Students around the archdiocese began their Lenten season — a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — beginning on Ash Wednesday, this year on Feb. 22, and ending at sundown on Holy Thursday, April 6. It is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
During Lent, Catholics seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; serving by giving alms; and practicing self-control through fasting. Archdiocese of Newark Catholic school students are learning about the meaning of Lent and reflecting on the sacrifices of Christ as they prepare to celebrate Easter.
As the fourth week of Lent approaches, here’s a highlight reel of how our Catholic school students, staff, and families have been celebrating this season of somber reflection and giving.
Students at the Academy of Saint Paul in Ramsey celebrated a school-wide Mass to kick off the Lenten season during the first week of March.Upper school students at the Our Lady of Czestochowa School in Jersey City created beautiful visual displays that portray the lessons, prayers, and sacrifices devout Catholics are called to reflect on during the Lenten season.Students in the Bible Study Club at Mother Seton Regional High School in Clark created wooden crosses decorated with Lenten promises at the beginning of Lent.At Church of the Little Flower in Berkeley Heights, religious formation families gathered to learn more about Lent. Fathers JC Merino and Matthew Dooley discussed how Lent is meant to be a pilgrimage of the whole family and the faith community. The families then decorated and created a Lenten family prayer journal that they will keep until Easter.Students at the Academy of our Lady of Grace in Fairview prepare to celebrate Lent by decorating paper crosses that will be displayed around the classroom up until Easter.In continuing with their Lenten Promises and Reflections, students in grades 6th through 8th at Saint Thomas the Apostle School in Bloomfield attend Confession during the school day.Holy Trinity School in Westfield hosted its monthly school-wide Mass during Lent. Father Anthony Randazzo, Pastor at Holy Trinity Church, shows the cross 8th-grade students created for him. All grades were tasked with selecting one word from this beautiful work of art to keep in their hearts for the rest of Lent.
Featured image: Fifth-grade students at Holy Trinity School in Westfield hosted the monthly school-wide Mass in March, celebrating the beginning of the Lenten season with Father Anthony Randazzo.
