The Catholic faithful worldwide began the 40-day Lent period on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, ahead of the Easter season, where they will celebrate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Lent season that mainly focuses on the Christians heart on prayer and repentance starts with Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday, therefore, marks the first day of the 40-day Lenten period and is the preparation, leading to the Holy Week, which celebrates the Passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.
At St. Joseph the Worker, Mumbi Catholic Church, Catholic Diocese of Murang’a, Christians in their hundreds thronged the Sanctuary at 6.20 a.m. to mark the day.
The Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Robert Ngaruro, while celebrating the Ash Wednesday Mass, urged the Christian faithful to embrace repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during the season, as they await the ultimate celebration of Christ’s triumph over death.
“By placing ashes on your face as a believer accompanied by the words that ‘you are dust and unto dust you shall return’, we put an emphasis on mortality and the need for repentance,” he said.
“Spend more time in prayer, reflective meditation, and repentance, and turn your hearts to God as the church helps us to prepare well for the death and resurrection of Jesus,” he added.
Fr. Ngaruro asked the Christians to participate in acts of charity and almsgiving.
“Remember the poor, the vulnerable, the sick, and even those imprisoned. Share with them the mercy of God, as we strive to mend our relationship with God, our creator, and others, let our fasting be accompanied by works of mercy,” he said.
He underscored the need for all, to improve their prayer lives by creating more appropriate time to pray, because we often fall short of this, due to the daily activities of our day to day life and we find that we lack alertness, while praying because we are too tired.
“Create more time for prayer and embrace fasting, not to be seen, but we will grow in our faith and give us the strength to resist temptation and ultimately celebrate Easter as victors,” noted Fr. Ngaruro.
Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting and is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence.
During the celebration, the Christians had ashes applied on their foreheads in the shape of a cross, followed by the words ‘you are dust, and unto dust you shall return’.
The ashes are obtained by burning the palms used in the previous year’s Palm Sunday service.
By Florence Kinyua
