We observe Lent, and this year I wanted to do something to really mark the beginning of Lent with a visual that we made a point to use daily.
We’ve tried the “40 days of kindness” and other calendar-type activities, and we normally don’t end up sticking with actually using the sheets because ADHD. Times 5. As in, all 5 members of our houshold have ADHD. Our life can be… interesting when it comes to remembering things, lol
But I figured with something this visual and engaging, all of us will make a conscious effort to use it.
This is not my idea; I created my own version from what I saw on a website called Catholic Icing. Fortunately, the “grapevine wreath” I found was an off-white colour, so I didn’t need to do the extra work of tinting the toothpicks, and the colours matched. And I decided to forgo the purple spray paint for the plate, and just make a purple cross out of cadstock instead.
The Crown of Thorns is a reminder of self-sacrificial love, as is the rope. For the crown, you mindfully do good deeds, and as you do them, you remove a “thorn” (toothpick) from the crown and place it in the empty space in the middle. On Easter Sunday, we will turn the crown of thorns into a crown of flowers instead. I haven’t decided yet if we will craft flowers or simply purchase real ones.
The purple candle will be lit when we say our morning prayers. I made it by melting the leftover pillar candle from Advent.
The small container full of purple strips has reminders of what we would like to pray for. I used the toothpick container for it. there are extra strips on the little table for when we want to add more people/things to pray for.
The red book is a Liturgy of the Hours book that I borrowed from our parish; our Bible is too big for the display, and we will continue to keep it on our shelf when not in use.
Finally, the purple cross is a reminder of the three pillars of lent, as shown by the words.
Thank you for looking and a Blessed Lent for those observing. 