Why is this night different from all other nights? Because it's the first night of Passover, of course! Those who observe the holiday know that Passover is traditionally ushered in with a festive dinner called a Seder, a ritual that celebrates the freeing of the Jewish slaves from Ancient Egypt. The Seder involves wine
Kids Lent Calendar Coloring Page. 40 days of Lent.
Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family
What's the connection between Jesus and the Passover? Discover Jesus in the Passover as you experience elements of a Seder meal.
Easter holds great significance for Christians, just as the sacred traditions of Passover did for Jesus. Tailored for believers of all faiths, this Christian Seder guide provides everything you'll need to enrich your Easter celebration by immersing yourself in the beautiful traditions of the Hebrew Passover. Before we get into the different ways to bring Seder into your Easter celebration, here's a few tips to keep in mind as you prepare and plan for this sacred occasion.Let your guests know wha
I can’t even believe that today is the beginning of the Lenten season! 40 days to prepare our hearts for the risen King! The One who took all of our sins, redeemed our lives, and ushered us into the hope of glory! Man! Doesn’t that get you excited? I was praying recently for a way […]
This Good Friday Service was designed by Rev. Samual Lundquist. Prelude (No music, rain/storm sounds) Welcome + Instructions It is good that we are gathered here together on this Good Friday.Tradit…
Be encouraged by these wonderful "clues" of Christ in the Passover. #Easter
Immerse yourself in the festive atmosphere and warm congratulations; 51 Passover Coloring Pages are available to unleash your creativity. With this coloring page collection, you experience various coloring options and learn about the rich cultural backgrounds and national pride of countries worldwide.
Here's a look at the pious custom of red eggs in the Orthodox Church for you and your families to enjoy. Where did the tradition come from anyway? It seems there are a few possible answers to this question...of which I prefer to believe in the miracle that God worked through His handmaiden, Saint Mary Magdalene (whom by the way is often wrongly attributed as the prostitute who anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair - Here is an Orthodox Wiki for a well cited clarification). Other symbolism, not as dogma, but as tradition includes: *The egg as the new life in Christ through His resurrection *Red for the color of our Lord's blood shed on the cross but also for His divinity *The outer shell to be cracked as the doors of Hades are shattered open Since children enjoy decorating the eggs, why not encourage them to display their faith on them, as the picture shows! Be sure not to throw away any icons if you use them, but certainly include symbols like ~ icxc, fish, crosses, tree of life, the Trinity, 4 Greek Letters for Mother of God...etc Try creating a design on your eggs with with melted wax, then dip them to dye them red, and afterward, burn off the wax to reveal the design underneath. This is a wonderful craft for older kids to try. Ukranian Egg Kits are available online. The simple wooden tools for the wax are called "kistkas" LASTLY - remember, eggs and eggshells from the Church that have been blessed should not be thrown away! Please gather them to be burned with your holy items and ashes buried. This worksheet is available in PDF format here
Make this your best Passover yet with the ideas on this bucket list - free printable for the Bible holiday.
