God's Gifts
St. Rose students offer good deeds, sacrifice for Lent

By KENNY KEANE, Globe staff reporter
Posted March 13, 2003

DENISON - St. Rose of Lima School's principal, Robert Meyer, said that when he was growing up the season of Lent seemed very punishment oriented with thoughts like, "What are you not going to be able to do?"

With that in mind, the principal said he hopes this Lent will bring about a change in his students' attitudes towards the season from one of "I'm giving up" to "What can I do for you?" One of the steps the school is taking to help change those attitudes is by putting the focus of the Lenten season on giving.

"We have done Operation Rice Bowl for quite a few years, and this year one of the faculty members asked if there would be something closer to home that the kids might know about that would benefit from it," Meyer said. "We decided that we would like to do something, and someone came up with Ronald McDonald House because we'd had a family who had used the facility."

So they decided to set aside one week during Lent where they will collect for the Ronald McDonald House while still collecting for Operation Rice Bowl.

In addition to that, the faculty also came up with the idea for the students to write down for themselves a good deed and a sacrifice for Lent. These were then posted throughout the hallways as a reminder to the students.

"Each of them do it differently," Meyer said. "For instance, one of the girls has given up her allowance. She gets an allowance every week, and she'll put that in during Lent.

"A lot of the kids will say they've been eating candy, and they're not going to eat it during Lent. So they'll put the money that they would have spent for candy bars or pop in the rice bowl or in the Ronald McDonald collection."

In coming up with a good deed for Lent, fifth grader Collin Marten thought of his sister.

"I chose to help my sister do her homework because she asks me to help her, and I say go away," he said. "I decided to get into the habit of helping her with her homework as my good deed for the Lenten season. I know that God would want me to help her."

Another fifth grader, Matt Eiten, said he chose to help his mom while his dad is gone with the National Guard by keeping his room clean and by not making her mad as his Lenten good deed.

Kindergartner Mackenzie Freeze's sacrifice for Lent is giving up her favorite doll, Bailey, with whom she likes to play and sleep.

Aside from the good deeds and sacrifices, Meyer said other activities include a student-led Stations of the Cross every Friday afternoon and an introduction to benediction, with Father Eugene Murray, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church, leading the students in an actual benediction.

Meyer said he hopes these activities will make the season of Lent more meaningful to the students, and that their donations through the good deeds and sacrifices will give them the idea that Lent can be more of a giving-type season.

"We feel that we're very fortunate in our communities that we have so much," he said. "We see these kids who don't know what they're going to have for supper tonight, and they don't know where they're going to stay. None of our kids are worried about that. So we're kind of hoping that maybe more compassion for the needy is developed."