TODAY, in predominantly Christian Philippines, which received the Cross in the 16th century, is Ash Wednesday, a sacred ritual, with the priest placing ashes in a cross sign on the foreheads of the faithful.
Ash Wednesday. which comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting, includes the wearing of ashes on the head, the ashes symbolizing the dust from which God made man.
As the priest applies the ashes to a person’s forehead, he speaks the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Alternatively, the priest mayspeak the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, occurs 46 days before Easter—40 days not counting Sundays.
Ash Wednesday this year comes on the eve of a Holy Eucharist Mass Action (Hema) during which a Requiem Mass will be celebrated by several priests as concelebrants following a 30-minute procession within the Baclaran Shrine Compound in Metro Manila.
For Catholics, Easter Sunday comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—
this year, it will be on April 16.
Ash Wednesday is a movable feast, meaning it falls on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter and can occur as early as Feb 4. or as late as March 10.
For 2017, Ash Wednesday, which got its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance, falls on March 1.
As the priest, who placed the oil earlier on his forehead before presiding at the Mass or service on the congregants, rubs the ashes on the forehead of the faithful and recites: “Remember, O man, man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)
Some priests whisper: “Repent, and be faithful to the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
The ashes used are collected, after the Palm Crosses from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned.
In some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens, one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized, although some churches merely use ordinary oil.
The priest, minister, or in some cases officiating layperson, marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes in the shape of a cross, which the worshipper traditionally retains until it wears off.
Theology scholars suggest the act echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ashes over one’s head to signify repentance before God — as related in the Bible.
The ashes are blessed, in accordance to the different rites appropriate to each liturgical tradition.
Sometimes, Holy Water is used. In some churches, the ashes are mixed with light amounts of water or olive oil which, according to scholars,serve as a fixative.
In most liturgies for Ash Wednesday, the Penitential psalms are read; Psalm 51 (LXX Psalm 50) is especially associated with the first day of Lent.
The service also often includes a corporate confession rite.
In some of the free church liturgical traditions, other practices are sometimes added or substituted, as other ways of symbolizing the confession and penitence of the day.
Tomorrow, Hema will hold a non-partisan and ecumenical Mass, at 3 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Baclaran in Metro Manila.
This is a response of Catholic lay faithful and selected priests to the spiritual and corporal needs of the families who were victims of extrajudicial killings in the country since July last year.
“We gather to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the 7,000 plus victims throughout the land; to listen together to the cries of their bereaved family members,” Hema said in a statement.
Hema has invited priests to participate with those celebrating the Mass in Baclaran “by saying Mass in their own parish with families of EJK victims on the same day and at the same time.
“By doing this we will be united in this effort to bring an end to extrajudicial killings, and to provide families the emotional and spiritual support that they need.”