As I’m sure I’ve stated before, some of my fondest memories from childhood revolve around the Wednesday dinners we shared every week with my dad’s side of the family in St. Bernard. When it was someone’s birthday, they chose what Gogi Bern would make that evening. Otherwise, we would rotate through a selection of delightful home-cooking from our Grandma, with one notable exception: Ash Wednesday.

Every year on Ash Wednesday there was a
struggle to maintain peace, civility, and even the most basic of human decency on that somber day. The grandkids, usually mollified by a quick snack while doing their homework before dinner, were all running on empty for at least an hour or two before dinner. Even the elder statesmen of the family were showing signs of frayed nerves by
the time we sat down to a meal of fish sticks or whatever meatless victuals were set before us.
It was an unusually tense evening every year, punctuated occasionally by full scale meltdowns, like the tater-tot incident of one forgotten year in the nineties when an unfortunate delay in a side dish nearly ripped our family apart at the seams…
 
Obviously this is a bit dramatic, but I bring it up
in an effort to clarify our requirement as Catholics to fast and abstain during certain days of Lent, and also to push for a more traditional observance of these practices during the rest of the year. You will find below the guidelines published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on fasting and abstinence during the season of Lent. In addition to these, Catholics, previously required to abstain from meat every Friday, have been given permission to transmit this penance into some other form at their
own discretion.

Sadly, this shift in practice was not met with an emphasis on seeking other forms of penance in an effort to grow in holiness, but became an
invitation for people to simply skip the
requirement to do penance on Fridays, which had previously been a touchstone for Catholics around the world. The requirement still remains, albeit in an altered form, and it is a gift for us as Catholic disciples of Christ to be invited to share in Our Lord’s suffering by uniting our small
sacrifices to His life giving sacrifice.

As we journey through Lent, may we seek to
enter into this spirit of sacrifice and mortification of our bodies, and may we do so with humility and the desire to offer our sacrifices for our families, our parishes, and Christians around the world. Know of my prayers for you this Lent, and please continue praying for the spiritual renewal of our region.

Prayers always,
Fr. McCullough
 
Guidelines on fasting and abstinence
during the season of Lent “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory
days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
 
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.

Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church.

If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.”
 
   United States Conference of Catholic Bishops