Monsignor José Domingo Ulloa reported that for this Ash Wednesday the Panamanian Catholic Church has decided to make a change in the tradition of imposing the ashes on the foreheads of believers, with the aim of mitigating the spread of Covid-19.
He stressed that this year the ashes will be delivered in an envelope to the families so that they can carry out a ceremony inside their homes and impose it on their members, while for those who attend the liturgy, as was done last year, the ashes will be thrown on their heads and the traditional cross will not be made on their foreheads.
“This year also seeing the reality of the capacity, we have asked that the ashes be imposed not only today, but Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even Sunday and we have also made it easier for families who cannot attend so that they can celebrate there themselves. in their homes a small liturgy. This protocol has changed with the pandemic, we were generally used to the cross on the forehead, now the ashes are going to be scattered on the head, “said Ulloa.
The Archbishop of Panama announced that the envelopes with ashes will be delivered in Albrook and the Catholic Bookstores, and the parishes have been asked for creativity so that they impose the ashes on Catholics such as serving believers who attend temples outside the schedules of the ceremonies and a parish priest imposes them.
Ulloa explained that the families will be given a pamphlet, along with the ashes in which the reading of the day will be found and a prayer at the end of the imposition of ashes, in addition, he added that they are blessed.
“We are starting again this special time for us Christians, which is the time of Lent. A time where we are invited to change our lives, we can think that it is to repeat the usual rites and not because our lives are evolving, this Lent We live it in the framework of two realities of the pandemic, where we have been learning two great things: to discern what is accessory from what is essential, so I also believe that the pandemic helps us in this process of change, we have discovered that what we previously thought It was important, it was not the most important thing, and we also have a framework that invites us to change and that is the war in Ukraine,” he said.
He stated that the celebration will begin with a day of prayer for peace in all countries at war, but especially for Ukraine.
