Lent / Easter News
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Catholic Online • 1/30/2011
Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy Principles and Guidelines. VATICAN CITY - Lent 124. Lent precedes and prepares for Easter. It is a time to hear the Word of God, to convert, to prepare for and remember Baptism, to be reconciled with God and one's neighbour, and of more frequent ...
Fifth Sunday of Easter. Love One Another: Living Easter in our Daily Lives
By • Catholic Online • 5/2/2010
Anyone who wants to live true Christianity is called to live selflessly. Does a true mother complain when she must awaken in the middle of the night to care for her sick child? What father who really loves his family will complain about the daily sacrifices that he must make to support ...
The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd We Need
By • Catholic Online • 4/23/2010
Jesus is the Good Shepherd we desperately need. He laid his life down for us. True shepherding is a life of total self-giving. Sheep without a shepherd have no defense against the wolves of this world. Our land has become a land of orphans; children have become ...
Third Sunday of Easter: The Apostle Peter Teaches Us Lessons From Failure
By • Catholic Online • 4/16/2010
Peter teaches us that failure is an opportunity to love better and stronger. By beginning again and again, failure is an opportunity to love God and neighbor even more. When you can truly love, you will never fear failure and sin, because failure and sin become opportunities to love ...
Parishes Preparing for Divine Mercy Sunday
By • Catholic Online • 4/10/2010
"....When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying not as the just judge but as the Merciful Savior." This Sunday now has an even greater focus, based on the devotion of St. Faustina Kowalska of Poland to Divine Mercy. With the Second Sunday ...
The Truth about Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday
By • Catholic Online • 4/10/2010
Though it started out from a revelation that was made by Jesus to Saint Faustina, it is now an official feast in the Catholic Church. Divine Mercy Sunday is not to be considered part of a private devotion. There are still some things that are considered devotional that are associated with "Divine ...
A Sign of Hope: Jesus, The Divine Mercy
By • Catholic Online • 4/10/2010
The Divine Mercy image that Jesus asked to be blessed and venerated on that feast is an image of hope. It is an icon to draw us into the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion with great trust. It is the perfect representation of those sacraments with its light rays symbolizing the life blood ...
Pope Benedict, Good Liturgy, Sacred Art and the Divine Mercy Image
By • Catholic Online • 4/10/2010
Pope Benedict XVI, at the turn of the millennium, in one of his best known books, "The Spirit of the Liturgy" wrote extensively on the need for sacred art in every Catholic Church. He wrote of the misunderstanding of Vatican II and how the removal and destruction of images, in his own words, "left ...
Lessons from Catholic History: Ball Games Are an Easter Celebration?
By • Catholic Online • 4/5/2010
Commenting on a number of Easter traditions that have arisen over the centuries, the Catholic Encyclopedia includes ritual handball games in medieval Europe:"In France, handball playing was one of the Easter amusements, found also in Germany. The ball may represent the sun, which is believed to ...
Reflecting on the Resurrection: Why did Jesus Rise with Wounds?
By • Catholic Online • 4/5/2010
What lesson is the Lord teaching us by keeping his wounds intact? Perhaps we can better answer this question by turning to our own wounds. All of us are wounded. By retaining the wounds of his passion in His Resurrected Body, the glorified Jesus is showing us that we can find hope and strength ...
More Easter / Lent
'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead' - Luke 24:46
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. continue reading
Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. (Mark 11:1.11, Matthew 21:1.11, Luke 19:28.44, and John 12:12.19) ... continue reading
On Palm Sunday, we celebrate the first joy of the season, as we celebrate Our Lord's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem where he was welcomed by crowds worshiping him and laying down palm leaves before him. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week... continue reading
HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances. It celebrates his last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover ... continue reading
On Good Friday, each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption. In the solemn ceremonies of Holy Week we unite ourselves to our Savior, and we contemplate our own death to sin in the Death of our Lord ... continue reading
Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I (Sermo xlvii in Exodum) calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum), and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. It is the centre of the greater part of the ecclesiastical year ... continue reading
Explore Easter, Lent & Pentecost Season
For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere. Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). continue reading
Everything answered from when does lent end, ashes, giving something up, stations of the cross and blessed palms. The key to understanding the meaning of Lent is simple: Baptism... continue reading
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. First Station: Jesus is condemned to death... pray the stations now
What did you give up for Lent?
From the humorous to the bizarre, people have had interesting Lenten experiences. Tell us about what you are going to give up for this Lenten Year.
What others gave up »
Lent / Easter News
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The Power of the Resurrection in our Lives: Christ Is Risen; Indeed, He Is Risen!
F. K. Bartels - Catholic Online, 4/6/2013There is great cause for belief in the Resurrection. One of the most wonderful tenets of Catholicism and the true Christian religion the Church transmits, is that the Resurrection is a historical ...Continue Reading
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What a Day! What a Way, the Easter Way, Alleluia!
Deacon Keith Fournier - Catholic Online, 4/1/2013Have you have heard the old adage, used often in a disparaging way, He´s so heavenly he is no earthly good. I suggest again that it misses the mark completely. We are Easter people. We are called to ...Continue Reading
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The Surprise of Easter
Fr. Randy Sly - Catholic Online, 3/31/2013To make sure that all mankind knows that it is not over but actually just beginning, God has an Easter bombshell. While we may have been able to anticipate the wondrous joy of a day of resurrection, ...Continue Reading
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Easter Vigil Homily of Pope Francis: Let the Risen Jesus Enter Your Life
Pope Francis - Catholic Online, 3/31/2013Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter ...Continue Reading
Good Friday
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On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes her gaze on the Cross at Calvary. Each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption.
The Cross
In the symbol of the Cross we can see the magnitude of the human tragedy, the ravages of original sin, and the infinite love of God. Learn More
Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.
The Ashes
The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. Learn More
Stations of the Cross
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Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion.
Opening Prayer
ACT OF CONTRITION. O my God, my Redeemer, behold me here at Thy feet. From the bottom of my heart... Pray the Stations
Fasting & Abstinence
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'Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed' Lk. 5:35
Abstinence. The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted.
Fasting. The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday (Canon 97) to the 59th Birthday (i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday) to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal.
Learn More »
