Lent – 2026

 Lent is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the Lenten liturgy prepares for celebration of the Paschal Mystery both catechumens, by the various stages of Christian initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own Baptism and do penance (LY 27).

 On the Season of Lent

 1.  The weekdays of Lent from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Palm Sunday take precedence over the memorials of Saints, which therefore may be celebrated only in the particular form laid down by the liturgical books (IH, 237-239; GIRM, 355 a: see this ORDO, p. ii, n. 5). 

2. Only when some genuine need or pastoral advantage requires it, an appropriate Mass for various needs and occasionmay be celebrated (GIRM, 374).

            Votive Masses and daily Masses for the Dead are prohibited (GIRM, 381).

3. The Alleluia is always omitted, both in the liturgy of the Hours and in the celebration of the Eucharist.

4. The Te Deum and the Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) are said or sung on solemnities, on feasts and in particular celebrations.

5. In the weekday Office, the Invitatory antiphon, the Hymns for the Office of Readings, for Lauds and for Vespers, and the antiphon at the Middle Hour are taken from those prescribed for the liturgical time. 

6. It is not permitted to adorn the altar with flowers, and the organ and other instruments may only be played for the purpose of sustaining singing. An exception is made for Laetare Sunday (4^th Sunday of Lent), and for solemnities and feasts (CB, 252).

7. For the celebration of marriages, the parish priest should alert spouses to the need to take account of the particular penitential character of this season (OM, 32).