Preparing for Lent/40 Days Part 2

The 40 days are measured differently depending on who you talk to. In our family, we will begin our celebration of Lent on Wednesday, Feb 22, and continue Monday through Saturday each week until Easter. We don't over-indulge on Sundays, but we do relax our sacrifices. This numbering gives us 40 days but of course you're welcome to use the resources I've written on different days to adjust them to the numbering your family chooses. My friend made a chart for her family which begins on Ash Wednesday and includes Sundays for a total of 46 days.
I've chosen themes for each week. Within those themes I will post a Scripture and a meditation for each day and a heart outline which can be copied and printed for each member of the family.


Wk 1 (Feb 22-25): Fasting and Sacrifice

• Why do we choose to fast and make sacrifices
• What might be good sacrifices for each of us to make

Wk 2: Repentance and Psalm 51

• Sin damaging our relationship with God
• Our need for the Lord to restore the relationship

Wk 3: Forgiveness

• The purpose of Christ's Passion and death and resurrection
• God's mercy

Wk 4: Prayer

• Strengthening our relationship with the Lord
• Loving Him and receiving His love, His mercy, and His help

Wk 5: Desert

• Relating the physical desert with life without God
• Removing distractions so we can focus on what's important

Wk 6: Love

• Sacrifices are empty without love
• God's love for us is unimaginably abundant

Wk 7: Jesus' Passion and Death and Resurrection

• Giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to open our eyes and touch our hearts as we retell the story each year
• Recognizing what we learned over the course of these 40 days and the ways in which God helped us through the challenges we have faced

Using themes to focus our celebration of Lent Works for Me!