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Ash Wednesday

IN PHOTOS: Catholics start Lent with tweaked Ash Wednesday ritual

Rappler.com

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IN PHOTOS: Catholics start Lent with tweaked Ash Wednesday ritual

REPENT. A Catholic lay minister places ashes on the head of a devotee attending Mass at Quiapo Church in Manila on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021. Rappler.com

Rappler.com

The COVID-19 pandemic forces the Catholic Church to modify this ritual to keep churchgoers safe from the coronavirus

Ash Wednesday is the start of the Catholic penitential season of Lent, when Catholics are expected to pray, fast, and give alms for a period of 40 days, leading to the celebration of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection during Holy Week and Easter.

Just as the sun rose on Wednesday, February 17, thousands of Catholics trooped to churches and local parishes to hear Mass for the start of Lent. But instead of getting cross-shaped ashes on their foreheads, the faithful received ashes sprinkled on their heads by priests, nuns, and lay ministers.

This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Catholic Church to modify the Ash Wednesday ritual to keep churchgoers safe from the coronavirus.

TWEAKED TRADITION. Nuns administer the sprinkling of ashes on the heads of churchgoers at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Rappler.com

The ashes symbolize repentance from sin – a reminder that they came from dust and to dust they shall return.

SAFETY. Churchgoers maintain physical distancing during Mass at Baclaran Church.
Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
EARLY BIRDS. The faithful of General Trias, Cavite, receive ashes from Father Oliver Genuino, parish priest of San Francisco de Asis de Malabon Parish.
Photo by Dennis Abrina/Rappler
QUIAPO CHURCH. A Catholic lay minister places ashes on the head of a devotee outside the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene.
Rappler.com
REPENTANCE. The ashes symbolizes repentance from sin – a reminder that they came from dust and to dust they shall return.
Photo by Angie de Silva/Rappler
FAMILY AFFAIR. A man with child in tow receives ashes from a lay minister outside Quiapo Church.
Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters

– Rappler.com

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