Welcome to the Family Corner!

February 27, 2025

by Family Corner Team

Answer: The priest and deacon wear green during the liturgical season known as Ordinary Time, white during Easter and Christmas and on feast days, red on Good Friday and the feast days of martyrs, and purple during Lent and Advent. The colors of the celebrants’ vestments are an easy way to introduce children to the rhythms of the Church year and help us all stay tuned in to the season.

Welcome to the Family Corner, a new feature to introduce ways to celebrate the liturgical seasons in our homes.

We begin with the grand season of Lent. The word Lent is from the middle English Lenten, meaning “spring.” Lent opens with Ash Wednesday, which is on March 5 this year. Even though it doesn't feel like spring yet here in Minnesota, Ash Wednesday gives us very clear signs that new life is on the way. Here are some ideas to pray, eat, and do together as a family.

Pray:

Attend Mass on Ash Wednesday. At this Mass, we are marked with ashes on our foreheads as a sign of fragility of life on earth and our need for penance.

For Lent: Together as a family, consider adding a common prayer to your daily routine. You might say the Morning Offering before the family departs for the day:

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day

for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,

for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians,

and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month.

Amen.

Also see these ideas for family prayer from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops: (https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/Lenten-Prayers.pdf)

Eat:

On Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten fasting and sacrifice. We eat modestly and simply on Ash Wednesday, with no meat or sweets.

But first, Fat Tuesday: Historically, Christians would use the day before Ash Wednesday to use up any meat, eggs, butter, and sweets. This is how celebrations of Fat Tuesday, also called Mardi Gras, began. A Fat Tuesday traditional dish in many cultures is pancakes. (Try the easy and tasty recipe below!) Some families we know even have ice cream for breakfast!

During the weeks of Lent, we eat sacrificially. Catholics are called to eat meatless meals each Friday during Lent, but we can sacrifice every day by skipping dessert, or by contributing money we might spend going out to eat to the Keystone Food Shelf or another charity. Meatless Friday meals that everyone enjoys include soups like potato or lentil, pasta tossed with garlic and olive oil, and rice served with red beans. Watch for more recipes in the upcoming weeks.

Whole-Grain Pancakes

1 1/4 cups milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar

1 Tbsp oil, plus additional oil for cooking

2 eggs

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup unbleached white flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoons wheat germ

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, mix milk and lemon juice. Let stand 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, mix dry ingredients together.

Add eggs and oil to milk mixture and whisk. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Whisk until just combined.

Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush griddle with additional oil. Pour batter onto griddle to form preferred size pancakes, then lower heat to medium-low. Cook until bottom surface is golden and top surface is bubbly. Carefully flip and cook until bottom is golden.

Serve with maple syrup or apple, blueberry, or pear sauce.

Practice:

The whole family benefits from working together in acts of sacrifice. Consider these:

Keep a penny jar or “rice bowl”: Each time someone does a charitable or sacrificial act, mark it by putting a coin in the jar or bowl. At Easter, give the coins to the parish, or a deserving relative or neighbor, or to a charity.
Make a sacrificial path: To foreshadow Jesus’s via dolorosa, cut sheets of paper into shapes like cobblestones; tape to a wall one “stone” for each day or each week of Lent. At dinner time or on Sunday, record the good deeds, small sacrifices, or prayer intentions offered by each member of the family. Smaller children could draw pictures to add to the list. Pray together at each “stone.”
Make time to go to Confession together: Our parish offers convenient times to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Plan a time to go together. First review an age- appropriate Examination of Conscience. See CatholicKids.net (https://www.teachingcatholickids.com/an-examination-of-conscience-for-the-whole-family/) for good versions. Even if children have not yet received the sacrament, they benefit from the experience of forgiveness and peacemaking within the family.

Traditional Lenten prayers, practices, and foods can be found in every Christian culture, and these rich traditions can be resources for our own observation of Lent. Watch this corner for ideas throughout the upcoming season as we prepare for Easter.