Why do you see covered statues and crucifixes during the last weeks of Lent? The custom of veiling the images during the last two weeks of Lent hails from the old 1962 liturgical calendar in which the Passion was read on the Fifth Sunday of Lent (hence called “Passion Sunday”) as well as on Palm Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week, and Good Friday. In the new liturgical calendar the Passion is read-only on Palm Sunday and Good Friday; although oftentimes, even in the new calendar, one will still see statues and crucifixes covered from the fifth Sunday of Lent until the celebration of the Easter Vigil. The Church has used veils to alert the faithful of the special time that we are in and approaching. When one walks into the church and
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By Rev. John Broussard, C.P.M. It has been a long-standing tradition in the Church that during the Fridays of Lent Catholics all over the world abstain from eating flesh meat products. Somewhat less well known is the fact that before the Second Vatican Council, Catholics also gave up meat every Friday of the year, not just during Lent. A common question that gets asked is, “do I still need to give up meat on Fridays every day of the year or did that change after the Second Vatican Council?” The answer to this question is: yes and no. In the current Code of Canon Law (the official “rule book” of the Church) it states: Can. 1250 “The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the
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