What is Lent?
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The USCCB on LentLent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ's death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.
Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. Contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting tradition in this reflection. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God's gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446).
In Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Order of Christian Initiation, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared their desire to become Catholics.
Fasting and Abstinence
What is fasting?
Fasting is a form of spiritual discipline and penance which consists of having one full meal for the day, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.
What is abstinence?
Abstinence refers to the absence of meat (mammals) or fowl. This is because traditionally, meat was more expensive and considered a luxury.
Fish is not included as meat and is allowed during Lent. Just as every Sunday is a smaller celebration of our risen Lord, every Friday is a smaller remembrance of His Passion.
At one point, Catholics abstained from eating meat every Friday of the year, but U.S. bishops now allow Catholics to instead substitute another act of charity or sacrifice, though abstinence is still highly recommended.
When exactly do we practice fasting and abstinence?
Catholics are obligated to practice fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
The Passion of our Lord on Good Friday is the reason all Fridays throughout the year are days of penance and have traditionally been observed as days of abstinence. Though the USCCB has lifted this as a requirement and authorized offering a different penance on ordinary Fridays, abstinence is still strongly encouraged for the discipline and spiritual benefit it brings.
"Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat."
For more on this click the link below.
USCCB Pastoral Statement on Fasting and Abstinence
Who has this obligation?
All Catholics aged 18-59 are obligated to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
All Catholics 14 and older must practice abstinence as prescribed.
However, the Church exempts certain groups from these requirements and asks them to make an alternative sacrifice.
The USCCB states, “the physically or mentally ill, including individuals suffering from chronic illnesses such as diabetes…In all cases, common sense should prevail, and ill persons should not further jeopardize their health by fasting.”
Pregnant or breastfeeding women are also excused from both fasting and abstinence.
Why do we practice fasting and abstinence?
“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Dan. 9:3).
“Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness” (Tob. 12:8)
“When I humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.” (Ps. 69:10).
CCC 1438: "The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works)."
CCC 2043: "The fourth precept ('You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church') ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepares us for the liturgical feasts and helps us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart."
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Lenten Calendar
March 5th to April 17thHoly Hour
Every Friday - Main Church
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Adoration, benediction, the Divine Mercy chaplet and the Rosary.
Bilingual Stations of the Cross
(with Confession availability)
Every Friday - Main Church
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Lenten Soup Supper
Every Friday - Parish Hall
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Let us come together and share a meal provided by our Parish Ministries.
We look forward to seeing you there.
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notable Lenten Days
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March 5th, 2025
For centuries, Catholic Christians have marked the beginning of the season of Lent by receiving ash on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday. This tradition has its roots in the Old Testament, where wearing ashes was a common sign of repentance for sins, and a sign of one's humility before God.
Ash Wednesday comes from this ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us, and are made from blessed palm branches, taken from the previous year's palm Sunday Mass.
Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer, and takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday. The 40 days of Lent do not include the 6 Sundays that fall within that time, as Sundays are always feast days in celebration of our Lord.
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March 30th, 2025
Let's look back at Advent. The Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday — the day in which our excitement for the coming of the Lord is heightened because the Church assures us that it will soon be upon us.
Laetare Sunday marks a mid-point as the Fourth Sunday of Lent, and is very similar. Both days refer to happiness. In fact, the word laetare means “rejoice” in Latin. Gaudete means “joyful.” They are both days of joyous anticipation in the midst of what might seem like darkness.
Additionally these are the only two days when the liturgical color is rose to symbolize that joy.
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Holy Week
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April 13th, 2025
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday.
It commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowds cheered, shouting “Hosanna!” and spreading palm branches on the road in front of him. This event is marks the start of the final week of Jesus’s life before his crucifixion and resurrection.
In the early Christian church, Palm Sunday was celebrated with the blessing of palm branches and a procession through the streets. The faithful today receive blessed palm fronds which are still used to participate in the reenactment of Christ’s triumphant arrival.
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April 17th, 2025
The Thursday before Easter is observed as Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday by Christians across the world.
The word Maundy comes from the Latin word ‘mandatum’, which means commandment. Maundy Thursday is a commemoration of the giving of the new commandment ‘to love one another’, and of the Last Supper, when Jesus consecrated bread and wine and instituted the Holy Eucharist.
Sundown on Maundy Thursday signals the end of Lent, but fasting practices will continue until after Easter Vigil.
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April 18th, 2025
Good Friday is a day of obligatory fasting and abstinence within the Church which remembers the Passion and death of the Lord.
On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, noticeable changes take place in the way churches are decorated.
In many churches statues and crosses are covered in purple or black cloth, or simply removed. Holy water is removed from the church and church bells remain silent until the Gloria at Easter Vigil.
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April 19th, 2025
Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, is the day which Jesus spent in the grave resting.
Fasting and abstinence are still encouraged, and Mass is generally not celebrated until Easter Vigil, which begins at sunset on Holy Saturday outside the church, where an Easter fire is kindled and the Paschal candle is blessed and then lit. This Paschal candle will be used throughout the season of Easter, remaining in the sanctuary of the church and throughout the coming year at baptisms and funerals, reminding all that Christ is our life and light. After the conclusion of the Liturgy of the Word, catechumens and candidates are initiated into the church. During this Mass we are filled with joy and hope at the triumph of our Lord over death and finally sing the Gloria again after so long. He is risen! Easter Vigil marks the end of the Lenten fasting period.
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April 20th, 2025
Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. It is celebrated on Sunday, and marks the end of Holy Week, the end of Lent, the last day of the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday), and is the beginning of the Easter season of the liturgical year.As we know from the Gospels, Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day following his crucifixion, which would be Sunday. His resurrection marks the triumph of good over evil, sin and death. It is the singular event which proves that those who trust in God and accept Christ will be raised from the dead.
Since Easter represents the fulfillment of God's promises to mankind, it is the most important holiday on the Christian calendar.
Following Easter Sunday, the season of Easter begins and lasts for seven weeks, ending with Pentecost.
For more information on the wonderful solemnities and celebrations in store during the Octave of Easter, click the button below.
USCCB on Easter
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