An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines yesterday appealed to candidates in the May 13 midterm polls not to use the Ash Wednesday observance to advance their interests.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, aired the appeal, noting how some candidates in the past used a religious occasion for “photo opportunity.”
“This is a temptation to candidates this Lent as it provides an opportunity to be seen entering the church to show that they are pro-God because people vote for those they believe are pro-God,” Gariguez said. “Don’t get ashes on your forehead if you are only after photo opportunities,” added Gariguez.
He explained that the imposition of ashes on the forehead is a reminder to everyone to repent for their sins. “If that is not what is on your mind you are being a hypocrite,” Gariguez said.
As Catholics observe Ash Wednesday today which starts the 40-day Lenten season – a time of reflection and repentance – a Church leader, Balanga Bishop Ruperto C. Santos, reminded the faithful “to repent and be sorry for their sins. Ash Wednesday is a call to conversion as it reminds us that life has an end.”
“With ash on our foreheads, we are reminded that this life has an end – “For thou art dust, and to dust thou shall return” (Genesis 3:19). As we remember our roots, knowing that our physical body will one day return to earth and our soul to God, we are called to repent,” said Santos.
“Ash Wednesday, as it opens the season of Lent, is a reminder for us to have a change of heart, placing ash from the burned palm leaves reminds us who and what we are and where we are heading. We are from God, and to God we shall return. God created us, thus we belong to Him,” Santos added.
In all masses across the country, priests in purple vestments – the color of penance –will mark the foreheads of the faithful with a cross from blessed ashes with the reminder “Thou art dust and unto dust thou shall return” and to “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
The ashes from the burnt palm fronds or “palaspas” from last year’s Palm Sunday observance serve as a reminder to the faithful that this holy day must be observed as a day of fasting, abstinence, prayer, reflection, and repentance. (Leslie Ann Aquino and Christina Hermoso)
