Almost 100 residents attended Ash Wednesday Mass at the Brownsville Immaculate Conception Cathedral at noon, where Father Lawrence Mariasoosai talked about the importance of staying close to God, especially in these difficult times with the extreme weather.
The Mass started with Father Lawrence asking the attendees to pray for those suffering the most during this winter storm, which has brought the longest and coldest weather since 1989 to our area.
Without lights, and with a few candles on, the almost 100 mask-wearing attendees sat at the limited-capacity church which was standing room only.
“God never abandons us because the hope we have in him and the hope that he has given, because that’s the main reason for the season of Lent,” Father Lawrence said in an interview after the celebration.
“We’ve always believed that after Jesus’ death, he rose from the death and he brought salvation, so there is always a message of hope that God gives to us.”
Father Lawrence said Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent Season, a six-week period of reflection and repentance before the resurrection of Jesus.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed millions throughout the world, the ashes were not marked on the foreahead but sprinkled on the head instead to avoid touching each other.
“It is repentance and we feel sorry for the sins and the time that we’ve been away from God. So the ashes are a sign of repentance and becoming close to God … and believing that God is merciful and always forgiving,” he said.
“The cross is a sign of redemption and salvation and the ashes are repentance. Because of the pandemic, we are unable to put it on the forehead, because we can’t be touching people, so we just sprinkle it on the head to avoid that.”
With the Brownsville community being part of rotating outages, or equipment failure, and some being without power for two days, Father Lawrence said he is hopeful the electricity will be restored soon for everyone but that it is a good time to get close to God.
“The electricity is an invention, but we have the sun, the moon and the stars. God has given the light and we hope the electricity will be restored soon, but we need to remember that Jesus is the light who leads us from darkness to light,” he said.
“It is a hope and belief that it will be alright soon. As the snow melts and everything disappears, we hope that the difficult days will be gone and there is a hope of life and new life.”
This is the first Ash Wednesday Father Lawerence spends in Brownsville but hopes next year will be better with the community being free and living in a new normal post COVID-19.
“It is always that the Lord gives hope. We always live in hope and God always calls us for conversion to come closer to him and live a life that is pleasing to him, pleasing to others and pleasing to ourselves,” he said.
“We hope everything will be going forward, with the vaccines and other things, so we will have a new life, a new normal so we hope that we will have a life where everyone can be around freely as a result.”
