Lenten Regulations

 

Lent is a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in preparation for the renewal of  baptismal promises at Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday when all are called to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. Lent ends just before the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The highpoint of the liturgical year is the Triduum, the three day celebration of the Paschal Mystery. The Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, continues with the Celebration of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, climaxes at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday and is completed with the Liturgies of Easter Sunday. The Fifty Days of Eastertime, from Easter Sunday through Pentecost, are a time of joy and celebration for the resurrection of Christ from the dead and our baptism into the life of discipleship.

Catholics are obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This means that Catholics who are eighteen to fifty-nine years old are required to keep a limited fast, that is, to eat a single, normal meal and have lesser meals, as long as these do not add up to a second meal. Children are not required to fast. Those with medical conditions requiring greater or more regular food intake may be dispensed from this requirement.

Catholics are required to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent. This applies to Catholics who are fourteen years or older. A person with special dietary needs may be dispensed from this requirement.