How do i observe lent?

[xmydreamsfadex]

i’m in RCIA and i’m new at this, but how do i observe lent? what are some of the ‘rules’ of lent? when do i fast? when can i eat meat. i’m sure it’s on the web somewhere but i can’t find it.

 

[BeeSweet]

This is a good place to start learning:

Penitential Practices for Today’s Catholics

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinance. All Fridays of Lent are days of abstinance.

 

[RichT]

Your RCIA program should be teaching you this along the way.

 

[Pani_Rose]

i’m in RCIA and i’m new at this, but how do i observe lent? what are some of the ‘rules’ of lent? when do i fast? when can i eat meat. i’m sure it’s on the web somewhere but i can’t find it.

Here is a discussion going here that might help…
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=131010

 

[vince2paul]

All Fridays of Lent are days of abstinance.

Is this an obligation?
Is this applied to Catholics around the world?
Or it can be modified by bishop, etc?

Well, my friend had an argument with the youth leaders and the other youths, because they believed it’s optional.

 

[stbruno]

Yes, abstinence is a regulation…you can read about it from this document usccb.org/lent/2007/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf

1. In keeping with the letter and spirit of Pope Paul’s Constitution
   *Poenitemini, *we preserved for our dioceses the tradition of abstinence
   from meat on each of the Fridays of Lent, confident that no
   Catholic Christian will lightly hold himself excused from this
   penitential practice.
2. For all other weekdays of Lent, we strongly recommend participation
   in daily Mass and a self-imposed observance of fasting. In the
   light of grave human needs which weigh on the Christian conscience
   in all seasons, we urge, particularly during Lent, generosity to local,
   national, and world programs of sharing of all things needed to translate
   our duty to penance into a means of implementing the right of
   the poor to their part in our abundance. We also recommend
   spiritual studies, beginning with the Scriptures as well as the
   traditional Lenten Devotions (sermons, Stations of the Cross, and the
   rosary), and all the self-denial summed up in the Christian concept
   of “mortification.”

On some Fridays,dispensation may be granted by the pastor of a parish or the bishop of the diocese. But this is an exception, not the norm.

 

[BeeSweet]

Is this an obligation?
Is this applied to Catholics around the world?
Or it can be modified by bishop, etc?

Well, my friend had an argument with the youth leaders and the other youths, because they believed it’s optional.

Yes, it can be modified by the Bishop, as is sometimes the case on St. Patrick’s day. My Archdiocese website has this to say about Friday abstinance:

Abstinence binds all persons who have completed their 14th birthday, unless prevented by poor health. On days of abstinence, the consumption of meat is not allowed. The Church strongly encourages the observance of Friday abstinence, but failure to do so is not regarded as sinful.

So basically they ask you to abstain, but if you don’t, it’s not something that would require you to confess or abstain from the Eucharist.