ONE SMALL THING

During lent we put up a bare grapevine.


Each day as the children see someone doing some good deed they put up a leaf. The idea is to look outside themselves and focus on the good in others; the small things that people do that really do make a difference. The last two weeks of lent are for adding grapes (big sacrifices we make). Then on Holy Thursday we add all kinds of insects, butterflies and caterpillars are great favorites. Finally after the Easter Vigil the children come home to find the centre of the mural torn to reveal a picture of the Risen Christ with usually a family gift to us all to share(eg big block of chocolate) This is last years mural

Our Station Cross

During Lent we are trying to add to what we do. We want the children to focus on what they are doing rather than thinking about what is not happening. I like what my friend Anna’s mother says in her beautiful Italian accent” It’s not what goes into the mouth that we should worry about but what comes out of it!”


One thing that we can bring out of our mouth while we are laying them up in our hearts is prayer. Every evening since Ash Wednesday we have lit our purple tea-light cross. Each night we light one candle less.


There are forty candles in all. By Good Friday we are hoping this will be a very visual memory for us all of a world without the Christ light in it. When we have lit all the candles for that night we pray one station and one sorrowful mystery of the rosary. Then we snuff out all the candles and leave our prayer space quietly.