Lent begins Ash Wednesday - February 14, 2024
A day of fasting and abstinence (Scroll below for Guidelines)
Mass Times & Stations of the Cross
A day of fasting and abstinence (Scroll below for Guidelines)
Mass Times & Stations of the Cross
Fasting & Abstinence
No Meat: All Catholics age 14 years & older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays during Lent, & Good Friday.
Fasting: All Catholics between ages 18 and 59 are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. To fast means to eat only one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken for good health but together they should not equal a full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted; however, liquids including coffee, milk and fruit juices are allowed. Those pregnant, nursing, or with a chronic medical condition may be excused. Read 'More Questions & Answers about Lent' for details.
Ash Wednesday & Good Friday, therefore, are the only days of both fast and abstinence.
More Questions & Answers About Lent
No Meat: All Catholics age 14 years & older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays during Lent, & Good Friday.
Fasting: All Catholics between ages 18 and 59 are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. To fast means to eat only one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken for good health but together they should not equal a full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted; however, liquids including coffee, milk and fruit juices are allowed. Those pregnant, nursing, or with a chronic medical condition may be excused. Read 'More Questions & Answers about Lent' for details.
Ash Wednesday & Good Friday, therefore, are the only days of both fast and abstinence.
More Questions & Answers About Lent
How does Fasting work?
Our faith seeks to integrate the relationship between body and soul. There is a war taking place within you. It is the constant battle between your body’s desires and your soul’s. At every moment of the day, both are vying for dominance. If you wish to have a rich and abundant experience of life, you must allow your soul to soar. But in order to do that, you need to tame and train your desires first.
The Church invites us to practice fasting by eating only one full meal and two small meals with no eating in between. This kind of fasting is a observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
Our faith seeks to integrate the relationship between body and soul. There is a war taking place within you. It is the constant battle between your body’s desires and your soul’s. At every moment of the day, both are vying for dominance. If you wish to have a rich and abundant experience of life, you must allow your soul to soar. But in order to do that, you need to tame and train your desires first.
The Church invites us to practice fasting by eating only one full meal and two small meals with no eating in between. This kind of fasting is a observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
No meat?
Abstaining from meat is a small penance that helps us honor Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus dies on the cross on a Friday, and so abstaining from meat is observed on Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, and all Fridays in Lent. It unlocks our spiritual freedom by taming the body’s desires so the spirit can reign king.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
Abstaining from meat is a small penance that helps us honor Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus dies on the cross on a Friday, and so abstaining from meat is observed on Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, and all Fridays in Lent. It unlocks our spiritual freedom by taming the body’s desires so the spirit can reign king.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
What about giving something up for Lent?
Identifying some small sacrifice to focus on during the season of Lent is another incredible way to train your body and focus your spirit. We often refer to these sacrifices as acts of penance. Some people will give up some small comfort: desserts, soft drinks, coffee, that sort of thing. Other people will make a sacrifice of time by serving at a soup kitchen or spending some time in prayer everyday at their church. Still others will do some act of charity to focus on their fellow man.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
Identifying some small sacrifice to focus on during the season of Lent is another incredible way to train your body and focus your spirit. We often refer to these sacrifices as acts of penance. Some people will give up some small comfort: desserts, soft drinks, coffee, that sort of thing. Other people will make a sacrifice of time by serving at a soup kitchen or spending some time in prayer everyday at their church. Still others will do some act of charity to focus on their fellow man.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
What is almsgiving?
Almsgiving is most typically thought of as acts of charity or kindness toward the poor and less fortunate. But one important thing to note is that in the eyes of the Church, Lent isn’t just a time to put a few extra dollars in the basket at Mass on Sunday. The goal here is to make the needs of the poor your own.
This idea is at the very heart of Christian charity. It isn’t that we keep the poor and less fortunate at a distance and passively give to their needs. We take their needs into our heart. Lent is a time when people will focus on acts of charity like serving at a soup kitchen, giving financially to their Church or other Catholic charities, or helping with other needs of your local community.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
Almsgiving is most typically thought of as acts of charity or kindness toward the poor and less fortunate. But one important thing to note is that in the eyes of the Church, Lent isn’t just a time to put a few extra dollars in the basket at Mass on Sunday. The goal here is to make the needs of the poor your own.
This idea is at the very heart of Christian charity. It isn’t that we keep the poor and less fortunate at a distance and passively give to their needs. We take their needs into our heart. Lent is a time when people will focus on acts of charity like serving at a soup kitchen, giving financially to their Church or other Catholic charities, or helping with other needs of your local community.
-Source: DynamicCatholic.com
