Hundreds of Belizeans Celebrate Ash Wednesday

Today in Belize, hundreds of Christians marked the start of the forty-day Lenten season with the observance of Ash Wednesday. This day is dedicated to repentance, fasting, and reflection before Easter. As a part of the observation, churches across the nation filled with people ready to mark their foreheads with ash in the shape of a cross. We stopped by Divine Mercy Catholic Church in Belize City to hear how attendees were feeling following the service.

 

Father Scott Giuliani, Priest, Divine Mercy Church

“Remember the goodness of our Father in heaven, when Jesus come to reveal. And remember how God the Father is love and mercy himself as he shares his grace upon us. And in that we can also remember our own sinfulness, where we fall short and who we are children of God. And so this is a wonderful opportunity for whoever we are, wherever, whatever our sins may be to get a new beginning and to call to mind Jesus death in the cross, the blood he shed for his grace.”

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Attendee 

“As a Catholic it’s really humbling to be with our community and Ash Wednesday is a very important day for us where we recognize, as the Bible teaches us, as Jesus teaches us that we are from dust and to dust we shall return. So that reminds us that we traverse based in the blessings from our creator and that we must be humble every day and grateful for what we have.”

 

Aimee Jex, Attendee

“One of the things we have to remember is that for lent we’re having mass at noon every day. One of the things that is hard about lent is giving up things, fasting, making sacrifices but at the end of the day, the point of it is to prepare. What do you want to prepare for?” It’s like new year’s. You have to prepare ahead of time; you have to plan and that’s what we’re really doing here. It’s the first day of preparing to be ready for the coming of Jesus.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: