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Ash Wednesday, Fasting & Lent

Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation? Why do we receive ashes? What are the Church's rules on fasting and abstinence? Fr. Chris Alar, MIC has the answers to these and other questions about the holy season of Lent that we are entering into.

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In this third and final episode explaining the different parts of the holy sacrifice of the Catholic Mass, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, concludes the Liturgy of the Eucharist with the distribution of Holy Communion, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the sending forth of the faithful to share the abundance of graces received in the Mass.
The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011426.cfm Father Chris Alar, MIC, reflects on the heart of the discernment of every vocation: learning to listen to God. Vocation is not just about priesthood or religious life — it is the unique call God has placed in your life. Marriage, single life, priesthood, religious life — each is holy, each is purposeful, and each is a path to sanctity when lived in prayer and trust.
Saint Faustina wrote:"Our meals shall be such that not even the poor will have any reason to envy us" (546). So, it's no surprise that St. Faustina didn't eat meat on Fridays even outside of Lent. That was Canon Law. But since St. Faustina's time, Canon Law has allowed us, depending on our bishops conferences, to choose another penance on Fridays in place of abstaining from meat. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops allow a substitute penance. Nevertheless, the USCCB gives "first place to abstinence from flesh meat" (24, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence)