Christians Observe Ash Wednesday, Beginning Of Lent With Special Prayers

Churches were decked and overflowing with the faithful for the special services, with the clergy explaining the significance of the period and urging the congregation to walk in the path of Jesus Christ’s teachings with humility.

St George’s Church in Abids held an Ash Wednesday service, with Presbyter incharge Rev. Dr P. Solomon Raj saying: “We meditated on the word ‘cross’ as a call to ‘self-denial’. The whole congregation took part in the service.”

He said, “Lent is observed for 40-plus days, concluding with Good Friday, on the day Christ was crucified, ahead of Easter Sunday. During Lent, Christians fast and pray. The occasion was marked by special prayers in churches.”

At St Joseph’s Bolaram, Father David Francis, who served the Ash Wednesday mass, said, “The foreheads of the devout and faithful were smeared with ash to represent repentance, humility, and mortality. Traditionally, the ash is of burnt palm leaves.”

Mary Dias, who attended the Holy Trinity Church in Begumpet, said, “Churches, through the morning and the evening masses, were fully occupied. My whole family will be fasting throughout Lent. As a mark of this day, the priest applied ash to our foreheads.”

She said, “This is the time when every Christian should introspect the spiritual relationship with God. This is also a time to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.”