Lend Needy A Hand

Pope John Paul II marked Ash Wednesday by sending money to flood-stricken Mozambique and calling on Catholics to aid the needy as part of their traditional Lent acts of fasting and personal sacrifice. Following the pre-Lenten celebrations that culminate in Fat Tuesday, Lent opens four weeks of contemplation and repentance leading up to Catholicism’s primary feast day of Easter. Catholics often mark Lent with acts of contrition, such as renouncing meat, alcohol or sweets. But the Pope called for even more sacrifice. “Abstinence and fasting must be accompanied by gestures of solidarity toward those suffering and going through difficult moments,” the pope said in his weekly public audience in Rome.