CHRISTIANDOM OBSERVES ASH WEDNESDAY

Today is Ash Wednesday.  It is a day which marks the beginning of Lent, a journey of forty days of fasting and prayer.

According to the liturgical calendar, Ash Wednesday takes place forty –six days before Easter Sunday and it is chiefly observed by orthodox Christian denominations.

At various Masses and Church Services offered to mark the event, priests administer ashes on a person’s forehead as a visible symbol of penance.

The ashes also symbolize grief that people have sinned and caused division from God.

While applying the ash the priest speaks the words “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” or on the alternative, the priest says “repent and believe the Gospel”.

According to Catholic doctrine, the faithful are to abstain from consumption of meat on this day.

CHIBUIKE MADU