Family Activity:
Spend 40 minutes in silence (or as close to it as you are able) this week without doing anything other than talking to God. As you count the minutes, unite this time of solitude with those 40 days in the ark with Noah, those 40 years wandering in the desert with the Israelites or 40 days in the desert with Jesus as He fasted and prayed.
Weekly Virtue:
The virtue (Sunday through Saturday) to work on this week as a family is to be quiet and talk to God each day. Spend at least 5 minutes (preferably 15) each day just talking with God in prayer. Only use scripture as a reading materials if you need to, do not use any other spiritual books to fill the time, just be with the Lord and listen to Him. Write down what He tells you. For younger members of the family, you can use a coloring page from our 33 Day Family Consecration to meditate on God and His family as you look at the image and color it.
Family Reflection
Click the link below to read the scriptures from first Sunday of Lent. The model we will be using in the Lenten exercise are detailed in this article. For the readings today we will be reflecting on the symbolism of the number 40 and the importance of prayer.
Genesis 9:8-15
I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants
The Story of Noah’s ark is very familiar to most in our society, the challenge is to take this story and make it relevant to the life of faith. It is more than just two by two and a flood, it is about God making a covenant with humanity until the end of time.
Which son of Noah is the faithful line to which Jesus comes through? Shem (his other sons are Ham and Japheth)
How many days did it rain while Noah and his family were in the ark? 40
What other events of scripture also contain the number 40? In the old Testament, The Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. “The Israelites ate the manna for forty years, until they came to settled land; they ate the manna until they came to the borders of Canaan.” (Exodus 16). In the new Testament, Jesus went into the Desert and “fasted for forty days and forty nights” (Matthew 4:2). After the resurrection of Jesus “He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3) before His ascension.
What does the ark foreshadow in Christianity? The barque (boat) of Peter which is the Church.
To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 845
What sacrament does the flood waters foreshadow in the Church? Baptism
The Church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it “a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water”: The waters of the great flood you made a sign of the waters of Baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.
CCC 1219
Psalm 25
Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
1 Peter 3:18-22
“God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism”
Mark 1:12-15
“After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus has just spent 40 days in the desert preparing for His mission and shortly after his return His cousin John the Baptist is arrested. God is preparing each of us for something, perhaps something big. When we spend time with God in prayer He strengthens us for whatever trials may be coming our way and gives us the courage to undertake the task He has laid before us.
The scriptures tell us very little about what happened in the desert, but we can surmise that during these 40 days Jesus was preparing to begin His public ministry. The imprisonment of John was most likely a source of pain and suffering for Jesus, but His reaction to this crisis was to undertake His mission. We are called to follow the example of the Lord. When we undertake the Lord’s mission for us, expect trials and tribulations. When difficulties arise in our lives, turn to God in prayer to receive the strength to do the hard work.
Family life is full of ups and downs, we can’t do it by ourselves. When we are suffering the most, we need to increase our time in prayer. “The Lord is my strength and my shield, in whom my heart trusts.” (Psalm 28:7)