Novus Ordo words for imposition of ashes
‘Repent and believe in the Gospel’[1]
So innocuous, means nothing
Ex/ kids destroy their room is messy, please pick up room, incapable of being followed
Why repent? Turn away from sin, have an action to be faithful
Practical Suggestions
-Take a few weeks prior to Ash Wednesday to prayerful consider your penance. Ask the Holy Spirit and your guardian angel to walk with you.
Not one is perfect, each given a new day. Lent moment by moment endeavor. Don’t conquer 40 days, today one can do.
-Receive your Ashes with humility and contrition as if you heard the horns of Shofar calling for a day of mourning and a return to the Lord.
Joel 2:14-15
Sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God;
and cry to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
-Fast as is appropriate for your situation and in accord with Church norms if possible. I know of someone who has an eating disorder and with the bishop’s permission has been dispensed with the norms.
-Fasting Norms for both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.[2]
CHAPTER II.
Days of Penance
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.[3]
-Fridays days of abstinence unless bishop has issued a dispensation see Code of Canon Law #1249-1253
-Prayer, use this special time of the liturgical season to draw closer in conversation with Our Lord
-Confession to be in the proper state to receive the plenary indulgences note a guide for good confession [4]
-Stations of the Cross, either in a setting in a building or at home as a couple or family. In either setting, communal is to be preferred over solitary. Recall, where 2 or 3 are gathered I am in your midst. If alone, remember that the heavenly court prays with you and thus one is never ‘really’ alone.
Chinese suffering Church, they cannot even bring their children into mass, what a wonderful opportunity.
[1] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1350 accessed February 26, 2020
[2] http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence.cfm accessed February 10. 2020
[3] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM accessed February 10, 2020
[4] http://www.divinemercysunday.com/pdf/ConfessionGuide2.pdf accessed February 10, 2020
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