To mark the beginning of Lent, Benilde held the Ash Wednesday mass at the Chapel of the Resurrection in Taft Campus on Mar. 2. The Eucharistic celebration was available for viewing via the College’s Center for Lasallian Ministry’s Facebook page.

Rev. Fr. Marc Adona, assisted by Rev. Fr. Teddy Villanueva, presided over the Ash Wednesday celebration to welcome the Benildean community to the season of repentance. The First Reading and Responsorial Psalm reflected on the individual’s plea to the Lord for forgiveness, following the response, “Be merciful, o Lord, for we have sinned.” Meanwhile, the Second Reading emphasized Jesus’ submission to sin to save and forgive us from ours.

Fr. Villanueva hosted today’s Gospel, which focused on avoiding hypocrisy by doing the Lord’s will without having it acknowledged by others.

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

Tradition and consistency

During the Homily, Fr. Adona reminded the attendees of their Christian duties in observing the Lenten season with “great reverence to God by correctly doing and understanding the prescribed rule of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.” Other than practicing Lent as a tradition, Fr. Adona emphasized that doing so makes believers’ faith relevant through daily living and conversion in order to fulfill perfect reconciliation with God and with those around us.

Moreover, Fr. Adona noted during the Homily that the tradition of putting ash on one’s forehead is not obligatory, but rather encouraged, as conversion is done through an individual’s personal desire to do so.

Fr. Adona reminded mass goers that the ashes must humble themselves, “These ashes are a reminder for us to reform our lives by conforming ourselves to the will of God who made us, and a reminder to choose righteousness as our own way to be reconciled with God.”

“Let us not content ourselves by the rituals. Our faith is more than the externals because God does not relate with us from the outside, but always from within us,” he added.

The blessing and imposition of ashes was done with the Benildean staff after the Homily at the Chapel.