Great Lent and our Children.


(Copied from https://st-takla.org/Gallery/Jesus-Christ/34-Temptation-of-Christ/Damiana-Monast-ry-icon-Trial-2.html) 

Great Lent and our Children. 

Many are asking: what we as parents should do in order to train our children to fast? To answer this question, I would question firstly: 

What is Fasting? 

Fasting is the re-adjustment process where we can return back to being closer to God. How? 

First, our children should know the aim behind fasting, not the how? the "how" will come later. But why do we fast comes first?

Few answers are here, 

1- We return to paradise when God was with Adam and Eve in the Garden filled with fasting food "fruits of the trees". So we return back to paradise. 

2- I am re-organizing my mind to echo the word "NO" Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4. So I am training my brain to say "No" to the wrongdoings. By saying no to some food, I am gaining control over decisions in my life. 

3- All the Coptic Orthodox Church is fasting at the same time, from the very tiny village in Upper Egypt or Sudan to the richest part in the world. We all are doing the same thing at the same time. So we share with the same spirit of prayer and fasting. 

4- I am composed of body and soul, body is easting and also soul should be eating. The fast is a great chance to give my soul a good meal. 

5- Less focus on the kinds of food, makes more space in my mind to focus on something else; it is a good opportunity to make a list of additional practices to my daily routine which can make this focus shift. 

6- Our Lord fasted for us, shouldn't we fast?

7- Our Lord said "And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting" Mark 9:29 So in order to conquer the kingdom of darkness we should follow the recipe, which Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to do it. 

8- We share with other people on this universe their agony of hunger and thursts. Lent and other fasts are directing me to think about humanity and how they live? at the same very moment, I am here living a luxurious life. 


Suggested list to shift focus and get a good meal for the soul 

1- Maintaining our family altar. The family will be gathered to pray and read the Word of God. We can start gradually. The family can start with the absolution of the prayers and repeat the same one over and over till they learn it by heart, also they can choose from the Church reading: Prophecies about wisdom, psalms or The  PaulineEpistle, etc. 

2- Time for spiritual discussion, Sermon on the Mount is a very good place to start since the Church includes it in the first weeks of the Great Lent. Because it was part of the education of the Catechumens who were gathered during the Great Lent to learn in the fourth and fifth centuries. 

3- The home environment should change, members are serving one another, no idle talk, listening to the hymns of the Great Lent, listening to sermons with focus, parents, and children are practicing confession together, praying the psalies of the Great Lent especially the one on the third ode. Less time on screens, less time on unprofitable discussions. 

4- Attending Evening Raising of Incense on Saturdays, Mid Night Psalmody and Bible Study. 

5- The children must see the practicing of Christian life at home, this will help them to link it to the fast, else will be a changing of food diet. 

6- It is also the time of service, each member should serve at home. 

7- Read a spiritual book, the family might consider reading it together, a good start would be the Life of Repentance and Purity by Pope Shenouda. The Pilgrimage of Egeria transfers us back to the Late Fourth Century to live the Great Lent with our Early Church. "Putting Joy Into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church" also has many practical ways to live during Great Lent. 

8- Praying the Lord's Prayer, repeating it slowly. The lord's Prayer used to be part of the curriculum to educate the Catechumens. Also reading commentary about it is very beneficial in order to understand every single petition correctly. 

9- Jesus Prayer during the day " Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of  God, have mercy on me" or for short "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me", you can add more petition to this one, i.e. Lord Jesus Christ preserve me" etc. the series of Fr. Lazarus Alantony is profound https://youtu.be/ccAaMhSW_PY 

10- Listening to sermons with focus: http://orthodoxsermons.org/ , https://upperroommedia.org/ 

Resources:

Psalies of the Great Lent:

https://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/cat/82

Church Reading

https://suscopts.org/readings/

Doxologies for the Lent

https://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/cat/71

The Pilgrimage of Egeria 

https://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm

https://litpress.org/Products/GetSample/8421/9780814684214 


Proposal for a simple system ( You can choose or create your own) 

In the morning 

1- Pslam from the first hour and the absolution, repeat it till it is learned by heart, then you can shift to another psalm from the following hour and another absolution. 

2- Do a Metaniya "bending our knees before God" for our salvation. or for other groups of people whom we forget. St. Cyril/ St. Mark Liturgy has a long list of these groups of people. https://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/cat/210 , Also the Mid Night Absolution for the Priests has a longer list of these people too, https://st-takla.org/Prayers-Slawat/Pray-Archive-11-20/Coptic-Prayer-15-Absolution-of-the-Priests.html 

At evening 

1- Psalm from the late hours (11th or 12th Hours) 

2- Read one of the prophecies of the day ( Monday through Friday) or any Church Reading, create a discussion group in the family, even for 5 minutes. 

3- Another suggestion Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7)  in the entire Lent, every day you read part then continuing in the next day. Why sermon on the mount? it is part of the curriculum which the Church put in the Great Lent from the fourth and fifth centuries. as Lent was the period of the preparation of the candidates of the baptism "Catechumens".  

4-Contemplation with Pope Tawadross during the Great Lent, HH is studying the Second Letter of St. Paul to Corinth during the Great Lent.  Arabic speakers can listen here https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AD_%D8%B9%D8%B8%D9%8A%D9%85 




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