5 WAYS TO REKINDLE HOPE THIS LENT

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1 March 2015 St. Margaret Mary Religious Education News & Views Lent is just plain difficult to explain to young children. The focus on Jesus suffering and death as we walk the Stations of the Cross, going into the desert of our lives, abstinence and fasting, the cross of ashes placed on our foreheads these are not easy concepts for us adults to wrap our heads around. So how can we make Lent meaningful for our kids? The answer is this: Lent is really a season of hope. So teach your kids to hope hope for a better world that they can help to make possible. Remind them that, while there is no life free of pain, God is always with us. He is beside us when trouble comes. He loves us, he pardons our sins, he hears our prayers and he brings us to eternal life - so many reasons to hope. 5 WAYS TO REKINDLE HOPE THIS LENT 1. NOTICE THE TIME OF SUNRISE AND SUNSET. The days are getting longer, and with each additional minute of daylight, summer draws closer with its warm days and nights. 2. AS A FAMILY, TALK ABOUT YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. What are some family events on the horizon? Who might be getting married or having a baby? How do these moments bring us hope? 3. LISTEN. At Mass on Sunday, listen carefully for words of hope in the readings. (Hint: this month, Jesus calls us to plant seeds of faith and reminds us that he is the light of the world.) 4. CULTIVATE GRATITUDE IN YOUR HOME. In the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt, Comparison is the thief of joy. Gratitude is the opposite of envy it helps us feel content with our possessions and our life s circumstances. Each morning and night, give thanks to God for the gifts he has given you. 5. GIVE. Sharing our time whether with a local food pantry, an elderly neighbor or anyone whose circumstances put them at risk helps us feel like we are a part of helping improve the future for people. When we live out the teachings of Christ, we experience the light of hope ourselves and we share that light with others. From Take Out; Family Faith on the Go March, 2015

2 March Sunday Gospel Snippets a Kid Can Understand March 1, 2015 Mark 9:2-10 Second Sunday of Lent Today s reading from Mark tells the story of the disciples, Peter, James and John, on a mountain with Jesus when he is transfigured (changed) in a magnificent way. His clothes become dazzling white, and the Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah, appear with Jesus. The voice of God is heard: This is my beloved Son. Listen to him. March 8, 2015 John 2:13-25 Third Sunday of Lent In Jerusalem, after Jesus drove the money-changers from the Temple area, the people asked Jesus by what authority he did so. He told the people, Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up. But he was not talking about the Temple building, but the Temple of his body. His disciples did not realize this until after he was raised from the dead. March 15, 2015 John 3:14-21 Fourth Sunday of Lent Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus who wants to believe that Jesus is the Messiah promised by God, but he isn t sure. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he will bring the world the gift of eternal life. Jesus says he is like a light for the world, a light that will help people see God s love. March 22, 2015 John 12:20-33 Fifth Sunday of Lent Think about what happens to seeds planted in the ground, warmed by the sun and watered by the rain. In today s Gospel, Jesus tells Philip and Andrew that he will suffer and die. But just like the seed that changes into a beautiful flower, Jesus will overcome death. And because we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and we try to follow his teachings, we will overcome death, too. March 29, 2015 Mark 11:1-10 and Mark 14:1 15:47 Palm Sunday One reason Palm Sunday is special is because we hear two Gospel readings. We begin the liturgy with the blessing of the palms, hearing the Gospel story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, being greeted enthusiastically by the people as they waved their palm branches a sign that they saw him as someone very special. In the second Gospel reading we hear the events of Holy Week the Last Supper, Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal by Judas, his trial, his suffering and his death. MARCH SAINTS & ALMOST SAINTS St. Katharine Drexel ( ) Katharine was young, educated and the heiress to a banking fortune when she met Pope Leo XIII. She asked him why he didn t send more missionaries to the Western states of America. He asked her why she didn t become a missionary herself. She took him seriously, founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work among Native Americans and people of color. She founded 90 missions and numerous schools, including Xavier University in Louisiana, the first predominantly black Catholic college in the United States. Her Feast Day is March 3rd. St. Patrick was actually born in Scotland somewhere around 385 AD. At the time, Ireland was inhabited by tribes of Druids and pagans. When he was about 14, one of these tribes raided Patrick s village, captured him and took him to Ireland where he was enslaved as a sheep herder. But Patrick already had a deep faith in God and prayed constantly. After having a dream in which God told him to leave Ireland, he was able to escape from his captors and returned to Scotland. There he became a priest and then a Bishop. He returned to Ireland on a mission to convert the pagans to Christianity. For 40 years he lived in poverty while preaching, performing miracles in the name of Jesus, building churches, and writing extensively of his love for God. He used the shamrock as a means of teaching people about the Holy Trinity. His Feast Day is, of course, March 17th. While St. Patrick is near and dear to the Irish, St. Joseph is the favorite of Italians. This is because in the middle ages, a severe drought overtook Sicily and southern Italy. The people prayed to Joseph, who was their Patron Saint, for rain. The rain came and they were spared a terrible famine. Huge feasts were organized in honor of St. Joseph to give thanks for the abundance of food. Still today, many churches have a St. Joseph s Table on March 19th (his Feast Day). The meal is meatless to remind people of the famine, but usually offers many sweets, a reminder of abundance. Those who attend a St. Joseph s Table are expected to bring food and monetary donations for the poor. Henriette DeLille ( ) is the first native-born American Creole whose cause for canonization has been accepted (meaning she s an almost-saint ). Henriette wanted to join either the Ursuline or Carmelite Sisters, but because she was the daughter of a mixed-race couple, she was refused. So she founded the Catholic Order of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans for free women of color. She and her sisters operated an orphanage, worked in nursing and with the elderly, and even taught at a time when providing an education for people of various ethnic backgrounds could be punished by prison or even death. She was declared Venerable (a step on the path to Saint-hood) by Pope Benedict on March 27, 2010.

