Pope Francis invites the faithful to "pause in prayer" and to "share all that we are and all that we have with those in need" in his message for Lent this year. The full transcipt of Pope Francis' message for Lent can be found here.

 

 

 

Lent at St. Paul's    

During Lent, our focus areas in classrooms and public spaces are simply adorned with purple cloths and statues are covered if we are at school during Holy Week.

On Mondays, our Mini Vinnies lead our Celebration of the Word, which are based on the Sunday readings. As part of their RE topic, many children will make personal or class Lenten promises for the season and our Yr 3 and Yr 4 Prayer Partners will work on and support each other with these.

We have a Reconciliation Service towards the end of Lent; visiting priests hear the confessions of the staff and the older children.

Each year, our Middle School children present a Lenten Reflection, which is enjoyed by their parents and the rest of the school.

 

Stations of the Cross

During Lent, every class journeyed with our Lord, on His final walk to Calvary.

They stopped at each of the fourteen stations to learn more about his sacrifice for us; to meditate on and thank Jesus for His immense love for us.

At each stop they prayed:

V. We adore you, Christ and we praise you

R. Because by your holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.

Lenten Class boards

Holy Week

 

Week 1

We begin by lighting our candle and making the Sign of the Cross                              

Today we have purple cloths on all of our prayer tables because it is the season of Lent.

 If we had been at school last Wednesday, we would have all gone to Mass because it was Ash Wednesday.  You may have gone with your families.  At Mass, we have ashes marked on our foreheads. We recognise that we have done wrong and promise to try to do better.

Today’s reading is about a promise too.                                                               

A reading from the Book of Genesis

Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “I now make my promise to you and to your people who will live after you. ¹⁰ I make my promise to all the birds, and to all the cattle, and to all the animals that came out of the boat with you. I make my promise to every living thing on earth. ¹¹ This is my promise to you: All life on the earth was destroyed by the flood. But that will never happen again. A flood will never again destroy all life on the earth.”                                                                                                 

¹² And God said, “I will give you something to prove that I made this promise to you. It will continue forever to show that I have made an agreement with you and every living thing on earth. ¹³ I am putting a rainbow in the clouds as proof of the agreement between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, you will see the rainbow in the clouds. ¹⁵ When I see this rainbow, I will remember the agreement between me and you and every living thing on the earth. This agreement says that a flood will never again destroy all life on the earth.

The Word of the Lord…..                                                                                                           

 God’s rainbow was in the sky and a reminder that He always keeps His promises, St Paul tells us “  No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ".  The next time you see a rainbow, remember the promise God made to Noah, and remember that just as God has kept that promise, He keeps all of His promises to you, too Some of us will be making Lenten promises to try to do better, let’s all try to keep our promises too.

Let us pray 

Dear God, we’re thankful that You keep Your promises. Help us to keep our promises, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Week 2

Today we are celebrating the second Sunday of Lent                                                 

We start by lighting our candle and making the sign of the cross.

Think about who your best friend is, it could be someone you have known for a long time or maybe you met just a short time ago but get on with really well – someone you know well and think that they know you really well too.

Today’s Gospel is about Jesus and three of his very best friends – Peter, James and John, friends who had been with Jesus for a long time, who felt they knew him well but something happens to make them see him differently.

We welcome the Gospel 

  A reading from the Gospel of St Mark   -  glory to you O Lord                                             

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went up on a high mountain. They were all alone there. While these followers watched him, Jesus was changed. ³ His clothes became shining white—whiter than anyone on earth could make them. ⁴ Then two men were there talking with Jesus. They were Elijnd Moses.

⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good that we are here. We will put three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ Peter did not know what to say, because he and the other two followers were so afraid.

⁷ Then a cloud came and covered them. A voice came from the cloud and said, “This is my Son, the one I love. Obey him!”

⁸ The followers looked, but they saw only Jesus there alone with them.

The Gospel of the Lord  - praise to you Lord Jesus Christ                                                                                                                                          

Jesus wanted his friends to see him as he really was – the Son of God and to give them a taste of what it would be like in heaven.

Before that they had only seen him as a man just like themselves but now he was seen in all his Glory as the Son of God, they saw him for what he really is.

So although they were a bit scared about what they were seeing, wanted to be there because they wanted to spend time with him, their best friend.

When we spend time in prayer or at Mass we are also spending time with Jesus, let’s make the most of that time, getting to know Jesus and showing him we love him, learning to see him in others and sharing Jesus’ love with everyone we meet.                                                 

Let us pray    Dear God,
Thank you for showing us who you are
Help us to be amazed by your glory
And to shine like the sun with your love     Amen

 

Week 3

 

We light our candle and make the Sign of the Cross to begin.

This week we are celebrating the Third Sunday in Lent, we are almost half way on our journey to Easter.

Today’s Gospel tells us about a time when Jesus was very angry.

