What Is Lent?
Lent is the penitential season of approximately 40 days set aside by the Church in order for the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.
What happens during Lent?
During this holy season, inextricably connected to the Paschal Mystery, the Catechumens prepare for Christian initiation, and current Church members prepare for Easter by a recalling of Baptism and by works of penance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Ash Wednesday is the clarion call to “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15). For the next forty days, the faithful willingly submit to fasting and self-denial in imitation of Our Lord’s forty-day fast in the desert. It is in these dark and still nights, these desert-times, that the soul experiences its greatest growth. There, in the inner arena, the soul battles the world, the flesh and the devil just as Our Lord battled Satan's triple temptation in the desert. His battle was external, for Jesus could not sin; our battle is interior, but with a hope sustained by the knowledge of Christ’s Easter victory over sin and death.
Where does the word Lent come from?
Christ's victory is our renewal, our “spring” — which is the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon word, “lengten” or Lent. In this penitential season we have the opportunity to make an annual spiritual “tune-up”, a 40-day retreat with Our Lord.
What Special Lenten Activities are scheduled for Lent at the Cathedral?
Each Friday afternoon, the Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 3:00pm in the Great Upper Church. Come walk the road of sorrows with the Lord Jesus as he gives his life for love of us!
Vespers will be sung on Saturday and Sunday evenings. On Saturday evenings at 5:15pm join us for a simple Lenten Family Supper in the Cenacle, followed by Lenten Family Vespers at 6:30pm. On Sundays, Solemn Vespers will be sung at 7:30pm.
Confessions will be heard with additional confessors at all the usual times, with special Tuesday night confessions from 7:00-8:30pm.
What are the Regulations for Fast and Abstinence?
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. The following fasting and abstinence regulations are observed:
Abstinence from meat is observed on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent by all Catholics 14 years of age and older.
Fasting is observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59 years of age. Those bound by this rule may take only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted as necessary to maintain strength according to one's needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.
The special Paschal fast and abstinence are observed on Good Friday and, where possible, on Holy Saturday. On these days, Christians prepare themselves by these disciplines in anticipation of the renewal of their baptismal commitment on Easter.
