Lent

Lent is the 40-day, penitential season of preparation for Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday).

"Christian joy flows from listening to, and accepting, the Good News of the
death and resurrection of Jesus," said Pope Francis in his 2020 Lent Message.
It is the "cornerstone of our personal and communal Christian life."

We partake in Lent with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. "May we allow ourselves to be led like Israel into the desert (Hosea 2:14), so that we can at last hear our Lord's voice and allow it to resound ever more deeply within us, said the Holy Father.

"The more fully we are engaged with his word, the more we will experience the mercy he freely gives us. May we not let this time of grace pass in vain, in the foolish illusion that we can control the times and means of our conversion to him. 

The fact that the Lord once again offers us a favorable time for our conversion should never be taken for granted. This new opportunity ought to awaken in us a sense of gratitude and stir us from our sloth."

The following explains the guidelines during Lent. For more information, see this page from the USCCB.

1.) Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence.

2.) The law of fasting allows one full meal and two smaller ones.

3.) The law of abstinence prohibits the eating of meat.

4.) The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence in the United States.

5.) The obligation of abstinence begins at age 14.

6.) The law of fasting obliges all between the ages of 18-59.

7.) Pastors and parents are to see to it that minors, though not bound by the law of fast and abstinence, are educated in the authentic sense of penance and encouraged to do acts of penance suitable to their age.

8.) All members of the Christian faithful are encouraged to do acts of penance and charity beyond what is prescribed by the law.