We will welcome the Gospel

A reading from the Gospel of St John                Glory to you O Lord

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

The Gospel of the Lord             Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

We don’t think of Jesus as shouting, tipping over tables and so on, he wasn’t in a bad temper like a little child might have a tantrum if they can’t have what they want.  Jesus was angry because people were misusing the Temple – God’s house.

It would have been noisy with all the traders and animals, people would have trouble hearing each other never mind listening to God. Jesus knew that the Temple should be a place where God could be praised and people could spend quiet time in prayer.

What time and space do we give to praising God and praying to him?  We all have very busy lives, do we squash praying into any spare minute or really make a special time to talk to God and listen to him.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, the people in the temple forgot you in their busy lives.  We pray that we will always remember everything you have given us and make time to thank you and praise you.

 Amen.

                                      

Week 4

We are now in the 4^th week of Lent, we light our candle and make the Sign of the Cross to begin our Celebration of the Word of God.

You might know the story for little ones called “Guess how much I love you” or have heard someone say “ I love you to the moon and back.”  Trying to explain how much we love the people closest to us is very difficult. A lot of the time it is about putting the other person’s needs before your own.

In today’s Gospel we have Jesus explaining to one of his followers how much God loves us.

A reading from the Gospel of St John  -  Glory to you O Lord

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world. He did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.

The Gospel of the Lord        Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

God loves us so much he gave up his son for us, he asks us to love one another equally – not to give up our children to be willing to make sacrifices – to give things up for them.   Think about the sacrifices your parents make for you, can you think of any sacrifices you make for others?  Maybe you share what you have, perhaps you give up your time to do a job at home when you would rather be playing.

In the week ahead try to think of a way you can put someone else before yourself, it might be a friend or a relative do something positive to show how much you love them.

Let us pray

Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus to how us to live and love others. Help us to love others as you love us.  AMEN

 

Week 5

Yesterday was the 5^th Sunday of Lent, we are getting close to Holy Week and the great celebration of Easter.  It’s a week we might be finding it difficult to keep our Lenten promises as we are almost at the end, if you have given up something like say chocolate, you might be looking forward to eating it again. If you promise was to do something like tidy your bedroom every day you might be looking forward to not having to do it.  But really the promises we make for Lent are good promises for all the time if we can make choices to help others.

Today’s reading is from the Old Testament written many hundreds of years ago but it has an important message for us today.

A reading from the prophet Isaiah

⁶ “I will tell you the kind of day I want—a day to set people free. I want a day that you take the burdens off others. I want a day when you set troubled people free and you take the burdens from their shoulders. ⁷ I want you to share your food with the hungry. I want you to find the poor who don’t have homes and bring them into your own homes. When you see people who have no clothes, give them your clothes! Don’t hide from your relatives when they need help.”

                   

⁸ If you do these things, your light will begin to shine like the light of dawn. Then your wounds will heal. Your “Goodness” will walk in front of you, and the Glory of the Lord will come following behind you. ⁹ Then you will call to the Lord, and he will answer you. You will cry out to him, and he will say, “Here I am.”

Stop causing trouble and putting burdens on people. Stop saying things to hurt people or accusing them of things they didn’t do

The Word of the Lord                   Thanks be to God       

Isaiah is telling us the same thing that Jesus tells us  - to care for others – the lessons we learn from Catholic Social Teaching – Care for the vulnerable, human dignity and standing together.

This week let’s think about our Lenten promises and make an effort to use our promises to benefit others.

Let us pray

Dear God  help us to live like you want us to, to work for what is right, to care for those in need and to let our lights shine where there is darkness.

Amen

 

Week 6

 

We are now in Holy Week – yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday.  If you went to Mass, you would have received a cross made from a palm leaf and  blessed to represent the palm leaves spread for Jesus to walk on when he entered Jerusalem.

Today’s Scripture tells us the story of Palm Sunday.  Let’s welcome the Gospel

Allelulia

A reading from the Gospel of St John – Glory to you O Lord.

The disciples brought Jesus a donkey and he rode on it. The people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus was coming there. These were the crowds of people who had come to the Passover festival.  They went out to meet Jesus. They took branches of palm trees or lay down their cloaks for him to walk on and they shouted,

“‘Praise Him!’
    ‘Welcome! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest”

The Gospel of the Lord  -  praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem, they threw cloaks and palm leaves as a sign of their love and respect for Jesus.  What are some of the things we can do for others as a sign of our love and respect?  Perhaps, use some of our pocket money to buy something for the food bank, write, send a card or draw a picture for  someone you know who is sad or lonely, be extra helpful at home.  Try to think of one small thing you can do to show your love for others in Jesus’ name.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, you were welcomed into Jerusalem as a King, we know you as the Prince of Peace,
We pray that your peace will spread
Throughout our world today
And touch the lives of everyone.

Amen