(Editor’s Note: In the breaking news article of the Varsitarian on the celebration of the Ash Wednesday at the UST Plaza Mayor last Feb. 13, it should have been reported that the quotations derived from the homily of Rector Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P. as mentioned in the second and fifth paragraphs were lifted from the article “The Sacrament of Ashes” by Mark Capurso sourced from citycalledheaven.blogspot.com. Below is the reconstructed version of the article. Our apologies.)
Updated 20 February 2013, 7:37 p.m. – THOMASIANS opened the Lenten Season with a Eucharistic celebration presided by UST Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. at the Plaza Mayor Wednesday afternoon.
Dagohoy said Ash Wednesday is the beginning of a period of reflection and prayer to discover God’s calling. “While we are gathered to remember who we are, more importantly, we are also gathered to remember who God is, and what God has done for us.”
He added that the Church is called to engage in disciplines of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer which are the practices that the Catholics observe during the Lenten Season. “Prayers make us receptive to the love of God. Almsgiving makes us receptive to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Fasting makes us receptive to love for oneself.”
The Rector reminded the Thomasian community of the deeper meaning of ashes being marked on Catholics’ foreheads.
“Despite the many reminders of mortality which surrounds us, we also live in a culture of denial. Ash Wednesday simply puts the truth on the table—we are not God,” Dagohoy said, citing Mark Capurso’s article The Sacrament of Ashes. “Ashes are symbol of our humble humanity and of our tie to an earth which is finite and fractured. Our mortality is not something to be feared or denied when seen in the light of the grace of God. In fact, mortality, with its inevitable suffering, is something we share with everyone of our human brothers and sisters.”
Though contemplating on one’s humanity can be quite uncomfortable, Dagohoy said that the dust that all men share can be a connection.
“We are all vessels of clay. Remembering our finitude though sometimes unsettling, can also be a starting point of our relationship with God’s grace. We have to remember that ashes are also symbols of cleansing and rebirth. That in Christ, we are made new,” he added.
Dagohoy acknowledged men’s inclination to sin, but said that ashes also symbolize “our repentance, humility and conversion.” Denise Pauline P. Purugganan
