Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula. (Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Capiz)
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula asked the Roman Catholic faithful to pray sincerely as the nation observes Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season.
“Let the ashes on our head remind us to pray with sincerity of heart, fast in genuine solidarity with the ones who are suffering, and give alms out of hearts that are truly contrite and compassionate,” Cardinal Advincula said during mass at the archdiocese’s chancery chapel in Intramuros.
“This season is a blessed time for us to turn away from hypocrisy and worldly attachments and go home into the warm embrace of our loving God,” he said.
According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), parish churches resumed placing ashes on the forehead of devotees for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Cardinal Advincula said that imposing ash on one’s forehead is a Biblical symbol of repentance as it reminds devotees of their sinful nature before God and his mortality and, ultimately, God’s love.
“The ashes we stain on our heads are shaped as crosses in order to remind us of the love of God…We are created out of love; we are created for love,” the Cardinal said. (MJ Soriano, INQUIRER.net trainee)