Tagle: Prepare for Ash Wednesday

THE Catholic Church will begin the penitential 40 days of Lent through the observance of Ash Wednesday, February 22.

In his weekend program The Word Exposed, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle reminded Catholics to attend Church services on Wednesday and have ashes put on their foreheads “not only for the traditional compliance but out of sincere contrition for our sins and out of our desire to humbly submit to God.”

“The Father is waiting for us to return to Him. Let us not harden our hearts. Let us be open to humility and repentance,” said Archbishop Tagle, a renowned theologian and TV preacher.

Catholics mark Ash Wednesday annually to begin the season of Lent, which commemorates the 40 days of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness “where he triumphed over the luring temptations of the devil,” Tagle explained.

Lent includes Holy Week, the last days of which are holidays in mostly Catholic Philippines. From Ash Wednesday, Catholics count about six-and-a-half weeks before they celebrate Easter Sunday, the central feast of Christendom that celebrates the rise of Christ from the dead.

Report from Rappler