Be encouraged by these wonderful "clues" of Christ in the Passover. #Easter
Lent, the season of preparing your soul to be renewed in Christ's unconditional love, mercy and forgiveness. It's the 40 days prior to Easter Sunday that encourage us to transform our lives in radical ways to seek God and a desire to honor him with our whole lives. These are some ideas so you can spend the next few weeks preparing activities, crafts, meal plans and places in your home that honor traditions and will help your family reflect on the lessons of Lent. HomegrownCatholics.Etsy.com All the activities that require printing can be found on my Etsy shop in file including: Lent Journal Prompts & Activity Plans (12 pgs) Mini Lent Booklet (2pgs) Lent Calendar Poster (1pg) Prayer Bookmarks (1pg) Lent Worksheets (2pgs) Copywork Pages (2pgs) Examination of Conscience (1pg) Morning Offering (1pg) Almsgiving Jar Label (2pgs) Pray - Fast - Alms Cards (4pgs - 48 cards) Lent Tracking Calendar (1pg) 40 Day Jesus Tree Cards Bible Study (5pgs - 45 Cards) Jesus Images to Color or Craft (2pgs) Taste of Reconciliation Label and Gift Bag (2 pgs) Act of Contrition Posters (2pgs) Stations of the Cross Craft (2pgs) A LENT JOURNEY - Daily Devotional for families If you're looking for a family devotional for Lent, this post is full of inspirational prayers, copywork, activities and reflections. For ages 8-18. It can be kept private, or used as an educational activity for your homeschool or faith formation class during Lent. This is my most favorite family resource, created new for Lent 2019. THIS IS FREE to print out (CLICK HERE). Otherwise it is included in the PDF file on my Etsy shop. EVEN MORE HOLY WEEK & EASTER IDEAS {click on picture to go to post} MARDI GRAS Mardi Gras or Pancake Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday or Carnival…. is the day before the beginning of Lent. It's "The Feast Before The Fast." It's traditions are easily found online. Our family celebrates with a big pancake meal and crafts including masks, necklaces and glitter! If you have a King Cake, you might be hiding a little plastic baby inside to be found! ASH WEDNESDAY We begin Lent with Ash Wednesday. While it is not a holy day of obligation, it is good practice to use this day and week to begin reflection on dying to ourselves. I recommend taking your whole family to Ash Wednesday service. Everyone is welcome, even non-Catholics. Many people take pride in wearing their ashes throughout the day at work and outings, just like someone might wear their "I Voted" sticker, but in a manner of reminding others that we must die to ourselves (our worldly desires) if we want to be like Christ. Weeks prior to this day, remember to bring in your old blessed palms from last Palm Sunday. If you forgot, they can be buried, burned or cut apart to be disposed properly. HOLY WEEK IDEAS ARE HERE: Prioritizing Holy Week - Including Palm Sunday Craft, Holy Thursday meal, Good Friday activities. PRAYER - FASTING - ALMSGIVING Take advantage of this opportunity to include the whole family in bringing each other to the full potential Christ intends for them. Create a plan of action for the traditional acts during the 40 days of Lent. To help you out, I created these cards with 42 pages of ideas (incl in the file)! Keep Track of your good deeds with a Lent Calendar (incl in the file). SAMPLE REFLECTIONS of LENT IN YOUR HOME LENT PATH and LENT PLAN worksheets (click on image to print, incl in the file) The Lent Journey PDF FILE includes a children's booklet, a smaller version of these sheets to keep in tow. CREATE A JESUS TREE (included in the file for purchase) to reflect on 40 daily scripture readings. CREATE A PRAYER SPACE or HOME ALTAR for reflection. This may include a mini Stations of the Cross I created (included in the file for purchase). We simply cut and color the illustrations, then glued them to our popsicle stick crosses mounted in clay. You might add purple in several ways including cloths and ribbon. We often have a Crown of Thorns that is a vine wreath filled with toothpicks that are removed when good deeds are done or sacrifices are made. Make a Portable Kneeler as guided by Catholic Icing like we did! Make a Prayer Pail where you add written petitions. Have a collection of prayer books and cards, as well as rosaries. A WALL OF INTENTIONS I have this nice magnetic space where I can feature these foam magnets we made. It's the 5 Loaves and 2 Fish. The Fish remind us to pray for ourselves, our wants and needs. The Loaves remind us to pray for others: the suffering, the church and leaders, the poor, the military, and our community/friends/family. I think we've all seen the lovely ideas on Pinterest and Etsy for chalkboard intentions. Whatever you have available is always best! A HOLY HOUSEHOLD: I created some mini posters to hang around the house to inspire a Holy Household. Our favorite is the Soap=Repentence that is placed near our hand soap in the bathroom. Just click on the image to print for free! Inspirational and Prayer Posters are easy to find on Pinterest and would be valuable whether you tape them up