Lent and Easter in the Primary School at Sacred Heart  2010

We want to share with you what we do in the Lower School during the holy season of Lent.  All students make a Lenten promise, written on a paper caterpillar.  The caterpillar patiently waits inside a paper bag cocoon and hangs on a bare tree in the chapel or on the bulletin board outside the religion room.  Our promises help us prepare our hearts for Easter, and remind us that we try to transform our lives to be the loving, promise-keeping people God calls us to be.  When returning from the Easter break, we transform our caterpillars into butterflies, as a symbol of the new life we are all promised by the resurrection of our Lord.  We remember that God always keeps his promises!  The first grade students receive a Lenten calendar to follow.

The church asks us to help the needy during Lent.  In the Lower School, we help children around the world through the Holy Childhood Association.  Children generously fill Lenten “wallets” with coins that go to needy children.  The third and fourth grade students enter a toy-making contest held throughout the Archdiocese, helping raise awareness that all children are special and loved by God. 

We practice silent meditation and prayer.  We encourage the children and teachers to use quiet time to pray and open their hearts to God's presence.  We call this practice "Silence," french for silence.

As doing penance is always a part of Lent, we are pleased to be able to offer an opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation to our third and fourth graders.  Four area priests join us for this healing sacrament which takes place in the Rosary Chapel.

As often as possible, we try to make the Gospel stories come to life by having students act out the gospel in our morning assembly.   During Lent, students dramatize some of the gospels stories such as Jesus Meeting the Woman at the Well, and the Transfiguration story.  The children tell us how excited they are when they go mass and hear the same gospel story they saw or heard at school.

In observation of St. Joseph’s feast day, we do a “Tupa, Tupa” (‘knock, knock’) , a dramatization of the night St. Joseph knocked on doors looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem.  This is a traditional ritual often used to open a St. Joseph’s altar. 

We look forward every year to two special events during Holy Week.  As part of our Holy Week Chapel in the Nims, we re-enact the Last Supper and the washing of the apostles’ feet by Jesus.  We also act out the Way of the Cross, led by the fourth grade playing the parts.  We exit the prayer services with silent veneration of the cross by each child. 

We celebrate the fifty days of Easter with our new life tree filled with beautiful butterflies.  We joyfully resurrect the "Alleluia" in song and prayer.  We read and act out the resurrection stories and celebrate Pentecost and the Ascension.  Easter is a joyful and happy time in our Church.