Our wonderful Year 2 children led the whole school – and members of our school community – in our Lent Liturgy.
We began in prayer:
We gather in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Loving and compassionate God,
Teach us to show love and mercy to each other.
As we begin our journey through Lent, inspire us to be generous and kind.
Through our joy, patience and kindness, may we help to build a better world
Amen
The children then reminded us of the meaning of Lent.
Lent is a time when we pray, do kind things for other people, give up things and give to others, as we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Easter.
For forty days, we accompany Jesus on his journey to Calvary and we see the mercy he shows towards others, despite his suffering. Just as God shows mercy towards us, like Jesus, we try to show mercy to others. This Lent, we are also making our journey alongside families around the world living in poverty, especially those who do not have the basic things they need like enough food or clean water.
We then heard a reading from the prophet Joel:
‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’ Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn. Turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent.
Joel 2:12-13
In this reading, the Lord calls us to return to him with sorrow for the ways we have failed to act as we ought to have done. And God is always merciful, not wishing to punish us but to love us. Joel says “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.” In other words, let your heart be opened; it’s not about how you look on the outside, it’s all about what your heart is doing inside. God is full of love and wants us to have hearts filled with love because we have experienced his mercy.
The reading also asks us to fast. Fasting is one way to let God love others through us. When we give up fast food, snacks or some other treat, we stand in solidarity with people living in poverty. It’s like saying, “I want to stand beside you in your hunger”. During Lent, CAFOD invites us to support those who do not have enough to eat. CAFOD can turn the money we raise into something amazing that helps people to feed their families. We then had a moment of silence to remember our sisters and brothers living in poverty.
During Lent, each class will be raising money to support CAFOD’s Walk against Hunger campaign. Money raised will go towards feeding people in the poorest countries across the world.
Each class shared how they are going to raise money this Lent. Ideas included giving up some of their lunchtime to spend extra time in prayer and doing a sponsored walk.
We aim, as a Trust to raise £10,000 for CAFOD during Lent.
We ended in prayer:
Loving God,
We think of our neighbours around the world who live in poverty.
May our gifts, prayers and actions this Lent support them as they work to improve the lives of their communities.
Together, may we build a better world where everyone has the basic things in life, like food and clean water.
Amen