or give them a frame. These are a few of my favorites! CREATE HANDS ON ACTIVITIES Our children really like their hands on Montessori Stations of the Cross inspired by Catholic Icing. Magnatiles + Calvary/Golgatha Design a Suncatcher Cross with black construction paper, contact paper and tissue paper squares. SACRIFICES "Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see God!" A sacrifice made during Lent requires giving up bad habits that keep us from leading holy lives. What sacrifice do you hope to make this season? Many Catholics are noted for giving up foods and basically going on a diet during lent. While that does teach self control, it seems out of context for this religious experience. Whatever you choose, it should be something that is keeping you from becoming a saint. Perhaps it may not be something you give up, rather something you need to start doing! Sacrifice develops a personal change that in turn people see God in you, rather than being boastful of our hardships. Dynamic Catholic is giving us free tools to have the "Best Lent Ever!" They are encouraging us to stop giving up chocolate and do something that is life-changing! Check it out here For young children, their general innocence can make this hard to understand. This is where it is easiest to focus on giving up material things in our life. Might I suggest Making a Sacrifice Bin. This is a box or bin that everyone in the family adds at least one item that is their favorite, that they would like to offer up for Lent. For adults, this may be a credit card. For children, it may be a favorite toy or game that is often focused on. For this modern day, giving up Minecraft or the Wii system might be in order. But remember to replace the time spent with that item with prayer. If you give up 15 minutes of Minecraft each week, that could be spent saying the rosary. If you give up watching a late night show, you can read a spiritual book or the Bible. Other families may choose to have a display for their sacrifices. You might have a 'Bean (being) Good Jar or Crown of Thorns. The concept is that you fill the jar with a bean each time to make a sacrifice. On Easter, those beans are replaced by Jelly Beans or a special treat. The Crown of Thorns is a wreath full of toothpicks that are removed for each sacrifice. On Easter, they can be replaced with flowers and be a wreath for your Easter Candle. Sacrifice Beads. These are a string of beads with a holy medal and crucifix on each end. Beads are moved while praying a decade of the rosary or when making a sacrifice. You can also find a child-level story in your Catholic Children's Treasure Box books. [Craft directions][Kits at Oriental Trading] Some things that are hard in life, we lovingly call "Our Crosses." These can be offerings to God in a penitential way. To show this to our children, we once had them carry a real wood cross. It got dirty and tattered, and it was never convenient or easy. This might be a daily thing, or on Sundays when we are more relaxed about the things we've given up for Lent. You can read about it at "The Crosses We Bear." On Easter we transformed the cross into a lovely Rosary Holder. It taught our children that God makes things new. That our crosses that may seem like burdens can make us the beautiful people we are meant to be. Many who are in love with St. Therese will enjoy making "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me." Luke 9:23 FASTING AND ABSTAINING Ash Wednesday and Good Friday during Lent are obligatory fasting days where you eat one larger modest meal and two smaller meals/snacks which do not include meat. All Fridays during Lent follow suit by allowing only fish (a symbol of Christ) to be eaten, no meat. Traditionally this is for ages 14-59, but it is a good practice for children to join in on. It teaches them a lesson in sacrifice and penance. It also makes the transition to adult faith practices easier. *Catholic.com: Why do Catholics fast and abstain during Lent? *USCCB: Fast & Abstinence Obligations *About Religion: Should Children Fast? So what should we eat? LENT MEAL PLAN If you're interested in meatless Friday ideas, or an entire 7 week menu for Lent, check out the link to our kitchen blog! Lent is certainly not an excuse to make a pit stop at a fast food restaurant for a fish sandwich, or a date night at Red Lobster. Friday should be a mindful change in the week, focusing on your meal prayer and quiet reflection on personal sacrifices you've made during the week. But in an effort to teach young children, you can make that prayer and reflection a group sharing moment. In our family, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in impromptu/spontaneous prayer in addition to our traditional meal prayers. GIVING ALMS It's also a time to drop your saved change in a Rice Bowl , volunteer at a local food bank, or food for the poor service such as Feed My Starving Children or Kids Against Hunger. You can make your own Offering Box from a simple milk carton or jar. There a many ways to give back to your church and community. This is the perfect time of year for Catholics/Christians