Not confirmed..but interested in Lent

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katpants

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I know we are to give up something but what else is Lent about?

Thanks!

Kat
 
Lent is a penitential season ans a time of preparation for Easter. Its a good time to try to identify and root out the sins and bad practices in your life. You will probably find Lenten devotions in your parish, maybe on Friday nights, such as Stations of the Cross.
 
Lent is a season of penance. Many people do penance by giving something up, and some people do the old discipline of fasting on all days of Lent. It is mandatory to abstain from meat on all Fridays and Ash Wednesday in Lent, and to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (18 years old for fasting, 14 for abstaining). It is also advised even more than the rest of they year to have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance during Lent. The point is to repent of our sins, remove our attachments to sin, and to get rid of the temporal punishment due to sin. We are immersed in considerations of Our Lord’s passion during Lent in preparation for Easter and to move us to contrition.
 
As the others have said, Lent is a penitential season of preparation for Easter. As Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days in preparation for his public ministry, so too do we seek to prepare ourselves to be witnesses to Christ’s saving Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension.

Often, you will hear of the three traditional forms of penance: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. “Giving stuff up” is an example of fasting, and that is what most readily comes to mind for most people. But it is just as important to pray and to be generous with others in need with our gifts of material assistance.

Confiteor Deo mentioned the days on which particular forms of fasting are required for all Catholics. That’s our starting point. But it’s good to do more as we are able to. That doesn’t mean we have to fast on bread and water for 40 days. We may decide to go to daily Mass an extra time or two during the week. Or spend a half hour each day reading the Bible. Or donate food and clothing to a food bank. Or stay away from the internet. 😛

There is no love without sacrifice. Whether we sacrifice our time in prayer, our bodily comforts with fasting, or our money with almsgiving—these acts of penance serve to help us grow in selflessness and love and be more like Jesus.
 
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