Ash Wednesday is on February 17, and it marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day liturgical season of penance, reflection, and fasting. On this day, we fast and abstain from eating meat. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation. 

A SAME AND DIFFERENT
ASH WEDNESDAY IN 2021

We have had a year filled with different ways of living and praying. There are fewer people in our “outdoor church”. Less singing. Communion only in the hand. Yet we still pray.

Instead of giving ashes as a cross on the forehead -- unsafe in this Covid time --, we can still receive them by sprinkling on the top of the head (permitted by our ritual rules). We will look a little cleaner. We can still enter into Lent with a repentant heart and believe in the Gospel. We will still bear ashes home to begin our lenten practices
 

Fast and Abstinence 

Everyone 14 years of age and older is bound to abstain from meat on all Fridays of Lent. Those age 18-60 and in good health are to also fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 

Fasting means only one full meal is allowed. Two other meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken, but together they should not equal another full meal. Also no food intake between meals, but liquids are allowed. 

Mass and Liturgy of the Word Schedule