Fast and Abstinence Obligations
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence. The law of fasting (one full meal and two lighter meals) applies to persons who have completed their 18th year to the start of their 60th year. The law of abstinence (forbidding the eating of meat) applies to persons from the completion of their 14th year throughout their life.
Holy Saturday Blessing of Easter Baskets Following 9:30 a.m. prayer and at 12:00 p.m. Families are invited to attend
The custom of blessing Easter food baskets started in the late 1800’s by early Polish immigrants. The Christian significance of Easter is symbolized in the food used for the holiday feast. Baskets with food are lined with white cloth and decorated with ribbons and green branches or pussy willows. A candle is inserted into the basket to represent Christ, the Light of the World. They are then filled with traditional Easter foods to be blessed: colored hardboiled eggs symbolizing new life; a sugar or butter lamb representing Christ, the Lamb of God; bread or a tall decorative cake called Babka; and ham, sausage, salt and pepper.
The food blessed on Holy Saturday is consumed by the family and guests at Easter Sunday breakfast, after Resurrection Mass. The colored eggs are exchanged and offered to friends.
The common components of the Easter basket:
Butter—This reminds us of the goodness of Christ that we should have toward all things.
Easter Bread—A round loaf topped with a cross or fish, symbolic of Jesus, who is our true Bread of Life.
Horseradish with grated red beets—Symbolic of the Passion of Christ still in our minds but sweetened with some sugar because of the Resurrection.
Eggs—Indicate new life and Christ’s resurrection from the tomb.
Sausage-A spicy sausage of pork products, indicative of God’s favor and generosity.
Ham—Symbolic of great joy and abundance.
Smoked bacon—A symbol of the overabundance of God’s mercy and generosity.
Salt—So necessary an element in our physical life, that Jesus used its symbolism: “You are the salt of the earth.”
Cheese—Shaped into a ball, it is the symbol of the moderation Christians should have at all times.