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Dear friends,
As we begin our journey through Lent, I share the appropriate pastoral and liturgical guidelines.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence. The law of fasting binds those who have completed their eighteenth year, until the beginning of their sixtieth year; the law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year (CCL 97, 1251f).
In Australia and New Zealand, the obligations for Lent are:
- Catholics aged 18–59 should fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
- Catholics aged 14 and older should abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
- Catholics aged 14 and over should abstain from meat on every Friday of the year, including Lent, or substitute this with another form of penance, either in prayer, fasting or almsgiving.
Taking up some form of voluntary penance throughout the season of Lent is also expected.
What is the difference between fasting and abstinence?
On a day of fasting, Catholics are supposed to have one normal-sized meal and two “snacks” (or “smaller meals”), which cannot, put together, equal a full meal.
On a day of abstinence, we are asked to abstain from meat (although seafood is allowed).
Lent is a penitential season of prayer, self-denial, and helping others. In this way, the whole Church prepares for Easter with those who are to be baptised. Other celebrations in Lent (e.g. marriage) must take account of the spirit of penance: musical instruments are only to be used to sustain singing, and floral decorations are very simple.
Catholics are obliged to receive Holy Communion at least once a year; in Australia and New Zealand, this occurs between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday.
In Lent, the Alleluia is omitted at Mass and at the Hours, even in celebration of solemnities and feasts.
A homily is recommended on weekdays, especially during the seasons of Advent, Lent and Easter.
From Ash Wednesday, Ordinary Time is interrupted until after Easter Time.
Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation I-II are appropriate for use during Lent when there is a theme of reconciliation. They may be used with Prefaces which refer to conversion and penance, such as the Prefaces of Lent.
In Lent, memorials are optional and only the Collect of the memorial is used at Mass. All other texts are of the Lenten day.
