Ash Wednesday

Today, we Catholics begin the season of Lent.  As part of our faith, we hear mass and then allow the priest to mark us with ash to remind us of our past and our future: We came from dust and to dust we shall all go.  

This afternoon I attended the mass at our office.  In his homily, the priest reminded everyone the meaning of lent.  At the same time, he informed us of the new directive from the Church that the emphasis of lent this year is on charity and humility.  

 By the way, the priest who officiated the mass was so funny, he was almost irreverent especially during a mass marking the beginning of lent.  We were. after all. told in Catholic school that we should not have so much fun during lent.  Instead, we should emulate Jesus Christ who did nothing but pray during his 40 days in the desert.  

During his homily, the priest even made many of the attendees laugh at his jokes and silly comments, keeping everybody awake at the time when many of us would be taking our siesta. I just hope that his message, which was about getting rid of pride, got across everyone in attendance, especially to those who were laughing the loudest.

On my home, I saw the news on TV about the observance of Ash Wednesday in other parishes.  In his message, the Cardinal of Manila said that as an act of charity, those who can afford should practice fasting or abstinence and whatever we saved from doing so, we may donate to charities that feed malnourished kids.  A bright idea since it achieves two goals.