Lent asks us to change our lives through fasting, prayer and acts of charity. Lent is about changing the world through these actions but first and foremost it is about changing ourselves, our hearts. Who am I? What have I become? Am I lost in a wilderness of my own making like the people of Israel in the desert refusing to listen to the words of God. Lent asks me to look at my life and to change for the better, for a future that sometimes seems impossible because of the mess I have made. In our world of today Lent is a powerful reminder that despite all the hurt, pain, conflict, injustice, war, scepticism about people and institutions, politics, individualism, failure to see the dignity of human life in the unborn and the dying, in the migrant and in each other, brokenness and division in families and nations, that we can change by turning away from sin and believing in the Good News of the Gospel. Life and love will overcome death and decay. As we begin our 40 days we put crosses on our foreheads and we pray We adore thee O Christ and we praise thee because by thy Holy Cross you have redeemed the world??



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ASH WEDNESDAY is TODAY

Ash Wednesday, as well as Good Friday, is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.

Fasting: for the day, eat no more than one full meal and two smaller meals, which don’t add up to the one full meal. The obligation for fasting applies to Catholics aged 18-59.

Abstinence: for the day, refrain from eating meat – though fish and seafood are permitted. The obligation for abstaining from meat applies to Catholics aged 14-59.

Catholics are exempted from fasting and abstinence if they are outside the age rackets, or if they are physically or mentally ill (especially with conditions like diabetes). Also exempted are pregnant and nursing women and those whose work involves hard, physical
labour.

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The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.
— Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy

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https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/49103


How a young man born in the small town of Ballymote in the north-west of Ireland founded Celtic Football Club in Glasgow in 1888 is not that well known in 2024 - except where he is commemorated in both Glasgow and Ballymote. That man is Brother Walfrid.Andrew Kerins was born on ...

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https://aleteia.org/2024/02/11/when-ash-wednesday-and-valentines-day-are-the-same-day/


This coming Valentine's Day will be different, a romantic celebration marked by ashes. Here's why married couples should welcome that.

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Day of Prayer for Survivors of Abuse - Friday 16th February 2024.
Motherwell Diocese Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh Archdiocese of Glasgow Galloway Diocese Diocese of Paisley Diocese of Argyll & the Isles RC Diocese of Aberdeen

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