Lent is coming! With
Ash Wednesday this week, we begin our six-week journey to Easter. It is a time for Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. It is a time to deepen our Faith, to enliven
our Hope and to grow in our capacity to Love with God’s own Love. It is a time to pay close attention to our
relationship with God and His Church.
These days, the Church is in the public eye more
prominently than ever. Our reputation is
sullied because some of our worst sins are exposed for all to see. This is a painful time. Yet, our call is to put our trust in God. God’s Mercy is available to all who are open
to receive it. The message of
Reconciliation has been entrusted to us to share with the world. We cannot allow our failings or the failings of
our leaders to keep us from our resolve to turn to God and to serve as a
witness to the truth of Faith.
We pray in a special way this year that our children be
given an authentic and clear witness by our practice of the Faith. I invite every family to renew its commitment
to bring all its members to church.
Parents, you teach your children more by your actions than by your words.
For Prayer: Attend
Mass every Sunday. Bring the family to
Stations of the Cross on Friday. Choose
a day for Lenten family prayer – the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Stations of
the Cross at home. Send someone to
Wednesday adoration to bring your family’s needs to the Eucharistic Lord.
For Fasting: Remember
the fast and abstinence assigned by the Church to all adults – no meat on Ash
Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent, fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday. Choose something as a family to “give
up” during Lent – television one day a week, electronic devices during family time,
etc.
For Almsgiving: Practice charity by giving time to others. Use the Lenten Rice Bowl. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. Participate in the activities of St. Vincent
DePaul. Find a common cause for your family
to work on together.
Don’t let Lent pass you by.
Open your heart to God’s purifying grace though the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. Pray for the Church to
be truly all that God calls her to be.
Allow your life and the life you share with your family to become ever
more centered on the Gospel.
Lenten Regulations for
Catholics
Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In
addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
For
members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from
age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal,
as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The
norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin
Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
Members of the Eastern Catholic
Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church.
If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the
Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor
the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share
more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.
For further information and reflections, see the Unites
States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ site:
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence.cfm
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