Priests usually impose ashes on the forehead of the faithful during Ash Wednesday but with the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Liturgy has come up with different recommendations on how to distribute the ashes in this time of pandemic.
One of them is to sprinkle ashes on the head of the faithful which was also done last year.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments published a note last month directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes "??????, ??? ??????? ?? ??? ??????" or "???????? ??? ??? ????, ??? ?? ????, ??? ????? ??????" once to everyone present, rather than to each person.
The Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of San Fernando,Pampanga, however, said that the sprinkling of ashes is not an innovation.
"In earlier centuries of the Church, when the disciplines of public penance was in force, penitents sometimes sprinkle ashes on their heads or alternatively received from the bishop a rough garment/sackcloth on which ashes had been sprinkled," read their liturgical guidelines.
"In the tenth century, when the primitive discipline was discontinued, Christians generally associated themselves with the modified discipline and come to church on Ash Wednesday to have blessed ashes put on their foreheads," it further read.
Another way is by using cotton balls in applying ashes on the forehead.
"Each of the faithful who wants to receive the imposition of ashes approaches the minister. The minister, with the aid of a cotton ball dipped into the vessel of the blessed ashes, traces the cross on the forehead of the faithful," Baguio Bishop Victor Bendico, ECL chairman, said in his notes on the celebration of Ash Wednesday dated February 4.
"The minister uses a different cotton ball for each of the faithful," he added.
Since many of the faithful are still unable to go to church for the Ash Wednesday celebration due to the limitations imposed by the Inter Agency Task Force on church attendance, the CBCP also recommended that the faithful who could come to church on February 17, Ash Wednesday, be given a small plastic sachet containing blessed ashes that "they in turn can impose to their family members."
"Those who cannot come to church on this day can join the celebration of the Mass of Ash Wednesday on TV and other online means. They then receive the ashes from family members who were able to go to church for the celebration and will bring home ashes for them," said Bendico.
The commission provided parishes with the guide for family prayer and imposition of ashes for such purpose.
There is also a change even in the ashes that parishes will use in this year's Ash Wednesday as it will not only come from old palm fronds.
CBCP-ECL said since many parishes will find it difficult to secure old palm branches blessed in the celebration of Palm Sunday of 2020, ashes that will be used can be obtained from dried branches or leaves of plants or trees.
"Our celebration last year was in the absence of our people on account of the strict lockdown and only few palm branches were blessed on the occasion," Bendico said.
What is the significance then of Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Season?
Father Genaro Diwa,minister of the Liturgical Affairs of the Archdiocese of Manila, gave this explanation.
He said the observance of Ash Wednesday is very significant because it is during this time that the faithful admits to the whole community that they are now ready to repair whatever damage they have done in their relationship with God and with others which is being symbolized by the ashes imposed on the forehead of the faithful.
“The ashes (from the burnt palm fronds) of Palm Sunday signify or symbolize the desire of Christians to follow Christ. But we know that the green palms that we held on Palm Sunday would be dried and like our desire, they would be unsuccessful and so the church burns them to signify that we have to renew," Diwa said.
"We have to start all over again because we know from that time on that we have expressed our desire to follow Christ many times we have not been successful,” he added.
The Lenten Season, Diwa said, is encouraging the faithful to seize the opportunity to be renewed once again by the grace of God.
“There are many things that we do during the Lenten Season. We hope that all the activities in the Lenten season will help us to be strengthened in our renewal of our baptismal vows,” he said.
“That dirt on your forehead you declare to everybody that you are no different from the others who need to be converted,” added Diwa.