40 Days of Lent Prayer Ideas
Lenten Prayer: Catholics are called to pray always.
Prayer-a conversation with God-can take many forms, both personal and communal. Lent is a great time to rededicate yourself and your family to daily prayer. Parents can lead with prayer and thereby guide their children, incorporating forms of prayer and opportunites to pray throughtout the day.
Creating a Family Prayer Jar
Depending on the size of your family, divide the 40 days by the number of people in your family. Each family member will be responsible for writing a prayer request on a slip of paper that will be added to a prayer jar. You can decorate the prayer jar as a family Lenten art project. Each night of Lent, you will remove one slip, and the family will join together in prayer. The prayers should not be self serving. An example of the type of prayer would be for a sick member of your parish, the well-being of your minister/priest, world peace, and various large and small prayers.
Make a Prayer Wreath
Materials Required: construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers
Directions: Cut a large circle out of the paper and a smaller one from the center to create a wreath. Then, cut out colorful paper strips. Each time someone in the family offers a prayer, write it on the strip and stick it on the wreath. By the end of Lent, you’ll have created a beautiful memory of all the prayers offered during this special time.
The Rosary
The Rosary is a Scripture-based prayer. Praying the Rosary creates a peaceful rhythm of prayer in which traditional prayers, representated by beads on the Rosary, are prayed and repeated. As the Rosary is prayed, we reflect on the events in the life of Mary and Jesus Christ, organized into Mysteries of the Rosary. There are four sets of Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous. In Lent, Catholics often focus on the Sorrowful Mysteries, which include the agony in the garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the crucifixion. Pray the Rosary together as a family as you reflect on these Sorrowful Mysteries.
Stations of the Cross
This popular devotional Lenten practice commemorates Jesus’ passion and death on the cross. Though this practice began as a pilgrimage, it is now offered in most churches and can be prayed by individuals. It includes fourteen stations that recall or depict events along Jesus’ journey to Calvary often through art, prayer, meditations, and Scripture. Pray the Stations of the Cross during the Lenten season as a family, at your parish church, or at home.