Lent Season Begins

Lent is from Feb 10 - Mar 24

Feb 10 is the start of lent and is Ash Wednesday.

During Lent, Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on all the Fridays of Lent. 

They fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

To abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent means to not eat meat on those days.  It does not intend the omission of eggs or dairy products.

The required fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday involves eating only one full meal on those days. One or two smaller meals may be taken on those days, but may not total one full meal.  The required fast does not allow eating anything between meals.

- Code of Canon Law, #1250 - 1253

Can.  1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Can.  1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Can.  1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.

Can.  1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.