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Tomorrow we begin the Season of the Great Fast. During each Sunday of the past four weeks, the Church has been preparing us to begin our Lenten journey with a specific Gospel lesson and spiritual food for thought. Let us make every deliberate effort to be more prayerful, humble, merciful and forgiving, abstaining from both food and sin during the next forty days “for now is the season of repentance. Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (from Forgiveness Vespers Stichera). May our journey through the Great Fast be a true experience of spiritual growth and communion with our God who anxiously awaits our response to his love and forgiveness. Although our Church traditionally prescribed abstention from meat and dairy products in days gone by for the entire duration of Lent, the following minimal Lenten regulations are in force in our Eparchy:
1. Abstinence from meat and all dairy products for the First Day of The Great Fast, February 16, 2026 and on Good Friday, April 3, 2026. 2. Abstinence from meat only on all Wednesdays & Fridays of Lent as well as Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026. 3. Reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist during the Pascal season (from the onset of Lent to the Wednesday before Ascension Thursday). Fasting and Abstinence regulations are not binding on persons 60 or older, the very poor, sick, nursing or pregnant women, children before the age of 14, and those who engage in physically very hard labor. Prayer and almsgiving oblige all! |