By Christina Leslie | Correspondent

Four cups of flour, a cup of salt, a little water and a lot of faith were the special ingredients in a family Lenten project March 16 in St. Denis Parish, Manasquan. Children from the parish’s school and religious education program joined together to create a doughy “crown of thorns, crown of glory” to remind them of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on Good Friday.

Barbara Evans, parish director of religious education, had heard about the project from one of the St. Denis parents and decided to include it in the parish’s Lenten preparations.

“I was searching for a new and fresh way to catechize Lent to our religious education students,” Evans explained. “I was so excited about the concept because the whole family can be a part of it that I wanted to offer it to our whole parish.”

With the enthusiastic approval from St. Denis pastor Father Edward Blanchett, Evans and her staff planned for the family catechesis project in the school cafeteria. Adults and children mixed the flour, salt and water, kneaded the clay-like dough into long ropes, braided them and joined the ends into a circle to create crowns. Toothpicks, representing the thorns Jesus worn on Good Friday, were inserted, then each crown was baked at 350 degrees for an hour.

Rachel Hendricks, whose family had done the project designed by author Stacy Mitch in their home for a number of years, explained the significance of the trio of simple ingredients. Flour represented Jesus, the Bread of Life, she told the participants. Water recalls the day of our Baptism when we are cleansed of original sin and become members of Christ’s Church. Salt, used for flavor, reminds us we are the salt of the earth and must carry out Jesus’ words through our actions.

For each Lenten sacrifice or good deed by a family member, a toothpick is removed from the crown to help ease Jesus’ suffering. The goal is to remove all the thorns by Easter and paint the crown gold or decorate it with jewels, beads or flowers to signify the triumph of the risen King.

“The parents are already telling me how much of an effort the kids are making to do good deeds as they see the tangible impact their sacrifices are making on the crown,” Evans reported. “Hopefully by Holy Saturday night, their deeds of kindness and sacrifice have removed all the thorns to bring comfort to Jesus.”   

“It was a heartwarming success,” she concluded, “and was a wonderful way to help [the children] learn about Lent. The crown is a great visual reminder of Christ’s suffering and how our sins bring pain to Jesus, but that we can comfort Jesus by our sacrifices and good works.”