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Lent is the 40-day season of preparation for Easter that ends on Holy Thursday, three days before Easter Sunday. During Lent, Catholics recall their baptism and do penance – fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as they commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ.

Why do Catholics traditionally give something up during Lent? To do penance in preparation for the greatest feast in the Christian calendar.

What is fast and abstinence? Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are universal days of fast and abstinence. Catholics still consider Fridays throughout Lent as days of abstinence. Anyone over the age of 18 and under the age of 59 are obliged to fast and abstain. Fasting, in the Latin Church, is the limitation of food and drink – typically to one main meal and two smaller meals, with no solid foods in between. Abstaining, in this context, is the refraining from certain kinds of food or drink, typically meat. In lieu of fasting, one may substitute works of charity.

LENTEN RESOURCES

• MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2010
• Living Lent
• Celebrating the Season of Lent