MANILA Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo called on Thomasians to practice self-denial to serve others this Lenten season.
“We say no to ourselves so we can say yes to the others. [W]e deny sinful actions, sinful habits, sinful thoughts, sinful words… [M]aybe, wag na tayong magmura, wag na tayong magalit; ikontrol ang ating sarili,” he said during the Ash Wednesday Mass at the Plaza Mayor.
Stressing that “pride is a sin that militates against the plan of God,” Pabillo urged the faithful to perform spiritual and corporal works of mercy as ways to say yes to God and others.
“Hopefully it’s not just to receive the ashes, but it’s more to enter into this spirit of penance. Jesus continues to suffer in the social issues that we engage with, and that is a good way of praying, connecting Jesus to our present day-to-day life,” he said.
The offerings collected during the Mass were donated to the Caritas feeding program of the Santisimo Rosario Parish as a gesture of solidarity with the poor.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which commemorates Jesus’s struggle for 40 days and nights in the desert. E. D. V. Aboy, O.P.
