Ashes are sprinkled on each person’s head, “without saying anything”.
By Agnes Chai
Feb 18 2021
KOTA KINABALU – The latest SOP released by the government allowed the Church to re-open within restrictions of not more than one third or 45 attendees was indeed a welcome news.
It arrived on time for the Church to mark the beginning of Lent with the blessing and physical distribution of ashes to the faithful for Ash Wednesday Mass, albeit for a very limited number of faithful.
Over a thousand parishioners have earlier registered for the Ash Wednesday Mass, scheduled to take place on Friday, February 19, in expectation of the MCO to end on Feb 18.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish responded to the unexpected relaxed SOP for non-Muslim houses of worship by organizing four Masses for the distribution of ashes daily beginning from Ash Wednesday Feb 17 to Feb 19. Each Mass will accommodate the maximum of 45 parishioners allowed, besides temperature scan, hand sanitizing and contact tracing required by the SOP protocol.
Although similar arrangement for the distribution of ashes has been organized for parishioners who registered at St Paul Dontozidon and the sub-parish of Church of Mary Immaculate, other parishes in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu may have their own schedule to suit their particular arrangement.
Catholics begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, a day devoted to fasting and abstinence from meat, and prayer. Ash Wednesday practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us, and is a symbol of visible penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church. They help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The ashes are made from blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year.
Following the guidelines from Rome this year, distribution of ashes is modified in view of the health situation caused by the COVID-19. Priests around the world have been instructed to say the prayer for blessing the ashes, sprinkle the ashes with holy water without saying anything, and addresses all those present and says only once the formula applying to all in general “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” Ashes are then sprinkled on each person’s head, “without saying anything”.
The usual practice in the Archdiocese would be to repeat the formula – “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” – to each person as the ashes are traced onto their forehead. The modified way will avoid contact during this time of the pandemic.
