“Welcome Risen Jesus: Lent and Easter Reflections for Families” is Sarah Reinhard’s second book and follows the same easy-to-read format of her first book, “Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families.”
In the introduction, Sarah writes, “This booklet will help you and your family focus each day on the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.”
Like her first book, each day has a think, act, pray section, although this version also includes a paragraph entitled “Fast.” Each page lists a pertinent Scripture passage.
A few examples from the Act sections: “Do you have lunch money or some saved allowance? Give all or part of it to a food pantry or soup kitchen,” or “Wash the dishes or help with the cleanup as much as you can.”
The Fast sections include suggestions such as: “Give your dessert — or the favorite part of your snack — to someone else,” of “Don’t eat between meals today,” or “Do a chore you hate without mentioning you hate it or calling attention to the fact you’re doing it.”
This is a beautifully written and illustrated book. The fact that it is geared to both parents and children is what I love most about it. This offers parents and children a unique opportunity to grow together in faith during the Lenten season and takes only a few moments each day.
I look forward to using this booklet with my own family and I highly recommend it to all families who wish to grow in faith during this beautiful Lenten season.
Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach
Thanks so much for the review, Ellen! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book so much! 🙂
We’ve been doing Sarah’s booklet as a family, and I am really enjoying it. The girls gather at about 9 for “The Meeting” and my 4th grader reads the lesson. I love the changing penances (a new one each day). It lets you try on a penance that might be more than you could do all forty days, and lets you really see how hard it is to do something that seems so simple. (Big FAIL on not complaining today, on my part.) And then you get a fresh new start the next day, instead of feeling like Lent has just been blown on day three. Great book.