ILOILO City – Thousands of Catholic faithful marked the start of Lent on Wednesday, February 18, as the Archdiocese of Jaro expanded its Ash Wednesday observance beyond church grounds, bringing the Rite of the Imposition of Ashes to barangay chapels, schools, hospitals, and even commercial establishments.
From early morning, devotees gathered at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, where the rite was held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., formally opening the 40-day Lenten season leading to Easter.
The expanded outreach underscored the Church’s message that Lent is not confined within church walls but must be lived out in daily life and community spaces.
“The smudge of ash on our foreheads is a profound equalizer. It serves as a visual reminder of our sinfulness and our nothingness before the Creator. In a world that often encourages pride, Ash Wednesday calls us to the beauty of humility,” the Archdiocese of Jaro stated.
Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence, calls the faithful to repentance and spiritual renewal. The ashes — derived from palms blessed during the previous year’s Palm Sunday — symbolize penance, humility, and the transient nature of human life, linking the observance to the Paschal mystery.
Church leaders emphasized that the liturgy prepares both catechumens and the baptized faithful for deeper participation in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, encouraging prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as paths to inner conversion.
Across the archdiocese, the visible mark of ash on foreheads served as a communal reminder of human mortality and dependence on Divine mercy, echoing the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”/PN
