. Better luck next year, right?
The comforting and unfortunate fact is I’m not alone. It’s true that keeping up with Lenten commitments is tough when they’re not already habitual; but with our words and deeds always under the vigilant speculation of our children, it’s too important to let resolutions fall by the wayside. Because we parents are naturally the primary educators of our kids (CCC 2226), they’ll mimic our approaches to just about anything; and because the aspiration to imitate Christ is paramount, our children will learn to take it seriously from us. Don’t worry though – God in his infinite patience allows us to learn as we go, which means we can better ourselves and set an example at the same time.
The best way to achieve a lasting spirituality in Lent with kids in tow is to understand that Catholicism is an active faith. It’s meant to be lived as a testament to Christ’s love as evidenced by the practice of almsgiving, especially during this season.
Almsgiving is the deliberate act of charity toward the poor – it expresses concern for the salvation of others and considers their unmet material needs. There’s something so heavenly about almsgiving because through it, the giver has the chance to detach from material possessions – something we certainly won’t have in the next life – and he gives of himself so another’s life might thrive. What a great chance to teach our kids to value others over stuff!
To participate with children, have them tag along in your own efforts. Go through your home one room at a time to purge the excess and donate it to Catholic Charities or Providence House; invite your kids to evaluate which toys they really play with and which they don’t. You might be surprised at their natural generosity and eagerness to follow your lead. For the season of Lent, schedule a couple of visits to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul food pantries at local parishes, volunteer to help with housing for the homeless, or provide meals for shut-ins. Make it a family event and put it on the calendar to seal the commitment.
If you’re unfamiliar with these services, find them online, or call your pastor for details and suggestions. Almsgiving can easily go beyond the common practices of financial contributions; sometimes all it takes is an offering of time. One of my favorite verses on parenthood is from Proverbs, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). We need to be actively generous with our time and possessions not only for the good of others in need, but also to encourage the lasting behavior in our families. Investing our time for the poor will take us beyond ourselves and into the presence of God.
Katie, so glad I found you via the Keep Love in Lent. I think you were blog number 50 something. After finding so many talented and creative women, some simply stand out for me. Your writing and site is so appealing. I love how you give ideas based on age for Almsgiving. I have 5 children and yes we need an unique approach for each of them. Last year we took each Sunday to donate board games, clothing, sports equipment, etc…. This year we already put on our hairnet and did Feed My Starving Children. We all enjoyed it. Thanks for these ideas. Peggy
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Love what you said about lasting Lenten spirituality being that Catholicism is an active faith. If it get’s easy, we may not really be doing it. And that makes me not feel so bad when things are difficult. I think that the struggle is part of it and gives us something to go to God with.
Oh I agree! In suffering there is so much hope – My husband was just telling me the other day that God allows pain and difficulty because he wants us to rely entirely on him and go to heaven. Remembering this totally helps when I’m struggling.
Great post and ideas! We’ve been on the both the giving and the receiving end of alms, and I think it has been great for our children to experience both sides of the same coin. Because, we have received alms (clothes, toys, books, gift cards) our kids have been very happy to pass on their clothes, toys, books to other people and have been interested in giving money in the collection basket in church or to other charities. Whenever we have received anything, we’ve always made a point of talking to our kids about it, praying for the giver and showing extra graditude and gratefulness for any gifts we’ve been given.
Almsgiving has always been the hardest Lenten pillar for me to come to terms with. Probably because I wasn’t raised where we ever did anything of the sort, at least not deliberately (I wasn’t raised Catholic). Thank you so much for sharing your ideas on how to help little ones to be involved, as that is something I definitely want to make sure I teach my children. I don’t suppose it’s too late to do something of the sort with them this Lent….
~Ruth Anne
This was such a good post about almsgiving! I think we spend most of our Lent focusing on prayer and fasting, and we don’t always know what to do with almsgiving. This was very helpful. With all of our Lenten sacrifices we want them to move beyond Lent into Easter and then into our ordinary times of life. We will have seasons when we are able to do more and seasons when we have to do less; we will have seasons when we are doing things well and seasons when it is more of a challenge. And that is part of our journey with the Lord!
I am from Brazil! It´s a great post. God blees you and your Family. Happy Easter!
Juliana