09 Mar 2014

Roman Catholic Church Gaborone Diocese's Bishop Valentine Seane has urged members to strive for conversion through intensified prayers and reflect on their sins.

Bishop Seane said during Ash Wednesday in Gaborone on March 5 that the first day of lent called on people to change and leave all the bad habits, adding that there was need for self-modification.

He noted that lent took 40 days from Ash Wednesday, which gave the tone direction and objectives of celebrating the season of lent, which involved praying, fasting, giving alms and converting from sins.

All Catholics, he said, were advised to pray for conversion and fast, and as they fast, they should abstain from the food they like for a period of 40 days. The money saved through abstinence from their favourite food , he said, should be donated to help the less privileged.

Lent is characterized by repentance for past sins, works of mercy, especially toward the poor and personal preparation for the renewal of baptismal promises on Easter Vigil.

In the liturgical year of the church, he said, there were four seasons, which were advent, Lent, Easter and ordinary time of the year. Bishop Seane explained that the period of lent was intended to help Christians prepare for Easter celebrations, adding that it helped Christians to revisit their sins and live the history of salvation.

He noted that during Ash Wednesday Christians receive ashes on the forehead,  explaining that, “ashes were meant to remind us that we are dust and to dust we shall return,” he said. Christ, he said was born to save the world and He rose from the dead to save the world.Through lent he said there was need for Christians to acknowledge that they are sinners and humble themselves before God.

“As we live in the post -modern world we face all these challenges and we need to stop and reflect on the wrongs you did as a husband or wife, and find out what you did wrong,” he said. He observed that as a husband or wife there was need to devise a strategy to bring peace in the family within the 40 days.

He implored the Catholics to join Catholic Church world-wide to intensify prayers with good intention to become better people, saying they should all accept that they need God’s mercy so that they could ultimately grow spiritually.

The season of lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday before evening mass of the Lord’s Supper and from then on until Easter Sunday, the church celebrates the Easter triduum of Christ’s passion, death, burial and resurrection. Ends