Please join us in our celebrations during Lent and Easter.
Printable St. Max Schedule

Check out >Ascension Press Lenten resources< for help in preparing for a informative season.

Your Guide to a Catholic Lent: Everything you need for a more spiritual Lent.
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WHAT IS LENT AND WHAT DO I DO?

Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ's death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. Contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting tradition in this reflection. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God's gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446).

In Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared their desire to become Catholics. (USCCB RESOURCE)

Looking for something good to read for Lent? We love to share our favorite books! Here’s what our staff is reading for Lent this year? Check out Scott and Kimberly Hahn at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology for good reads and insight on Lent. Click HERE .

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