Lent 2010

With Ash Wednesday on February 17th, we begin our Season of Lent. Lent is a time we prepare for the celebration of the Easter Triduum, beginning with the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thusday night.

Ashes will be given during the masses on Ash Wednesday. These masses are the Opelousas Catholic School mass at 8:40 a.m., 12:10 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. masses for the public. “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel” or “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return” are the words we use in blessing each person with the ashes. We begin our time of seeing how well we live our baptism and prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter.

Lent is a time of penance. We do fasting and abstinence from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We do abstinence from meat on the other Fridays of Lent. Fasting is eating one full meal with two lighter meals during the day. The lighter meals together should not be more than the one full meal. We do not eat between meals. Abstinence from meat means that we do not eat meat. The obligation to fast binds Catholics from the age of 18 to 59. Those who are younger or older may freely embrace these disciplines. Lenten disciplines should never endanger our health.

Please remember that the Fridays of the year outside of Lent are Days of Penance. On these days we choose the penance that meets our spiritual needs. The Acadiana Catholic (February 2010, page 22) suggests, “It is obvious that abstaining from meat is meaningless for vegetarians, who must choose some other form of abstinence. It is equally obvious that replacing meat with a gourmet seafood meal is not in keeping with the spirit of Lent. Abstaining from meat may be replaced on Fridays [outside of Lent] during the year with abstaining from some other food. It may also be replaced with time spent reading and studying the Scriptures, special prayers, such as the rosary or visit to the Blessed Sacrament, acts of thoughtfulness and charity to those in need, or acts of personal witness to one’s faith, such as teaching a religion class or speaking out on the sinfulness of abortion, euthanasia, racism, and other social evils.”

The Acadiana Catholic also reminds us: “The Catholic faithful should be reminded of the teaching of Pope Paul VI concerning the seriousness of being faithful to Lenten discipline. He said that the obligation to follow these disciplines in solidarity with the Church is a serious one. However, Catholics should not become scrupulous in this regard. Failure to observe individual days of penance is not considered a serious matter. However, the faithful should look for ways to do more rather than less. Fast and abstinence on days prescribed, and works of religion and charity on the Fridays outside Lent, should be considered a minimal response to the call of Jesus to go up to Jerusalem with Him in order that we might experience true Christian conversion in our lives.”

A Lenten Mission is scheduled at St. Landry Catholic Church on February 22nd, 23rd and 24th. The Director is Father Jerome H. Neyrey, SJ. The mission begins at 6:30 p.m.

A Citywide Penance (Reconciliation) Service is scheduled at St. Landry Catholic Church on March 29 at 6:30 p.m. Please do not wait until the end of Lent to go to confession. Use all of Lent to do penance. The last day for confession before Easter is Wednesday of Holy Week, March 31, 2010. Once the Easter Triduum begins, ordinarily the only celebration sacraments are suspended. The Easter Triduum ends at the conclusion of Evening Prayer. For practical purposes, that means confession resumes on Easter Monday, April 5, 2010.

A Way of the Cross is celebrated on the Fridays of Lent (except Good Friday) in St. Landry Catholic Church at 6:00 p.m. followed by a short period of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. We use the Way of the Cross composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Everyone is welcomed. I especially encourage parents to come with the children.