ASH WEDNESDAY is TODAY
Ash Wednesday, as well as Good Friday, is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.
Fasting: for the day, eat no more than one full meal and two smaller meals, which don’t add up to the one full meal. The obligation for fasting applies to Catholics aged 18-59.
Abstinence: for the day, refrain from eating meat – though fish and seafood are permitted. The obligation for abstaining from meat applies to Catholics aged 14-59.
Catholics are exempted from fasting and abstinence if they are outside the age rackets, or if they are physically or mentally ill (especially with conditions like diabetes). Also exempted are pregnant and nursing women and those whose work involves hard, physical
labour.
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The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.
— Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
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