March 2.  Ash Wednesday.  Even now return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and mourning. All the learners from St Pius XII school, whether they were Catholic or not went to get their ashes on their foreheads.  “Why do you do this?” the RE teacher asked the class. “Dunno.” “We just do it every year.” “It’s tradition and then we all give up something during Lent. But we’re not really supposed to tell what,“ one Grade 6 girl said.  Josh called out the three tasks of Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving. “There is the penance part, but we can also take up some extra sacrifice that really challenges one’s willpower.” “In our family at home we often do things together during Lent. The ashes remind us that it is time to pull up our socks as we’re all just made of the dust of the earth.” ”God is kind and forgives our faults. Jesus tells us that and shows us how.”    Reflect, share and act. Scripture: Even now return to me with all your heart, with fasting with weeping and with mourning and tear your hearts and not your garments” says the Lord. Joel 2:12 .   Pope Francis: Ecological spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world. The life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities but lived in and with them in communion with all that surrounds us.  SA Youth Responsibilities Bill 1: The right to equality places on me the responsibility to treat every person equally and fairly.  Choose an act of love and sacrifice from the list, also published at www.marfam.org.za/lent

Day 1 . LENTEN DAILY THOUGHTS ON FAMILY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.