Mother and Daughter observe Ash Wednesday

Nikeisha McKenzie holds her three month old baby in her arms outside the St Mary’s Cathedral of the Assumption in Kingstown where mother and daughter received crosses on their forehead for Ash Wednesday 2022. The infant, Emily, was one of the youngest in attendance at the midday Mass on March 2, and her first ashen cross was drawn by Deacon Victor Peters, the same deacon who baptised her. The Mass, that saw a homily by Father Alando Williams, was well attended by members of the working public. It is just one of many services that were held throughout the day by the various Christian churches who are marking the beginning of the period of Lent – a time of fasting, almsgiving and prayer leading up to Easter. The receiving of crosses from the ash of burned and blessed palms from Palm Sunday is seen as a symbol of repentance and mortality.

With the recent conflict in Europe, many church leaders encouraged that Ash Wednesday 2022 be one of intense prayer for Ukraine, that continues to be the site of war. Pope Francis of the Catholic Church invited believers to consider the day as one of Fasting for Peace.

“May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war,” the Pope concluded in an appeal to churchgoers.