Lent: Growing Closer to God!

Here in the Episcopal church we are getting ready for the season of Lent. Today in my class we did a little preparation so the children are prepared for Ash Wednesday. During Lent, we do things to help us to know God better and the life of God's son, Jesus. Sometimes we spend extra time in prayer or in reading the Bible. Some people make the choice to give up something like television or chocolate. Years ago, people did not eat rich foods such as butter, eggs, or sugar during the Lent season. This brought about the tradition of Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday as some call it, to eat all those things you wouldn't allow yourself to eat during this season.

The children and I also talked about the story of Jesus in the Wilderness from Matthew 4:1-11. See if your child remembers the 3 temptations of Christ.

All the children are coming home with a little pipe cleaner pretzel. If you would like to see the story and tradition they learned about, you can retell the story below to your child or have them tell it to you.

Angelo and the Pretzel

A long time ago, there was a monk in Italy named Angelo. Angelo worked in the monastery kitchen baking bread.

One morning, Angelo began to bake the day's bread. Since it was Lent, he didn't put any butter, eggs or sugar into the dough.

While the bread was in the oven, Angelo sat down to think and pray. The children in his parish didn't seem to be learning their prayers. He wished he could come up with a clever way to help them remember. As Angelo thought, he rolled a leftover piece of dough between his fingers.

In his day, the children were taught to fold their arms across their chest when they prayed. Angelo kept on thinking as he rolled that piece of leftover dough.

Suddenly, he had an idea! Angelo twisted the rolled piece of dough into the shape of praying arms.

He put the dough on a pan and baked it. Angelo got busy cleaning the kitchen and let the dough bake too long. But when he tasted it, he decided it was delicious.

"I will call this treat a 'pretiola' (preh-zi-o-la) which means 'little reward,'" he said. "My treat will be a reward for the children who learn their prayers."

That afternoon, Angelo baked an entire batch of pretiolas. When the children came to the bakery to visit him, he gave the pretiolas to those who knew their prayers.

Before long, all the children began to remember their prayers, and they ate batch after batch of pretiolas.

And that's the story of a monk named Angelo and the very first pretzel.