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Udupi : Ash Wednesday observed in Milagres Cathedral of Udupi Diocese here in Kallianpur on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 with devotion which opens the season of Lent, a special time of fasting, repentance and prayer. The Ash Wednesday liturgy began with Eucharistic celebration at 7 am mass led by Very Rev Fr. Valerian Mendonca, Rector of Milagres Cathedral, Rev Fr. Brian Sequiera and deacon Rithesh of Pilar Fathers, Kallianpur.

The Ash Wednesday marking the commencement of the Season of Lent in preparation to the Feast of Easter is being observed by the Christians throughout the world with prayers, devotion, fasting and abstinence.

In his beautiful brief homily, Fr Valerian Mendonca pointed out that the Lenten season has been considered as a period of fasting, penance and prayers with spiritual repentance and renewal. The forty days long Lenten season is a spiritual preparation for the great feast of Easter, in which the resurrection of Jesus Christ following his Crucifixion on Good Friday is being solemnly celebrated. The sacred Lent season of repentance through the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving which we make ourselves an offering to the Father Our Christ

During the mass, after the homily, Rector Fr. Valerian Mendonca blessed the ash with sprinkle of Holy Water and applied with the sign of cross on the forehead and heads of congregation with the words that remember that thou art dust and thou shall return. It is important to note that ashes are a symbol of man’s mortality and represent an attitude of humility, sorrow and repentance. The ashes uses in this ritual are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year.

Ash Wednesday is one of the most popular and important holy days of liturgical calendar. It opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. It is a season of penance, reflection and fasting which prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday through which we attain redemption.

Large numbers of faithful were participated during the Eucharistic celebration of Ash Wednesday at very early in the morning at 7am. There will be another mass at evening for the convenience of the faithful of Milagres Cathedral, Kallianpur.