A visit to the Catholic Church located in Malryland, Lagos State, showed that Lagosians in their thousands, as early 5:30am today, thronged the place of worship to observe the Ash Wednesday service.
According to Rev. Fr. Raphael Adebayo, Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter.
It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting.
Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God.
The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, which are burnt.
This practice is common in much of Christendom, being celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and some Baptist denominations.
At the morning mass and services of worship, ashes in the sign of the cross, were placed on the foreheads of the congregation.
Also reiterating the essence of Ash Wednesday, Rev. Olatunji Ayeni said: “The act echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ashes over one’s head to signify repentance before God (as related in the Bible).”
In the words of Primate Rufus Okikiola Oshitelu,the Head of the Church of the Lord (Aladura): “Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent.”
During the fasting period, Christian all over the world usually recall and repent from our sins.
Fasting is usually the sign of repentance that forms a part of Christian beliefs and not eating of meat on Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of Holy Week.
In fasting, there are always considerations.
Peoples below 15 years and those 61 years old and up are exempted from fasting.
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