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It’s not every day you see an idea for liturgical living that is so thoughtful and so fitting that you want everyone to know about it!
But that’s what happened when I saw the sweetest Lent prayer idea from Holy Heroes and Catholic author and mom Katie Warner recently.
Their spark of brilliance? Lenten Daily Prayer and Sacrifice Cards. The idea is that every day of Lent, you pray and sacrifice for a specific person. Then mail the card to them, letting them know that your daily prayers and penances are being offered for their intentions.
Holy Heroes described the cards in the following way:
Not only will this be incredibly touching–seriously, can you imagine how YOU would feel receiving this in the mail?!–but we intentionally designed these cards so people would SAVE them.
Each of these cards (4 designs in each 40 pack) includes a Scripture verse and a piece of Lenten sacred art that can be hung on the fridge, added to a prayer card collection, or used as a bookmark–trust us, this is not a postcard that gets thrown away.
Holy Heroes includes a Lent and Easter Season Calendar free with every order of the cards, so you can plan out exactly who you’re praying for each day.
These cards are such a powerful way to share your friendship and faith, letting people you care about know that you are carrying their intentions in your heart and bringing them to God. What a gift!
While a perfect Lenten practice for absolutely anyone, these are especially helpful for families with kids, as an incredibly hands-on and visible way to pray together as a family during Lent and share that loving prayer with others.
Katie Warner shared a few reasons she loves following this practice every year during Lent:
First, it encourages me to take the Lenten pillar of prayer even more seriously, focusing on how my prayer not only impacts my own spiritual life, but impacts the Body of Christ. I feel like my intentional prayers each day help carry the cross of some other person in my life.
Second, it allows me to become a sort of spiritual companion to another person on their own Lenten journey, particularly by letting them know that I am interceding for him or her on that day. Oftentimes, the individual will give me specific intentions to pray for, making that day’s prayer even more meaningful.
Finally, it gives me a chance to catch up on my “I’ll be praying for you” promises. It’s easy to tell people that we are praying for them, but sometimes, our prayer for them just isn’t as frequent or as deep as we would like it to be. (Other times, we forget to pray altogether!) This Lenten prayer activity changes that. You devote an entire day of spiritual focus — through prayer, but also sacrifice — to one person and their struggles, hopes, spiritual life, family relations, health, and whatever else that soul uniquely needs from you and your intercession.
The set of cards is $29.95 from Holy Heroes, but of course, you could use whatever cards you have on hand. It might be a nice touch to have your kids make some of the cards by hand for special loved ones like grandparents and great-grandparents.
These daily “I’m praying for you” cards are such a lovely practice for Lent. Hopefully you find they bless your home and family during these weeks of preparation for Easter!
And today we celebrate...