LENTEN MESSAGE - Archbishop Most Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras

ASH WEDNESDAY AND THE HOLY SEASON OF LENT:
On 18th of this month the Holy Mother the Church invites her children to solemnly enter into the holy season of Lent by celebrating the Ash Wednesday and to unite ourselves throughout this season to the suffering and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ in a spirit of prayer, meditation, reflection, penance, fasting and alms-giving. This season is also a moment of unique grace that will lead us to the joy and privilege of celebrating Easter, a feast of hope of new life in the Risen Lord. may this Lenten season find the whole Church ready to bear witness to all those who live in material, moral and spiritual destitution the Gospel message of the merciful love of God our Father, who is ready to embrace everyone in Christ.

We can do this to the extent that we imitate Christ who became poor and enriched us by his poverty. Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt”. May the holy season of Lent draw us closer to the cross and poverty of Christ so that spiritually enriched through our life of prayer, fasting, self-denial and sacrifice, we may fittingly celebrated the joy of Easter.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. While Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation, all Roman Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass on this day in order to mark the beginning of the Lenten season.

The fasting and abstinence, during the season of Lent, are not simply a form of penance; however it is also a call for us to take stock of our spiritual lives. As Lent begins, we should set out specific spiritual goals we would like to reach before Easter and decide how we will pursue them - for instance, going to daily Mass and approaching the Sacrament of Confession more often.

Lenten Fasting and Abstinence:
This year Ash Wednesday falls on February 18. It is a day of fasting and abstinence. The Regional Catholic Bishops call for all Catholics 14 years and older to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent. Catholics who are 18 to 59 years old are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting refers to the quantity of food eaten. Traditionally, fasting calls for refraining from eating between meals and consuming only one full meal per day.

The following suggestions are proposed by the Episcopal Conference:
1. Attending Mass
2. Making at least a 15 minutes visit to the Blessed Sacrament
3. Reading the Bible for 15 minutes
4. Meditation on the Passion of the Lord for 15 minutes
5. Making the Way of the Cross
6. Missing Breakfast or any one meal
7. Making strictly vegetarian meals (avoiding fish and egg as well)
8. Giving 10% of one's daily earnings in Charity

In our Archdiocese
i. The days of fast and abstinence are - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On these days of fast and abstinence, the faithful take only one meal and also abstain from meat.

ii. The days of abstinence are all Fridays of the year. On days of abstinence the faithful abstain from meat or do some works of piety or charity determined by the Episcopal conference as given above.
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