Lent is a sacred season of prayer, sacrifice, and renewal. For families, it’s an opportunity to grow in faith together through meaningful traditions and engaging activities. Below are ways to make Lent come alive for individuals, and families with children. Deepen your family's journey toward Easter.

Praying the Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross allow families to walk with Jesus through His Passion in a meaningful way. 

• Swipe & Pray – Short Way of the Cross (Franciscan Mission tradition)
• Way of the Cross at the Colosseum | Meditations by Pope Francis
• Way of the Cross at the Colosseum | Meditations by Pope Benedict XVI
• Way of the Cross at the Colosseum | Meditations by St. Pope John Paul IIBrother Francis - Stations of the Cross for children: Brother Francis: The Stations of the Cross - Stations of the Cross - FORMED
• Pray the Stations of the Cross with Hallow app on your phone
• Praying the Stations of the Cross at home
• For Teens & Children:
  • Stations of the Cross for Teens
  • Brother Francis: The Stations of the Cross (FORMED)

Family-Friendly Lenten Activities

Help children enter into the meaning of Lent through hands-on activities and traditions.

• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a family | Download Confession Card for Children
• Bury the ​Alleluia – A solemn way to say goodbye to a very joyous word until it is said again at Easter.
• Hang the Stations of the Cross in your home – Create a visual reminder of Jesus’ journey
• Try 79 Meatless Meal for Lent ideas 
• Create a Lenten Prayer Chain – Write prayer intentions or acts of kindness on strips of paper and link them together, adding a new one each day. Here's an example
• Start a Sacrifice Jar – Encourage children to place small tokens (beans, beads) in a jar each time they make a sacrifice. On Easter, replace them with treats to symbolize the joy of self-giving. Here's an example
• Follow a Children Lenten Calendar 2025 – Simple daily ideas of Lenten actions.
• Make a Lent Board - Display Lenten goals, sacrifices, and Scripture verses.
  Lenten Arts & Craft Ideas – Check out 40 Ideas for 40 Days for engaging activities that keep Lent meaningful.
• Engage in Daily Lenten Reflections – Set aside time each evening for a short Scripture reading and discussion.
• Pray the Rosary Together – Focus on the Sorrowful Mysteries during Lent.
• Celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph (March 19th)
  • ​Set up a simple St. Joseph’s Altar with candles, bread, and flowers, and share a special family meal.
  • Attend the Jubilee Year's Solemnity of St. Joseph Mass at the Cathedral with Bishop McGrattan on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 7 pm - where he will give the Apostolic Blessing. More info 

Lenten Series for Children

Formed.org offers a wealth of Catholic content suitable for children, especially during Holy Week and Easter. 

• Brother Francis Series
  • The Bread of Life: Celebrating the Eucharist: This episode provides an engaging depiction of the Last Supper, making it ideal for Holy Thursday. ​
  • The Stations of the Cross: Guides children through the Stations with thoughtful meditations, suitable for Good Friday viewing.
  • He Is Risen! The Power of the Resurrection: Celebrates Jesus's Resurrection, perfect for the Easter season.
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• The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello
  • O Lamb of God, I Love You: A special episode dedicated to Holy Week and Easter, featuring a shadow puppet show of the Passion. ​
    
    
• The Witnesses Trilogy
  • God with Us: An animated film covering the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ​
  • The Messengers: The Birth of the Early Church: Explores the beginnings of the Church following Christ's Ascension.​
  • To Every Nation: Depicts the missionary journeys of the apostles spreading the Gospel.

Lent is more than a season—it’s a journey of the heart, a call to renewal, and an invitation to draw closer to Christ. Whether through prayer, reflection, music, or storytelling, these resources can help you enter into Lent more fully. Let them guide, challenge, and inspire you to embrace this sacred time with depth and purpose.

