Sundays during Lent

[maryjk]

Other penances are voluntary, so, you can do them only on Monday between 2-6 AM or every single day of Lent or anything inbetween - including the Sundays.

I remember when my son was young, around 6, he gave up really big things for lent. TV, various toys/games and the like. BUT he did it one at a time, for a week at a time. So, for a week he gave up TV. Then for a week he gave up army men. And it continued all through Lent.

Some told me that I was going easy on him. But, this was an idea that he came up with. He made a list of things that seemed important to him and gave them up week by week. Since I saw this as a time of personal penance, it seemed perfect to me.

Oh, and he didn’t give up anything on Sunday, that was the transitional day.

 

[Laudate_Dominum]

That is because the regulations for fasting are on Ash Wed and Good Friday - those will never come on a Sunday The regulations for abstaining are for Ash Wed and all the Fridays, again, not going to fall on a Sunday.

Other penances are voluntary, so, you can do them only on Monday between 2-6 AM or every single day of Lent or anything inbetween - including the Sundays.

Read my original post again. I said the traditional practice. There used to be a lot more days of fasting and abstinence in the Latin Church. All the days of Lent were days of fasting for those that it was required of. The Ember Days are another example. But there has never been fasting and abstinence prescribed, except for the Eucharistic fast of course, on Sundays.

Not by mere coincidence. But because of the very nature of Sunday.

 

[Laudate_Dominum]

Some told me that I was going easy on him.

You were going easy on him? That doesn’t make any sense. A six-year-old is not bound to observe any of the prescribed penances. Six-year-olds aren’t even bound to observe the Sunday and Holy Days obligation. That he was giving up things important to him at that age is surely a sign of his love for God.

 

[OraLabora]

No fasting is required on Sunday, because Sundays are ‘of’ Lent, but not ‘in’ Lent. Every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, and, thus, a ‘mini-Easter’.

However, we do ‘tone-down’ the celebratory mood on the Sundays of Lent. Statuary is veiled, brass is often replaced with wood, and the A-word, ‘Alleluia’, is omitted from the Mass. (Except on the Feast of the Annunciation, 25 March.)

Also: the Gloria is omitted on Sundays of Lent, no flowers or decorations of the altar, and the organ is not played. In Gregorian chant the alleluia is replaced by a chanted tract (and the one for the first Sunday is VERY long, about 14-15 minutes, as is the case for Palm Sunday).

Exception, on Laetare Sunday (4th Sunday of Lent, named for the introit “Laetare Jerusalem”), the organ may be played and flowers may be at the altar, and rose vestments may be worn.

 

[MissRose73]

I still observe what I give up for Lent on Sundays even though I could easily eat what I give up: chocolates and various junk food items. I consider it extra penance.

Although, I am not happy with people who think who you should give up your vices all year round like my mother who think I should always forgo ALL junk foods, candies, chocolates, etc when she learned of my Lenten observance. I did purposely make her mad telling her that giving up things was required on Sundays too during Lent when I knew it was not when I was younger (not long out of college). I did go to Confession for that later, but my mother stopped her statements regarding what my Lenten observances are & what I do. I don’t even tell her know what I do for giving up things and personal things to observe the season in a penitential way.

 

[promethius]

I still observe what I give up for Lent on Sundays even though I could easily eat what I give up: chocolates and various junk food items. I consider it extra penance.

Although, I am not happy with people who think who you should give up your vices all year round like my mother who think I should always forgo ALL junk foods, candies, chocolates, etc when she learned of my Lenten observance. I did purposely make her mad telling her that giving up things was required on Sundays too during Lent when I knew it was not when I was younger (not long out of college). I did go to Confession for that later, but my mother stopped her statements regarding what my Lenten observances are & what I do. I don’t even tell her know what I do for giving up things and personal things to observe the season in a penitential way.

Erm… when did junk food, candy, chocolates, etc become vices…??? That’s just a little bit extreme…

Your mother is correct about giving up vices… giving up a vice (a sinful activity) is not a penance, it is a catholic duty (something we are called to do at all times of every day). Lenten observance is about giving up something that we CAN have because its absense will give us pause for greater reflection on God. But to say that eating chocolate is sinful is incorrect (unless, of course, we’re talking about an issue of gluttony or spending so much on chocolate that it becomes unjust… )