Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on Ash Wednesday, 18 Feb 2026, DBYC Chapel, Borongan

Today we begin the holy season of Lent. Lent is a long period consisting of forty-days – hindi lang isang araw, isang lingo, o isang buwan, kundi apat na pung araw – to help us prepare for Easter Sunday, the solemn feast of the Lord’s glorious resurrection (the “mother” and greatest of all our Christian feasts).

This Lenten season is a wonderful opportunity for us to encounter God as a loving father – not as a dictator who punishes, but as a Father who forgives. Ito’y pagkakataon na maranasan natin ang awa at habag ng ating Poong Maykapal. For, it is God himself who calls us to make a return to him. To us sinners and wayward children, God says, “Come back to me with all your heart.” Why return to the Lord? – because He is ready to forgive.

For this holy season to be truly fruitful, three pious practices are recommended to us: (1) prayer o pag-ampo, (2) fasting o pagpuasa, and (3) almsgiving o paghatag hin limos We need to seriously improve and intensify these religious practices as our most fitting preparation for Easter. Ang ating pagbabalik loob sa Diyos ay magdedepende sa tatlong gawaing ito, that we strive to become (1) more prayerful – manalamboon, (2) more patient – pasensyoso, and (3) more charitable – maawain. Ang target and objective natin ay “Ibasura ang demonyo at manalig kay Kristo.”

And so in the next six weeks we will express sorrow for our sins, and we will say YES to Jesus’ call and challenge to follow him and become holy. This is the humbling truth, we are all sinners, but the good news is God is merciful, and by God’s grace we can still become good, we can still become saints.

On this particular day in order to mark the beginning of this season we gather together as a Church to have ashes imposed on our foreheads. This traditional practice originated from among the ancient Jews of the Old Testament times and it has been kept by us Christians throughout our 2000 years of history. But you might ask why ashes? Ashes are worthless. Ang uling nabebenta pa, pero ang abo tinatapon na. Walang abo na binebenta sa merkado. Ashes are nothing but dirt that is thrown away.

It is precisely because ashes are dirty and worthless that these can symbolize the real us, our sinfulness and worthlessness before God who is all-holy, and before God whom we have offended by our sins. Today we will have ashes imposed on our heads or foreheads to show how dirty we really are because of the sins we have committed, and most of all, to reinforce our humble petition for mercy.

With these ashes we would like to express to God our sincerest sorrow for our sins. We would like to tell him “Lord, because of our sins we have become so dirty, and so broken in our relationship with you. And now you see, we have been reduced to dirt and dust. Dahil sa aming mga sala, wala na kaming halaga at puede mo na kaming ibasura at “i-deadma”. There is nothing more in us that can please you or merit your attention. All we ask now is that you look down upon us with mercy and compassion. The Cebuano’s are familiar with this prayer: Kanamo maluoy ka unta, nga kanimo nangilaba.”

Having ashes on our heads therefore signifies three things: (1) our worthlessness before God due to the dirt of our many sins. (2) our sincere repentance and resolution that we will strive not to commit sin anymore, and (3) our hope that God who is slow to anger but rich in mercy will soon pardon all our sins.

Many Catholics unfortunately tend to fall into empty ritualism whenever they perform religious acts. That is why in the gospel passage we have heard today Jesus warns us against doing these acts only for people to see. It can happen that we have ashes on our heads, and that we spend time to pray, do penance, and give alms to the needy but only to show off. No! This is not the right road towards becoming good and saintly Christians. This is a clearly misguided understanding of what holiness really is. What Jesus considers truly important is not so much what we do in public, but rather the love behind what we do, and eventually what we become by what we do. Sa madaling sabi, dapat nagmumula sa PUSO ang ating pagdarasal, pagpepenitensiya at pagkakawang-gawa.

The prophet Joel also tried to emphasize this point when, long before Jesus Christ came, he firmly proclaimed to the Israelites these words “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” You must know that the Jews of the olden times used to manifest their repentance and conversion outwardly by tearing apart their garments. Then they would put on sack cloths and sprinkle themselves with ashes, and they would even sit on ashes for several days. In addition to that, they would also practice fasting. They would neither eat nor drink anything whatsoever in order to avert the punishment that they deserve.

One day, however, during the time of the prophet Joel, the Lord was not content anymore with all those external manifestations of sorrow and repentance. And so thru the preaching of the prophet he made known his will to his people saying to them, “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” In other words, it is the humble attitude and disposition of the heart that truly moves the heart of God.

If today, therefore, we strive to do these same religious practices – prayers, penances and charitable deeds – sincerely from our hearts, we will surely experience God’s mercy and compassion. Not only shall we be delivered from the punishment we deserve but above all we will welcomed back to his loving embrace and will begin to feel what true happiness is all about.

I exhort everyone to diligently follow the Church’s Lenten program for this season. Let us strive to become more devout in our prayers, more patient and persevering in doing penance and offering our sacrifices, and more compassionate in doing good works of charity until we all become more and more like Jesus. GiGsss!

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