Ash Wednesday and Lent

02 March 2022 Annual, Chant, Francine my love, Holy Days, Latin, Moments in Time, Pope Francis I, Pope Saint Paul VI, Seasons, The Sacred Liturgy

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun.

Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence.

For Francine and I, we’ll be taking that somewhat literally, as we begin training in earnest for our upcoming Camino Primitivo.

Let us walk together in the Lord.

In the past, my home Archdiocese of Seattle has published “Lenten Regulations” to remind us what is expected of every Christian during Lent, which begins today.

This year, however, they are not to be found. Instead, we have a web page called “Lent 2022 Inspiration and Resources“, which I heartily recommend to you. The fasting and abstinence guidelines have been compiled into an easy infographic, and there are reflections for each week of Lent.

The Lenten regulations have varied greatly over the centuries. Sometimes they have been stricter, and sometimes more lax. For folks who might wish to go a little deeper into the older observances for Lent, I offer this chart from 1953.