Ash Wednesday Evening (ESP)

Lent begins Wednesday, February 18, and extends until Holy Thursday, April 2. Lent is the penitential season of the Church year, calling all Christians to penance and reconciliation. Ash Wednesday, the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat. On those days, all who are 14 years old and above are asked not to eat meat (beef, chicken, pork, lamb, etc.). There is no upper age limit to the law of abstinence. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, those between the ages of 18 and 59 are asked to fast. On these days, we eat one full meal and two smaller meals, without snacks during the day. Those whose health could be negatively affected by fasting are automatically dispensed from fasting. Fasting and abstinence offer us the opportunity to be bound together in a common practice of penance, observed by all on the same days. As such, we support and encourage one another.

In addition to penance, Lent is traditionally a time for prayer and almsgiving/care for the poor. Through these three good works, we deepen our relationship to and our dependence upon the Lord. The parish gives copies of The Little Black for Lent/El Librito Negro to assist in our daily prayer, offering a brief meditation for each day of the season. Remaining copies are in the vestibule in both languages. On Ash Wednesday, ashes will be blessed and imposed on all during Mass that day. At Saint Clare, Masses will be at 8:00 am (English), 12:10 pm (English/Spanish), 5:30 pm (English) and 7:00 pm (Spanish). We hear the call to repentance (“Repent, and believe in the Gospel”) as we are marked with ashes is also a communal act of recognizing our humanity, which is prone to failures in living the life of Christ, and our commitment to reform our lives.