At the beginning of his public life, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist in the Jordan River. John was a prophet and a preacher, and he urged people to be baptized as a sign of their ...

After this year’s extended period of Ordinary Time, Christian believers will soon begin the penitential season of Lent. St. Luke tells us that after his baptism, the Lord Jesus was “filled with the ...

Catholics are instructed to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, a practice called abstinence. "Meat" is defined as the flesh and organ meat of mammals and fowl — meaning that broth, lard ...

According to the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar: 27. Lent [is a liturgical season that] is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the lenten ...

On Ash Wednesday—Feb. 22 this year— it is traditional for Roman Catholics to go to church, where a priest will put ashes made from burnt palms on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. The ritual ...

Ash Wednesday — which fell on March 5 this year — marked the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period where Christians prepare for ...

Sign up for the best picks from our travel, fashion and lifestyle writers. The Christian season of Lent is well underway, after beginning last month. Christians ...

Alvin Yesudas, a Catholic in the southern Indian state of Kerala, began Lent on Ash Wednesday. His neighbor Babu Antony, also a Catholic, started two days earlier. During Lent, both their families ...