Playlist for Sacred Music during Holy Week & Triduum

​Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum invite us to walk with Christ through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. From the solemn chants of Holy Thursday to the sorrowful strains of Good Friday, the silence of Holy Saturday, and the triumphant hymns of Easter Sunday, these selections capture the essence of this most holy time.​

• Play/Listen now

Lenten Video Series
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• Daily Lenten Video Series with Fr. Josh Johnson: Set Free
  The Daily Lenten Video Series with Fr. Josh Johnson helps you recognize the seven deadly sins, prepare for Lent with specific fasts, and grow in discipline. It also guides you in prayer and provides a step-by-step examination of conscience for a deeper confession experience.​
  
  
• Journey through Lent 2025 – Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
  Join Bishop Franken as he leads us through a meaningful Lenten journey in 2025. With reflections on Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday of Lent, Bishop Franken helps us embrace the season’s challenges and joys, guiding us closer to Christ.
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• How to Lent
  How to Lent is a new series from the Augustine Institute that aims to equip Catholics with the tools to understand and practice the pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Guided by Solenne Santiago and with the help of priests and religious, this series will challenge our preconceived notions about Lent, laying out a roadmap for entering the season with a purpose. Don’t let Lent sneak up on you like it did last year. Instead, heed the call of St. John the Baptist by preparing for the Lord, using How to Lent to transform your spiritual life this Lenten season.
  
  
• Triduum: A Spiritual Pilgrimage
  A beautiful, 30 minute contemplative documentary. This film cinematically walks through the locations of the Holy Week story, re-presenting the most important days of human history. Immersed in the real and sacred places of the Holy Land, the pilgrim faithful is brought tangibly nearer to the story, the landscape, and the reality of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
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• Lent – Formed Resources
  In this collection are resources to help the faithful deepen their understanding of various Lenten days, practices, and devotions. You can find resources on prayer, the mystery of Christ's Passion, the roots of Holy Week found in Judaism, and many things to help guide the faithful through the holiest days in our liturgical year—the Triduum.

 

​Shrove / Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras

• One of the great riches of the Catholic tradition is the way the year is marked with various days of feasting and fasting. One such feast day is Fat Tuesday (from French Mardi Gras), also called Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. On a practical note, it is a day to get rid of all the fats, meats, and desserts from your home before the Lenten fast begins. But on a spiritual note, Fat Tuesday is a day to rejoice in God’s abundance and generosity to us. So have an extra goody this Fat Tuesday, but when you do, give thanks to God for His goodness.
  
  

Ash Wednesday

• Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. It is a day of fasting and abstinence, reminding us of our need for repentance and our dependence on God. As we receive ashes on our foreheads, we are called to turn back to Him with open hearts.
  
  Fasting and Abstinence Requirements
  Catholics aged 18 to 59 are required to fast, meaning they may eat one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal, with no snacks in between. Catholics aged 14 and older must abstain from meat. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1434) teaches, fasting is an expression of interior penance, helping us detach from worldly comforts and rely more on God.
  
  

Laetare Sunday

• The Fourth Sunday of Lent, called Laetare (Rejoice) from the first word of the Entrance Chant (Isaiah 66:10). It is a day where the more rigorous lenten practices are temporarily lifted, since it marks being past the half-way point of the Lenten Journey; we are now closer to Easter than we are to the beginning of Lent. Priests may wear rose (pink) coloured vestments as a sign of increased solemnity and joy. Keen listeners will note that the prescribed Entrance Chant’s melody resembles the Easter Vigil’s Alleluia, musically prefiguring the Easter Joy that is now so near.
  
  

Palm Sunday

• The Sunday before Easter is celebrated in a particularly solemn way, typically with the blessing of palm branches, processions and special music. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem where He is hailed as the Son of David, the Messiah. While certainly a joyous occasion, the Gospel for this day, St. Mark’s Passion, reminds us that Jesus enters Jerusalem ultimately to die on the Cross.
  
  

Holy Week

• As its name suggests, this is the holiest week of the year. Throughout this week, we journey with Christ through the profound events of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. 
  
  

Paschal Triduum

• Holy Thursday marks the celebration of the Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist
• Good Friday marks the solemn remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion and death.
  Fasting and abstinence requirements on Good Friday: Catholics aged 18 to 59 are required to fast, meaning they may eat one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal, with no snacks in between. Catholics aged 14 and older must abstain from meat. 
• Holy Saturday is a somber, silent, and strange day when the order of the universe is turned upside down. God is dead. The earth is gripped by a deep silence. It is the only day of the year where the Eucharist is not distributed.  ​

Easter Sunday
Christ is Risen from the dead, glorify Him!

Eastern Sunday is the holiest day of the Christian year, the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the definitive centre of all of history. This day marks the victory of life over death and the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation. This day is the culmination of the Paschal Mystery, bringing joy and hope as Jesus Christ opens the way to eternal life.

