This liturgical year the Season of Lent begins with ashes on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, and climaxes with Mass on Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017. Lent is the Church's forty-day (the six Sundays are not counted) spiritual pilgrimage toward Easter. Christ Himself prayed and fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert before He entered His public ministry, and in Lent we imitate Christ's days of prayer and fasting in preparation for our redemption.

Ash Wednesday

Many Catholics attend Mass on Ash Wednesday to be marked with ashes as a sign of their own mortality. While all Roman Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday in order to begin the Lenten season with the proper attitude and reflection, Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation. Masses with Distribution of Ashes:

• In Cody: 8:30 am and 5:30 pm.
• In Meeteetse: 5:00 pm.
• In Clark: 7:30 pm.

Fast and Abstinence

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. All other Fridays of Lent are also days of abstinence. Rules on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal; two smaller meals may also be taken, but not to equal a full meal. The rules concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon Catholics from age 14 onwards. Lenten Regulations.