Ash Wednesday Religion Lesson

Free Religion Lesson from Our Holy Faith, Book 1 Teacher’s Manual

Objectives

• To develop a knowledge of the meaning of Lent and to lead the pupils to a proper observance of this holy season.
• To foster an appreciation of Christ’s Love.

Suggested Procedure

A. Approach

Do you know what a sacrifice is? It’s an offering to someone of an act that we do not like to do. In that act we usually give up something we like or we do some little thing that we find hard to do. The Church has a special season during which we will have many chances to perform these sacrifices.

B. Presentation

The Meaning of Lent

You know that Jesus became man to die for our sins and win heaven for us. He loved us dearly, even suffering great torments for us and dying on the cross to show us His love. During the time of Lent, which is that special season, we try to join our sufferings with Christ. We make little sacrifices of our own in order to become more like Him. We want to rejoice with Him and all the angels and saints on Easter, the day of His resurrection. The best way to get ready for that wonderful feast is by making a good Len.

The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. That is the day the priest puts ashes on our foreheads and reminds us that some day we must die. He reminds us of death, because we are supposed to use our life in order to get ready for death. When we die, we will meet Jesus, who with either welcome us into His heavenly Father’s home or will send us away to hell. The priest gets these ashes by burning the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday.

We Can Do Something During Lent

We, too, can do something special during Lent. We want to go to heaven, so we must learn to do things that are hard, for love Jesus. We can become more pleasing to God if we can say extra prayers, give up something we like, do something we do not like to do, obey quickly and willingly, say our prayers.

Can you tell what we could practice during Lent?

Guide the children in selecting an appropriate Lenten practice. Lead them toward making the sacrifice a secret with Jesus. Each morning during the religion lesson encourage the children to have a secret talk with Jesus telling Him about the Lenten practice they decided on and how it’s progressing.

Organization:

• What does the season of Lent mean for us?
• What takes place on Ash Wednesday?
• Where does the priest get the ashes?
• Explain the meaning of the words the priest uses when he blesses us with the ashes.
• What are some of the things we can do during Lent?

Virtues and Practices

• Make Lenten sacrifices in reparation for our sins.
• Do little hard things just because you love Jesus.
• Be mission-minded during Lent.

Suggested Learning Activities

• Discuss sacrifices which could be made during Lent
• Compose one-sentence prayers telling Jesus what we want to do for Him during Lent
• Ejaculation: “We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.” (Racolta, 197)

Teacher References

• S.N.D., Religious Teaching of Young Children, pp. 138-139
• Sister Marguerite, Their Hearts Are His Garden, pp. 142-143