Lent / Easter News
So that is why they call it Fat Tuesday
By • Catholic Online • 3/8/2011
Maybe that's why they call it "Fat Tuesday," the day of celebration before the beginning of Lent at Mardi Gras celebrations. In Brazil, the celebrated dance troupe, the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel are strutting their stuff with pride - in spite of what is perceived as "negative body ...
The Happy Priest: Finding True Freedom through Obedience to the Lord
By • Catholic Online • 3/7/2011
Obedience is a difficult virtue because sometimes the truth really does hurt. But, we need to conform our lives to God's will, not our own. I for one will continue preaching the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church, even if there are five people left in the pews. The ...
Ask Dr. Denton: It's Lent. Can You Explain the Effects of Fasting?
By • Catholic Online • 3/6/2011
Fasting gives us, body and soul, a spring cleaning. PORTSMOUTH, VA. (Catholic Online) - Dear Dr Denton: As the Lenten season unfolds, can you tell me the effects of fasting on my body? Recently, I awakened to a new Lenten season. Lent is truly my favorite spiritual time of ...
The Happy Priest: Getting Ready For Lent
By • Catholic Online • 3/4/2011
Lenten practices of penance have great benefits for our whole life, body, soul and spirit. A serious Lent will be like a spring cleaning which will purify the clutter that has accumulated in our souls. A serious commitment to penance will also help us to conquer addictions, obsessions ...
A Lenten Reflection: Voluntary Self-Denial
By • Catholic Online • 3/2/2011
We do not get closer to God by living as materialists whose lives are spent seeking pleasure, comfort and ease. GLADE PARK, CO (Catholic Online) - During the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself to "the mystery of Jesus in the desert," where Christ, led by the spirit to be tempted by ...
A Lenten Reflection On Repentance
By • Catholic Online • 3/1/2011
St. Maximus the Confessor once wrote: 'God's will is to save us, and nothing please him more than our coming back to Him in true repentance' GLADE PARK, CO (Catholic Online) - As Catholics recite the daytime prayer midmorning antiphon in the Liturgy of the Hours, "The time of penance has come, the ...
Lent in a Secular Age
By • Catholic Online • 3/1/2011
The life of the Church has always been affected, for good and for ill, by historical circumstances and by the surrounding culture. Is Lent 'a holy retreat of forty days during which we are to regain purity of soul' anymore? WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - The life of the Church has always been ...
Lenten Reflection: A Barren Heart, God is in the Desert
By • Catholic Online • 3/1/2011
Though I hate the desert, may I wait for Him there. Whether He speaks or not, I will pray. If I feel nothing at all, I will praise Him. CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - I'm not one to mince words: I hate the desert. I have spent too many years of my life living in ...
The Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ
By • Catholic Online • 2/2/2011
CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - Throughout our Lenten observance we will be publishing treasures from our 2000 year history. This excerpt entitled "the Precious and Life giving Cross of Christ" was written by St. Theodore the Studite. This holy monk was one of the last of the early Fathers of ...
Lent with the Fathers: 'Circumcision of the Heart'
By • Catholic Online • 1/31/2011
Blessed, then, are those who are circumcised in heart, and have been reborn in water through the second circumcision. CHESAPEAKE (Catholic Online) - Called the "Persian Sage" by many, this Bishop of the early church was a monk named Aphraates. The first of the Syriac Church Fathers, he is believed ...
More Easter / Lent
'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead' - Luke 24:46
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. continue reading
Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. (Mark 11:1.11, Matthew 21:1.11, Luke 19:28.44, and John 12:12.19) ... continue reading
On Palm Sunday, we celebrate the first joy of the season, as we celebrate Our Lord's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem where he was welcomed by crowds worshiping him and laying down palm leaves before him. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week... continue reading
HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances. It celebrates his last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover ... continue reading
On Good Friday, each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption. In the solemn ceremonies of Holy Week we unite ourselves to our Savior, and we contemplate our own death to sin in the Death of our Lord ... continue reading
Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I (Sermo xlvii in Exodum) calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum), and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. It is the centre of the greater part of the ecclesiastical year ... continue reading
Explore Easter, Lent & Pentecost Season
For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere. Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). continue reading
Everything answered from when does lent end, ashes, giving something up, stations of the cross and blessed palms. The key to understanding the meaning of Lent is simple: Baptism... continue reading
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. First Station: Jesus is condemned to death... pray the stations now
What did you give up for Lent?
From the humorous to the bizarre, people have had interesting Lenten experiences. Tell us about what you are going to give up for this Lenten Year.
What others gave up »
Lent / Easter News
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The Power of the Resurrection in our Lives: Christ Is Risen; Indeed, He Is Risen!
F. K. Bartels - Catholic Online, 4/6/2013There is great cause for belief in the Resurrection. One of the most wonderful tenets of Catholicism and the true Christian religion the Church transmits, is that the Resurrection is a historical ...Continue Reading
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What a Day! What a Way, the Easter Way, Alleluia!
Deacon Keith Fournier - Catholic Online, 4/1/2013Have you have heard the old adage, used often in a disparaging way, He´s so heavenly he is no earthly good. I suggest again that it misses the mark completely. We are Easter people. We are called to ...Continue Reading
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The Surprise of Easter
Fr. Randy Sly - Catholic Online, 3/31/2013To make sure that all mankind knows that it is not over but actually just beginning, God has an Easter bombshell. While we may have been able to anticipate the wondrous joy of a day of resurrection, ...Continue Reading
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Easter Vigil Homily of Pope Francis: Let the Risen Jesus Enter Your Life
Pope Francis - Catholic Online, 3/31/2013Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter ...Continue Reading
Good Friday
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On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes her gaze on the Cross at Calvary. Each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption.
The Cross
In the symbol of the Cross we can see the magnitude of the human tragedy, the ravages of original sin, and the infinite love of God. Learn More
Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.
The Ashes
The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. Learn More
Stations of the Cross
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Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion.
Opening Prayer
ACT OF CONTRITION. O my God, my Redeemer, behold me here at Thy feet. From the bottom of my heart... Pray the Stations
Fasting & Abstinence
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'Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed' Lk. 5:35
Abstinence. The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted.
Fasting. The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday (Canon 97) to the 59th Birthday (i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday) to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal.
Learn More »
