Catholics and other mainstream churches worldwide celebrated Ash Wednesday on March 5, 2025 to mark the beginning of 40 days of fasting, prayer, repentance, and alms giving, concluding on Easter Sunday.
This period, commonly known as Lent, is for introspection, individually and collectively, for missteps that blind us from being sensitive to the needs of others and from living a life that marks the identity of living Christian values.
The ashes symbolise human mortality and the need for God's mercy as given in Genesis 3:19: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." When things are going well, we tend to forget that we are only mortal beings.
This period of Lent, therefore, reminds us of our temporality in this world.
