MAKING GESTURES FOR JESUS KID'S-EYE VIEW OF LENT.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS 

Staff Writer

NEWHALL - When the time came for first-grader Austin Garcia to decide what he would give up for Lent this year, the freckle-faced 6-year-old knew exactly what he'd quit.

"Cheating," Garcia said. "I like to cheat when I play soccer."

Along with young Garcia, Catholics everywhere began the season of fasting and repentance Wednesday.

Going to church in droves on Ash Wednesday, as their elders did, the very young also re-examined their lives.

Beyond abstaining from meat on Fridays, the students at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School -- the last remaining Catholic school in Santa Clarita -- will be giving up their not-so-healthy addictions.

For 40 days, these children plan to shy away from such things as television, video games and even pizza.

The kids say no sacrifice is too large.

"I'm giving up junk food and going to the movies," eighth-grader Melissa Guzman said.

"That is what I really love to do."

The teen said it's her duty to turn away from her guilty pleasures.

"That's what Jesus did for me," she said.

Sister Mary Magdalene Acuna, principal of the school, said prayer and spiritual reflection are part of daily life for the students on her campus.

From kindergarten on, the young minds are taught about gospels, prayer and holy days, and awareness is just heightened during Lent.

"We want them to be aware that Jesus died on the crucifix for each and every one of them," Acuna said.

Lent, which means spring in Old English, is about rebirth, Acuna added.

"Giving up is not just about the sacrifice; it's about a changing of the self."

Fifth-grade teacher Sister Catalina Avila said her students don't seem turned off by the torture and suffering that is taught during her Lent lesson plans.

She said that is what makes their sacrifices so important.

"They understand that their sacrifice, like Jesus', is all in preparation for the joyful celebration that will follow during Easter," Avila said.

The reward is in the sacrifice, Avila said.

Some students at the school will be taking their spiritual actions further by giving up allowances and milk money and sending it to developing countries as part of a schoolwide project.

Fifth-grader Christa Fandino will definitely have some spare change with her abstinence choice.

"I am giving up Starbucks and candy," Fandino said.

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Sister Mary Magdeline has ashes on her forehead in recognition of Ash Wednesday as she stands in one of the classrooms at Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Wednesday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer