Back when I worked as an apologist with Catholic Answers we received a lot of questions around this time of year. Perhaps the most common was, "are Sunday's excluded from Lent?"

The answer is . . . are you ready for this?

No. Sunday's are not excluded from Lent. According to the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, "Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord's Supper exclusive" (28).

No exceptions are given for Sunday's during Lent. In fact, a couple of paragraphs later the GN says: "The Sundays of this season are called the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent. The Sixth Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, is called Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday)" (30).

So there you have it. Now, does that mean that we cannot choose to allow ourselves the things we voluntarily gave up for lent? No, it doesn't. These voluntary fasts are personal devotions. Because they have been voluntarily taken up, we can choose to set them aside.

That said, be awesome and sacrifice this Lent. What my P.E coach told me in middle-school applies to Lent also, "mate, if it's not hurting, you're not doing it right."