Students Learn to Give More During Lent

Instead of giving up the standard candy and junk food for Lent, the students at All Saints, a Catholic school in El Sereno, are celebrating the season a little differently this year.

Principal Maria Palermo said she wanted the students, from kindergarten to eighth grade, to go the extra mile. In addition to attending Mass during the week, they donate money they might have spent on sweets to missionary groups.

“It’s good that you sacrifice, but let’s move forward,” Palermo said. “It’s probably more challenging than just giving up something for 40 days and then returning to your normal habits after Easter. I think you get more out of the Lenten season if you are more proactive.”

The students at All Saints are part of a trend at local schools and parishes, where many children are doing something a little more selfless for Lent.

All Saints sixth-grader Jorge Hechavarria decided not to give up anything for Lent. Instead, he pledged to help his mother with housework.

“Jesus did something for us, so now we have to do something for other people,” the 11-year-old said. “Not everybody knows that you gave up something, but if you help other people, everybody knows.”

Jorge said he planned to continue doing extra chores after the Lenten season.

At St. Thomas More Elementary School in Alhambra, students were also donating money for a good cause during Lent.

Principal Judith C. Jones said children were saving coins to donate to the Comboni Missionaries, who do charity work in various countries. Students at the Catholic school were also selling refreshments at basketball games and giving all the earnings to various charities.

“We are trying to make Lent seem less like a punishment,” Jones said.

Daniel Perez, a third-grader at the school, said he wanted to be a better brother to his two younger siblings.

“For all the things Jesus has done for us, we should give something up to thank him,” Daniel, 9, said.

And he’s learning from the Lenten lesson. He plans to continue the good relationship with his brothers and keep giving to charity after Lent is over, he said.

“Since I’m being good and I’m getting used to it,” Daniel said, “maybe it’ll become part of me.”

Not counting Sundays, Lent is the 40-day period before Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar. Lent began in the early days of the church as a way for Christians to imitate what they believe was Jesus’ exodus into the wilderness before he was crucified.

About 2 billion Christians worldwide partake in the soul-searching and repentance for their sins in various traditions. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and, for most denominations, ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. This year, in the Western traditions of Catholics and Protestants, Lent began Feb. 25 and ends April 10. (Some Orthodox churches celebrate on different dates.)

Early Christians originally used the Lent period to prepare for new baptisms. There was heavy concentration on praying, studying and fasting.

Depending on the church, fasting usually involves giving up meat on Fridays, or not drinking alcohol or eating indulgent foods for the duration of Lent. Many Catholics and some Protestants continue the tradition of children forsaking a special treat or luxury during the period.

But Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said giving up something for Lent was insufficient these days.

“It revolves more around looking at one’s own life and how one can be a better person and how that gets translated in everyday life within the community,” Tamberg said.

“It sends the message that it’s just about yourself. Yes, that part is important, but we have to remind kids that we live in a community [and they need] to help make the community better.”

Shannon Ferguson Kelly, a priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, said teachers and churches would like to pass on to children the idea of being more proactive during Lent.

“I try to encourage them to also take on something new,” Kelly said. “Whether it’s doing their homework before 6 o’clock or reading the Bible -- something that would change their way of living.”

But whatever a child chooses to do, it’s a big commitment.

“Five weeks is very long for a kid,” she said.

Michelle Chavez, a sixth-grader at Assumption School , a Catholic campus in Boyle Heights, has given up talking on the phone, something her friends chide her about because they know how much she loves gabbing.

“I don’t talk on the phone anymore. I can’t answer it,” Michelle, 11, said. “It’s kind of hard.”

Now, when she wants to hang out with her friends, she has to make plans at school. But, most important, she said, “I miss all the gossip.”

Her will power was tested one day when the phone kept ringing and ringing until her mother eventually picked it up. “I’m getting really impatient,” she said.

Her classmate, Marcos Curiel, 11, has given up playing the game console X-Box.

“Because I really like it, and Jesus sacrificed his life, and I should sacrifice too,” Marcos said.

Instead of spending hours playing X-Box along with other game consoles he has at home, Marcos is dedicating less time to video games.

But he still plays Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo and PlayStation 2.

“The other games are helping me stay away from X-Box,” he said.

Whenever children start to get an itch for their favorite game or food or habit of sorts, Kelly said, they should remind themselves that Lent is a special time of year.

“This is Lent,” Kelly said. “And I’m supposed to be focusing on my relationship with God.”

Javi Bermudez, another a sixth-grader at Assumption School, gave up the game console Game Cube and listening to the radio.

“It’s something fun I have to give up because God gave up his life for us,” Javi, 11, said. “God means a lot to me.”