to volunteer, as the rest of the world seems more mindful about doing this during Thanksgiving and Christmas. *BONUS* In the file you can purchase at the top of this post, is a coloring sheet you can wrap around a jar or container for your "LENTEN ALMSGIVING." Sample below! CONFESSION & REPENTENCE God forgives us on so many levels with second chances and even twenty-fourth chances! As a Catholic, this is more complex than just being sorry and being born again in Christ. It is a constant movement within our hearts, asking for forgiveness and expressing it outwardly by attending the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is VERY important that as a family you discuss what the Church teaches regarding making a confession. Consider using my First Reconciliation Activities to teach young children about being truly sorry. I include a fun sensory project called "A Taste of Confession" (tags incl in the file), a lap book, and other activities. God wipes away all our sins. You can show this with a science experiment or make a custom wipe off/dry erase board! "For those who are weary, lay your burdens down at the foot of the Cross. God will bear your burdens and give you strength." Lent Resources *Disclosure: All links are affiliated and purchases through these links give me a small payment for referrals. This helps me continue to make time to give you Catholic family resources on Homegrown Catholics blog and Facebook. Thank you for using these links to make your recommended purchases! Books About Faith and Life The Holy Bible Not of This World: A Catholic Guide to Minimalism by Sterling Jaquith The Seven Sorrows of Mary: A Meditative Guide by Joel Giallanza CSC Daily Devotionals Bringing Lent Home with [Mother Theresa]: Prayers, Activities, Reflections, and Activities for Families by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle Above All by Elizabeth Foss To The End by Blessed is She Walk in Her Sandals: Experiencing Christ’s Passion Through the Eyes of Women by Kelly Wahlquist Lent: One Day at a Time for Catholic Teens by McGrady Come Clean: A Teen Guide to Reconciliation by LifeTeen Examination of Conscience Guide [Children] [Grades 6-12] Coloring Lent The Mysteries of the Rosary: A Catholic Coloring Devotional by Drawn to Faith The Stations of the Cross: A Catholic Coloring Book Devotional by Drawn to Faith The Mysteries of the Rosary: An Adult Coloring Book by Daniel Mitsui Coloring Lent by Ridjet & Turri Passion and Easter Children's Scene by Catholic Icing Fiction The Well; The Thief; The Tomb (3 Book series) by Stephanie Landsem Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdam Online Holy Heroes: Lenten Adventure Ascension Press Best Lent Ever by Dynamic Catholic Living Lent Daily by Loyola Press Exodus 90: 90 day journey through asceticism for Catholic Men The Holy Bible Online Wee Believers: My Mass Kit PINTEREST: Lent and Holy Week Ideas!
Learn the differences between Passover and Easter. The Messiah was killed on Passover and resurrected on First Fruits, not at Easter.
Start a new Holy Week tradition with our Jerusalem Easter dinner! You'll learn the foods Jesus could have eaten during His last week on earth as you celebrate the Easter holiday with your family.
Celebrate a Christ-centered Passover meal with these meaningful and delicious ideas, from traditional Seder elements to modern recipes!
Did you know that as a Christian, Passover has a large significance in our faith? Here's how to celebrate Passover as a Christian.
The goal of the supplement is to create conversation around the seder table, connecting the symbols on the seder plate with current concerns in our country and our world. We hope this supplement will enable people to engage in meaningful and even challenging discussions as our families gather during this festival holiday. Forwarding the News...
Check out my 5 Ways to have a Meaningful Christian Passover with a Christian Seder. Not everything has to involve food, but who doesn't love to eat around the holidays! These are all simple recipes and ideas. I love to eat, celebrate and gather with family - but I'm not a huge fan of cooking. So everything I share is about as simple as it can get and still be deliciously homemade.Let's start with the seder food: • Maror– a bitter herb, symbolizing the bitterness of slavery. This is usually repre
A perfect lesson for drawing near to the end of Lent and celebration of Passiontide. This worksheet is based on the book "The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist" by Brant Pitre, and it walks the student through a more thorough understanding of Passover, the Last Supper as Passover, and Jesus as the Passover Lamb. It poses the mystery of the 4th cup of Passover, and leads students to the conclusion of Passover officially ending as Jesus died, as the Passover Lamb. This lesson concludes with a meditation on Mother Teresa and her desire to "quench" the thirst of Christ, as well as inviting students to imagine how they might quench the thirst of Christ. A step by step outline is included to guide the teacher in leading students through the worksheet.