3 MEDIA MADNESS CULTURE & TRENDS MOVIE MUSIC Title: Cinderella Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family Rating: PG (mild thematic elements) Cast: Lily James, Hayley Atwell, Helena Bonham Carter Synopsis: The classic fairy tale gets a live-action retelling from director Kenneth Branagh. After her parents die, young Ella is at the mercy of a cruel stepfamily until she meets her prince. Throughout various challenges, Cinderella determines to honor her mother by being kind and brave. Our Take: Children of all ages will enjoy this new version of a favorite story. Use the movie to spark discussions about family relationships, maintaining hope, being kind to people who aren t kind to us, and showing courage amid difficulties. Title: Saints and Sinners Artist: Matt Maher Synopsis: Maher is a 40-year-old contemporary Christian singer, songwriter, and worship leader. At World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil, he performed for a crowd of 4 million people. Saints and Sinners, Maher s eighth studio album, releases on March 17, St. Patrick s Day. Our Take: Maher says his new songs were influenced by quotes, hymns, and stories of godly people throughout history. But he also explores how God can call you and I both saints and yet we are still very much tethered to the ground in our humanity. The new album s first single, Because He Lives (Amen), uses simple, straightforward lyrics to express the joy of Easter. Games, Sites & Apps Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Players guide fanfavorite Kirby through a Claymation world by drawing rainbow ropes for him. Waddle Dee allies provide backup, allowing players to collect lots of items and stars. This Wii U game is a sequel to Kirby: Canvas Curse on DS. OLogy GeckoLife When kids visit amnh.org/explore/ology, sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, they can explore various branches of science, from anthropology to zoology. Users receive immediate feedback on quizzes. Best for ages 8 to 10. Billed as a safe social app for the whole family, this lets you create shared spaces for updates, memories, and interaction. Parents can control what kids share and who they hear from. The free app, which was recently updated, has no minimum age in its user agreement. This page is designed to help educate parents and isn t meant to endorse any movie, music, or product. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions about what your children watch, read, listen to, and play. Social Media 101 Proper online behavior is now a topic in some schools. Jay Donaldson, who teaches social-media know-how to 4th through 6th graders in Canada, says although many preteens now have cell phones, they re rarely educated on how to use them safely. Co-Parent Shopping Websites are multiplying to help people coparent with a platonic partner. At sites like Co-ParentMatch.com, people desiring children can set up various arrangements. Critics accuse such sites of encouraging adults to time-share a child. QUICK STATS Keeping Up In a survey of more than 3,500 parents, 78 percent admit they ve felt the need to outdo other parents when it comes to their kids. The average amount parents say they ll spend per month to ensure their kids have more than their peers is $532. (couponcodespro.com) Take a Stand Kids who use standing workstations at school burn 15 percent more calories than kids who sit at traditional desks. For obese children, that figure jumps to 25 percent. Health officials say prolonged sitting increases people s health risks, even if they exercise regularly. (Texas A&M; Annals of Internal Medicine)

4 March SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 Blessing Rite #3; 9 & 10:45 am Masses Welcome the Children, 7 pm 8 Daylight Saving Time Begins Retreat; 10:30 am 12:40 pm 9 10 Bread Service Option 1; 7 pm 11 Bread Service Option 2; 7 pm First Day of Spring 21 the Cross; 9:30 am the Cross; 3:45pm 24 the Cross; 3:45 & 5 pm 25 the Cross; 3:45 & 5 pm Palm Sunday April 1 April 2 Holy Thursday Good Friday April 3 April 4 Holy Saturday

