Hundreds of Catholic faithful in Nairobi on Wednesday thronged churches to mark the Ash Wednesday Lent season, which starts the 40-day fasting period that will culminate in the Easter celebrations.
Celebrating the Ash Wednesday mass at the Holy Family Minor Basilica today, the Fr. in charge, Rev. Fr. Michael Ndichu, called on the faithful to use the Lent season to reflect on themselves and their relationship with God.
“We have gone astray; let us not cling on our own; listen to the voice that tells us to repent and return to the Lord. There is nothing one has done that is greater than God’s mercy,” said Fr. Ndichu.
He claimed that nowadays, people behave as if God does not exist, saying people should not fill the spaces they have removed God with sloth and corruption by using the positions they hold to amass wealth.
He noted that the Lent period is a season where the faithful should be prayerful, observe fasting and give alms to the less fortunate in society, and called upon those giving alms to do it for the benefit of others without blowing a trumpet for their generosity.
“Fasting is not only from food, but from other sinful ways such as gossip, corruption vices and being insincere,” said the prelate.
Fr. Ndichu observed that people in the country have become greedy through amassing wealth, whereas others are in need in the hospitals while families are in crisis due to the challenges they are facing.
“The mess we find ourselves in is our own doing; we should look at ourselves. Ask yourselves, What is your contribution to what we are experiencing currently as a nation?” stressed Fr. Ndichu.
He added, “We must take the lead by being charitable and taking care of each other. Fight the battle of overcoming pride, anger, gluttony, and lust, and pray for the gift of humility.”
During the mass, priests administered ashes on the foreheads of the faithful by making a sign of the cross, symbolising penance and contrition.
In his sermon, Rev. Fr. Boniface Kimani told the faithful to start the Lent journey with humility, to repent and believe in the gospel, while reminding them that the ash that has been administered on their foreheads was a reminder that they came from dust and they would return to dust.
“This is a sign that reminds us of remorsefulness, repentance and preparation that there is death. We are all sinners; therefore, we should ask forgiveness and mercy from God,” he urged, adding that whatever people possessed should not make them proud but humble.
The ashes, made from the blessed palms used on the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year, are a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the penitential season of Lent, where Catholics continued to express sorrow for their sins and desired to draw closer to God through prayer, fasting and almsgiving for 40 days.
The Lent season is observed in the 40 days before Easter and was developed as a way of recalling Jesus Christ’s 40 days and nights of fasting in the wilderness while he prayed and battled with the devil.
Ash Wednesday originated from a Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. According to the Bible, ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning.
By Bernadette Khaduli
