PANAJI
Admitting that this season of lent which marks repentance and penance comes at a time of suffering due to the Covid pandemic, Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas SFX said penance should not be seen as punishment but a way for the faithful to profess their commitment to follow Lord Jesus.
Delivering his Lenten message, the Goan bishop who is a member of the Society of Pilar said the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which marks the 40-day preparation for Easter and “marks our own renewal and our own rebirth."
"The ashes that we put on our head are the ashes that call us to repentance, that from our side we tell God that we have burnt our old nature of sin and that we are ready to begin anew," he said.
Explaining that Ash Wednesday is not a single day, Bishop Mascarenhas said it is “the beginning of the season of lent when we will fast, we will do penance, we will participate in the ceremonies of the celebration of the suffering, passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord.”
Bishop Mascarenhas acknowledged that this year's lent season comes after a year of suffering, pain and disease due to the Covid pandemic.
“Many people have already gone through hardships and many of them would wonder, ‘why should we do penance after we have already done penance the whole of last year’.”
“Penance is never ever sufficient and penance should not be seen as a punishment. Penance is our own way of telling the Lord that we want to come back to our lord and that we want to follow our Lord.”
“Let the little and tiny ashes sprinkled on our heads on Ash Wednesday remind us that we are God's children and that we want to live like God's children,” Bishop Mascarenhas added.
