Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Let us be responsible Catholics and go to mass to have our foreheads marked with ashes. As this lenten season starts, let us reflect on what we have done in our lives and make special sacrifices. Below are some practices that we need to observe during this lenten season...
Abstinence
from meat is observed on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent by all Catholics 14 years and older.
Fasting
is observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics 18 years of age but not yet 59.
Fasting requires that a person may only take one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted as necessary to maintain strength according to one's needs: eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.
The Beginning of Lent - A Penitential Procession
Next week we begin our masses singing the Litany of the Saints. The reason for this is that we pray that our holy ancestors (the saints of the Church) will accompany us on our journey through the season of Lent. We have come to the beginning of the Lenten season to prepare for Easter that will bring our catechumens to the saving waters of rebirth. For those of us already initiated, this is a pilgrimage of conversion. Lent is a journey with the Lord who longs to draw us more closely to himself that he might speak to our hearts. Along the way, we will be challenged to recognize Christ in the scriptures we read, in those we love and serve, and in those whom we so often neglect to love and serve-for surely Christ is most especially present in them.
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