Holy Week Resources for Families

For so many of us, Lent is a time of prayer, sacrifice, and almsgiving. Going into this Lent, none of us ever imagined that we would be sacrificing so much, especially when it comes to our faith and the practice of it. Last Sunday, as we virtually took part in mass, I was overcome with emotion. All the times I huffed and puffed about going to mass - it was all I wanted to be able to do last Sunday. How often have we taken for granted being able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist? How often have we taken for granted the sign of peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ? How often have we taken for granted the community, the body of Christ that we make up?

The next week will prove to be a Holy Week like none other we have ever imagined, and I for one plan on working hard to make sure my family remembers it is Holy Week. Like never before, we have the time for Christ. Let's use it and find a way to reconnect ourselves to the Church.And when we are all able to return to mass, let us not take that privilege for granted.

Today is Palm Sunday, and Archbishop Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami has asked us to place palm fronds on our doors in order to help us be connected as we enter into the Holiest of Weeks. He said, "We may be physically isolated, but not separated. We are united as the body of Christ." So we hung a palm frond on our door this morning. 

If you would like to watch mass live-streamed, there are SO MANY parishes doing so. You can find a list here of which churches, what times, etc. (I may be partial, but this is my brother.)

But I also would like to extend Holy Week into all our activities this week, and continue to teach Caleb about our faith in the weeks that he is home with us. I've gathered up a few resources - many of which were sent to me by some of you, and I'm putting them all together below. Let me know if you use any of them and how you like them! As always, if you find something you think I could add to this, please let me know!

• Shining Light Dolls has a free Holy Week Printable set you can download and color with your kiddos. There are also some handwriting practice sheets. 
• Catholic Family Crate has a free Holy Week at Home kit. You can download it and it includes all kinds of activities, including prayers, helpful links, and beautiful coloring pages for the kids. This is a very comprehensive Holy Week kit. 
• Tiny Saints has a couple of shorter activities and printables, including an activity you can do with your kids to make their own crosses based on today's gospel. 
• Catholic All Year also has some great ideas and printable activities to do during this week and beyond. 
• Sadlier has some downloadable materials as well. They made most of the religion books we used during class while I was a student!

I hope that this helps some of you to continue to observe Holy Week in the days to come. 

xoxo, 

Jenise