MERCEDES — Jose Luis Sauceda, 72, had good reason to be one of the many who attended Ash Wednesday to signify the start of Lent around the Valley.
It is one of the most attended Catholic events — only second to Midnight Mass on Christmas, according to Father Joe Vallalon of Saint Theresa Catholic Chruch in San Benito.
“I think it’s something that all Catholics should do,” Sauceda said early yesterday morning. “It’s especially hard for me because I lost my only two sons that I had.”
Sauceda attended the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Mercedes.
He said he believes in God and the importance to respect the traditions of the church because it’s very important to believe in the church.
“If you don’t believe, what you are going to live for?” Sauceda said.
Lent is the representation of what Catholics do to give something up or do something as Jesus had during the 40 days he spent in the desert.
It also is a time to ask for forgiveness for sins ending on Easter Sunday, marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ who died for everyone’s sins.
Sauceda said everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and that’s why he went to the Vietnam War and fought for the rights of the people in America and all over the world — so they can be free to worship whoever and whatever they like.
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