Lent comes around yearly, but have you ever stopped to ask what it means and why it matters?

We are taking this opportunity to discuss the three pillars of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—and highlight the How to Lent  series from Formed.org. Through Scripture, each episode explores these disciplines, helping you approach Lent with greater intention and purpose.

Interested in growing spiritually this Lent both in knowledge and in practise? Watch this short video about DOCAT!

• Download the "DOCAT What to do?" app to study the Catholic Social Doctrine of the Church in a manageable way and put what you have learned into practise.  Get it from Google Play | App Store
• If you prefer to have a hard copy of the book instead, search DOCAT what to do? in the library or from your favorite bookstore.

Consider this... 

"‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’"
Matthew 22:36-40
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Love God and love others. Learn and live.

Watch this short video on the four facts about fasting by Chris Stefanick. 

Aside from fasting from food and abstinence from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the spirit of fasting goes beyond merely depriving ourselves of food. The act of fasting is an act of emptying ourselves in order to make more room for God in our lives. It is an act that tells us that we're okay even when we don't eat as much or when we do not snack at all as we focus our minds and hearts to the Lord.

Eating can often become a mindless activity that fills our boredom. Fasting reminds us that our core belongs to God and that we ought to be detached from whatever distracts us in order to be fully attached to God, to be grounded in Him.

As we fast and abstain from meat, we detach ourselves from our usual comforts and open our minds and hearts to the needs of others, especially to those who are suffering from the ravages of war. We unite our prayers in solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters as we turn our backs on our petty concerns. 

This is the spiritual workout which will help us to become saints... no longer focused on ourselves but on God and with the needs of those who are suffering.

Consider this... This sounds noble... "I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”" (Luke 18:12) but this was the line of the Pharisee who did the right thing but did not have the right heart. 

Let our fasting be one that will change the heart and the mind... may our fasting help to free us as we have been made to be free to honour and worship God.

In nature the desert is not lifeless. It’s filled with plants and animals which have adapted to the harsh conditions. These remarkable creations not only survive but thrive. I’m particularly struck by the coping strategies of plants. Here are some of those methods which might translate into spiritual strategies to survive our own desert times.
Vast root systems

Mesquite plants can have tap roots 80-100 feet long, reaching deep into the soil to find water. Cactuses have shallow but extensive root mats which extend far beyond their stems so that they can absorb every drop of rain when it falls.

By going deep and wide in our prayer life, we will be more likely to receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit. So when our daily Scripture reading becomes rote, keep reading. When our prayers become stale, keep praying. When we don’t feel the least bit holy, keep coming for the Eucharist. Staying accessible to God increases the likelihood that eventually we’ll feel his presence.

Small leaf surfaces
Cacti have leaves so narrow that they resemble spines. This is to reduce the loss of water to the environment.

When we’re hurting it’s OK to withdraw from the world. Well-meant comments can feel overwhelming so reduce contacts and commitments if you need to. But don’t isolate entirely. Keeping even a sporadic connection to our community or parish ensures the fraternity we may not even realize we need.

Liquid reserves
Succulents have evolved to store water in their leaves, stems and even in tubers underground.

In our driest times we might find hidden reserves in places we never expected. I discovered peace at silent retreats which I’d previously avoided. A woman I know found meaning in writing a book about her husband’s terminal illness.

Occasional exuberance
Ephemerals are short-lived desert plants which bloom and die in one season leaving hardy seeds which can lie dormant for years until it rains again.

Even in the midst of sadness, there can be moments of surprising joy. I can recall a milestone birthday, filled with light-hearted teasing, shortly after my sister died. I was glad to be alive that day but so sad afterwards that my twin couldn’t celebrate her milestone too. Nevertheless, the memory of having been happy gave me hope that I could feel that way again.

Desert times are difficult and nobody chooses them willingly. But if they come we need not fear them. We can trust God to help us survive until we experience the joy He has in store for us, beyond the desert.

The upcoming season of Lent mirrors the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. Traditionally this is a time of sacrifice and increased prayer. It is an opportunity to feel some discomfort in solidarity with Jesus who spent his desert time with no sustenance and being harassed by the devil. Most of us will not feel that level of deprivation at Lent but we can remember and pray for those who do.