Days of Penance

Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance. The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year – Lent and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord, are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice.

All members of the Christian faithful are, in their own way, bound to do penance in virtue of divine law. In order that all may be joined in a common observance of penance penitential days are prescribed in which the Christian faithful, in a special way, pray; exercise works of piety and charity; and deny themselves by fulfilling their responsibilities more faithfully, and especially by observing fast and abstinence according to the following:

The time of Lent and all Fridays of the year are, throughout the universal Church, days and times especially appropriate for spiritual exercises; penitential liturgies; pilgrimages as signs of penance; voluntary self-denial, such as fasting and almsgiving.
Abstinence from meat (or some other food if fish is your favorite) or another penitential practice, according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops, is to be observed on each Friday of the year unless it is a solemnity. Fast and abstinence from meat are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence. All adults (18 and older) are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by a law of fast or abstinence are educated nevertheless in an authentic sense of penance.
It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observances of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast or abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety and missionary works.
Diocesan bishops can proclaim special days of penance for their own dioceses or territories, but only for individual occasions.

Works of Mercy

The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor’s spiritual and bodily necessities. Giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity; it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.

Corporal Spiritual

Feeding the hungry	Counseling the doubtful
Giving drink to the thirsty	Instructing the ignorant
Clothing the naked	Admonishing sinners
Sheltering the homeless	Comforting the afflicted
Visiting the sick	Forgiving offenses
Visiting the imprisoned	Bearing wrongs patiently
Burying the dead	Praying for the living and the dead