Lent is the observance of prayer, fasting and abstinence, and almsgiving before Easter. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Catholics prepare their hearts for the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord. During Lent, many Catholics choose to go the extra mile and “give up” something like candy, TV, or late-night snacks. The only prescribed days of fasting and abstinence are Ash Wednesday, every Friday of Lent, and Good Friday.

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
 

For a comprehensive guide to the 2018 Lenten season, with suggested prayers, devotionals, calendar, and other interesting information, check out the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Holy Father's message for Lent 2018

“Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt 24: 12)

CONFESSION

As Catholics, we are encouraged to make the Sacrament of Confession a more significant part of our spiritual life during Lent. 

Check out our confession guide if you haven't been in a while and find confession times near you using the Parish Finder.
 

POPES AND SAINTS SPEAK

Lent is a privileged time of interior pilgrimage towards Him Who is the fount of mercy. It is a pilgrimage in which He Himself accompanies us through the desert of our poverty, sustaining us on our way towards the intense joy of Easter. Even in the “valley of darkness” of which the Psalmist speaks (Ps 23:4), while the tempter prompts us to despair or to place a vain hope in the work of our own hands, God is there to guard us and sustain us. Yes, even today the Lord hears the cry of the multitudes longing for joy, peace, and love.  As in every age, they feel abandoned. Yet, even in the desolation of misery, loneliness, violence and hunger that indiscriminately afflict children, adults, and the elderly, God does not allow darkness to prevail.  In fact, in the words of my beloved Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, there is a “divine limit imposed upon evil”, namely, mercy (Memory and Identity, pp. 19ff.).

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2006

Our primitive rule states that we must pray without ceasing. If we do this with all the care possible — for unceasing prayer is the most important aspect of the rule — the fasts, the disciplines, and the silence the order commands will not be wanting. For you already know that if prayer is to be genuine, it must be helped by these other things; prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.

St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection

Now the soul who wishes to rise above imperfection should await My Providence in the House of Self-Knowledge,with the light of faith, as did the disciples, who remained in the house in perseverance and in watching, and in humble and continual prayer, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. She should remain fasting and watching, the eye of her intellect fastened on the doctrine of My Truth, and she will become humble because she will know herself in humble and continual prayer and holy and true desire.

Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena

The efforts of Christians to promote justice, their commitment in defence of the powerless, their humanitarian work in providing bread for the hungry and their care for the sick by responding to every emergency and need, draw their strength from that sole and inexhaustible treasury of love which is the complete gift of Jesus to the Father. Believers are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who, in perfect obedience to the will of the Father, emptied himself (cf. Phil 2:6 ff), and humbly gave himself to us in selfless and total love, even unto death on a cross. Calvary eloquently proclaims the message of the Blessed Trinity’s love for human beings of all times and places.

Saint Augustine points out that only God, as the Supreme Good, is capable of overcoming the various forms of poverty present in our world. Mercy and love for one’s neighbour must therefore be the fruit of a living relationship with God and have God as their constant point of reference, since it is in closeness to Christ that we find our joy (cf. De Civitate Dei, X, 6; CCL 39:1351ff).

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II FOR LENT 2003

Quotes found at DiningwithGod.org

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