Today is Ash Wednesday. Often called the Day of Ashes, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent by focusing the heart of Christians on repentance and prayer, usually through personal and communal confession.
Observed in the seventh week before Easter, the occasion is marked with Holy Mass and Divine Service in different churches. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the placing of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful with the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.
Ashes are prepared by burning the palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations. On Palm Sunday, churches bless and handout palm branches to attendees, a reference to the Gospels’ account of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when onlookers lay palm branches on His path.
Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief, sorrow for sins and faults. The practice of using ashes is also an external sign of repentance, fasting, reflection and ultimately celebration.
During Mass or Worship Service, the priest will usually share a sermon that is penitential and reflective in nature. The mood is solemn and is characterized by a responsive passage of scripture.
After all the ceremonies, the congregation will be invited to receive the ashes on their foreheads which symbolizes death and repentance. Ashes are also equivalent to dust as the human flesh is composed of dust and when a human corpse decomposes, it returns to dust.
So, as we observe the Ash Wednesday with sober reflection, we should also bear in mind the mood of the Nigerian nation. On Saturday, February 25, 2023, Nigerians will go to polls to elect a new President and Members of the National Assembly and on March
eleven, for Governorship election in some states and members of the State House of Assembly at the solemn period of lent. This, no doubt, is a divine coincidence. While the Nigerian citizenry are warming up for the election, we should not overlook the myriads of challenges hanging over the airspace of the nation.
Today, Nigeria is synonymous with insecurity, while ritual murder, kidnappings and other criminal tendencies are daily occurrences. This does not augur well for a country that prides itself as the policeman of Africa. Of recent the citizenry are battling with scarcity of currency, which has made live more unbearable for the people.
This time demands that the nation should come together and pray for peace. We should use the solemn occasion of Ash Wednesday to emphasize the things that bind us together and discard all areas of friction and political bigotry in order to emerge stronger as a nation.
The Ash Wednesday should also afford us the golden opportunity to pray for the successful conduct of this month’s elections, as well as for the peace, unity, progress and development of Nigeria.
Ndi Anambra, including traditional rulers, the clergy and community leaders, should come together in prayers, fasting and unceasing supplications to God, especially for the success of the Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly elections.
As we mark this year’s Ash Wednesday today, Nigerians should remember the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in prayers as they prepare for the elections.
This is a season we should purify our hearts, control our desires and grow in holiness.
Let us use this period to pray for Nigeria, her leadership and for an end to all societal ills in Nigeria. May God, continue to hear our prayers.
Written by VEN. PRINCE CHUMA ORANYE
Comments are closed for this post.