5 February 2, 2015 A Thank You from OPERATION SMILE Dear St. Margaret Mary Church: Thank you for your much needed gift of $ It is because of generous friends like you that Operation Smile is able to travel to remote locations around the world providing free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to children who would otherwise be destined to live lives of heartbreak and shame. Instead, their lives are full of promise and endless possibility. As you know, we reluctantly turn away thousands of children every year for lack of time, resources and funds. Each of these little ones comes to us with a dream that they will receive a free surgery that will change their life. It is heartbreaking to see their faces when that dream is shattered. That is why Kathy and I are extremely grateful for generous partners like you who, through much-needed donations, allow us to return to medical mission sites to give these kids a second chance. Please visit our website, to see how your donations help change lives. Your support is needed now more than ever. We have set ambitious goals for the upcoming year with an increased number of missions, more international physician training and more comprehensive care centers being built to provide surgeries to children year round. St. Margaret Mary, on behalf of the Operation Smile family, we want to thank you for your support. Sincerely, William P. Magee, Jr., D.D.S., M.D. Co-founder and Executive Chairman Kathleen S. Magee, M.Ed., M.S.W. Co-founder and President Welcome the Children: An evening of music and food with the Pequeños Dance Group from Guatemala. Sunday, March 1, 7 pm, Parish Center NPH USA (formerly Friends of the Orphans) transforms the lives of abandoned and disadvantaged children in Latin America and the Caribbean by supporting the group homes, healthcare and educational programs of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (Spanish for Our Little Brothers and Sisters ). NPH creates families for life and teaches children the values of unconditional love, shared responsibility and helping others. Donors help children overcome poverty and become leaders in their own communities. Since its founding in 1954, NPH has assisted more than 18,000 children and is currently raising more than 3,200 boys and girls in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru. An additional 1,900 students who live outside the group homes receive scholarships, meals and health care. Outreach programs serve more than 100,000 people each year. Children in NPH homes called pequeños are not available for adoption. Instead they are welcomed with their brothers and sisters and become a part of the larger NPH family. Many have suffered physical and/or verbal abuse, lived in horrible conditions, been separated and shuffled from place to place. Like all children, they are seeking love and security, a place they can call home. Bring the whole family to meet these remarkable young people and learn more about the ministry of NPH, No RSVP is necessary. Charity and Diversity Challenge Diverse in culture, nation, race, we come together by your grace. God, let us be a meeting ground where hope and healing love are found. God, let us be a bridge of care connecting people everywhere. Help us confront all fear and hate and lust for powers that separate. When chasms widen, storms arise, O Holy Spirit, make us wise. Let our resolve like steel be strong to stand with those who suffer wrong. God, let us be a table spread with gifts of love and broken bread, where all find welcome, grace attends, and enemies arise as friends.

6 Fresh Idea for a Child s Prayer Time This prayer idea has been attributed to Pope Francis: Pope Francis Five Finger Prayer On your Thumb: On your Pointer Finger: On your Middle Finger: On your Ring Finger: On your Pinky Finger: Pray for those closest to you. Pray for your teachers. Pray for our Nation s leaders. Pray for the weakest ones in our world. Pray for your own concerns. Close the Five Finger Prayer with silence to allow God to speak to you! Amen. Excerpts from Pope Francis Ash Wednesday Homily Reuters, Feb 18, 2015 As God's people today we begin the journey of Lent, a time in which we try to unite ourselves more closely to the Lord Jesus Christ, to share the mystery of His passion and resurrection. The Ash Wednesday liturgy offers us, first of all, the passage from the prophet Joel, sent by God to call the people to repentance and conversion. Joel insists on inner conversion: Return to me with all your heart (2:12). To return to the Lord with all [one s] heart, means taking the path of a conversion that is neither superficial nor transient, but is a spiritual journey that reaches the deepest place of our self. The heart, in fact, is the seat of our sentiments, the center in which our decisions and our attitudes mature. That, Return to me with all your heart, does not involve only individuals, but extends to the community, is a summons addressed to all: Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. (2:16) The prophet dwells particularly on the prayers of priests, noting that their prayer should be accompanied by tears. We will do well to ask, at the beginning of this Lent, for the gift of tears, so as to make our prayer and our journey of conversion ever more authentic and without hypocrisy. This is precisely the message of today s Gospel. In the passage from Matthew, Jesus rereads the three works of mercy prescribed by the Mosaic law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Over time, these prescriptions had been scored by the rust of external formalism, or even mutated into a sign of social superiority. Jesus highlights a common temptation in these three works, which can be described summarily as hypocrisy (He names it as such three times): Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them... Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do... And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men... And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites. (Mt 6:1, 2, 5, 16) When you do something good, almost instinctively born in us is the desire to be respected and admired for this good deed, to obtain a satisfaction. Jesus invites us to do these works without any ostentation, and to trust only in the reward of the Father "who sees in secret" (Mt 6,4.6.18). Soon we will make the gesture of the imposition of ashes on the head. The celebrant says these words: You are dust and to dust you shall return, (cf. Gen 3:19) or repeats Jesus exhortation: Repent and believe the gospel. (Mk 1:15) Both formulae are a reminder of the truth of human existence: we are limited creatures, sinners ever in need of repentance and conversion. How important is it to listen and to welcome this reminder in our time! The call to conversion is then a push to return, as did the son of the parable, to the arms of God, tender and merciful Father, to trust Him and to entrust ourselves to Him.