Wednesday February 22, 2023, was Ash Wednesday for Catholics all over the world. In Belize, Catholics flocked to Mass at their parishes to receive their blessing of Ash on the forehead.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten Season for Catholics as well as other Christian denominations such as Anglicans, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Lutherans. On this special day a cross of ashes is placed on the forehead signifying penance and reminding us of our mortality. The ashes are made from the palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday.
The Lenten season is also a preparation to celebrate the paschal mystery, God’s plan of salvation that is fulfilled through His passion (suffering and crucifixion), death and resurrection.
But before we can celebrate, we must do the 40 days walk and this requires encountering Jesus. To many Catholics these days this has become impossible because we don’t see a need for him.
Bishop Lawrence Nicasio in his Lenten message said, “The quickest way to encounter him is to put ourselves in need; in need of him and all that He provides. But we can live life making belief that we are self-sufficient and in need of nothing and in need of no one.”
Let us, through this Lenten Season acknowledge that we do need Jesus and then encounter Him as on the road to Emmaus and rely on Him for all our needs so that “We can thus journey from Easter to Easter towards the fulfilment of the salvation we have already received as a result of Christ’s paschal mystery.” (Pope Francis in his Lenten message)