Lent

Lent begins Ash Wednesday, 2/10/16 - Ashes will be distributed to your children during class time on Wednesday, but even better: Mass will be celebrated immediately after the Wednesday night CCD class-- at 7:00pm! Other Masses on Ash Wednesday are 7am, 8am, and 10am.

Stations of the Cross during Lent 2016 - Friday evenings at the Gazebo (outside): 5:45pm in French/Latin AND Friday evenings in the church: 6:30pm in English, 7:30pm in Spanish. Make it a family tradition! Dine at the Knights of Columbus' Fish Fry before praying the Stations on 2/12, 2/26, 3/4, or 3/11 starting at 4pm.

Fasting and Abstinence during Lent - Abstinence happens every Friday of Lent. All people 14 years of age and older observe abstinence; this means that you aren't supposed to eat meat on those days. There is no restriction on the size of the meals. Fasting happens twice during Lent, on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. On these fast days, you should eat 3 meals, two small and one larger; the two small ones together should still be smaller than the larger one. Snacking/eating between the 3 meals is not allowed, but drinking milk and veggie or fruit juices is allowed. Both fasting days are days of abstinence, so eat no meat. Only healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 59 should fast; pregnant women are exempt. It's not easy to fast, and it might not be easy to abstain-- are you up for the challenge? Do an Internet search for healthy, inexpensive meals with alternate proteins like beans and legumes, whole and transformed into other products like tofu. When you are tempted to snack, say a prayer... remember the line Jesus taught us in the Our Father? "Lead us not into temptation".... The whole point of fasting and abstaining is to become more aware of the many ways temptation, abuse, and sin are in our lives: respond to your new awareness by praying!