A way of life<\/strong><\/h5>\nFr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Permanent Committee on Public Affairs of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines, stressed that fasting and abstinence \u201care not mere fads that just go away over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a way of life that teach us to empty ourselves so that we can have a place for Jesus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not only a physical kind of fasting, but \u201ca kind of spiritual emptying that entails giving up so many things, including perhaps the excessive and irresponsible use of social media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if social media will be used to create a kind of spiritual awareness, it will be most welcome because the essence of this spiritual sacrifice is to focus on Jesus, his suffering, death and the redemption of humanity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To the faithful: Start Lent today, Ash Wednesday, by fasting. You can donate the money you save by skipping meals to the feeding program of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":876417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[481,36,34,37,45],"tags":[2382,3071],"byline":[189907],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[170633],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Church marks Ash Wednesday today to usher in Lent | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Church marks Ash Wednesday today to usher in Lent | Inquirer 黑料社","description":"To the faithful: Start Lent today, Ash Wednesday, by fasting. You can donate the money you save by skipping meals to the feeding program of the Catholic Church.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/876416\/church-marks-ash-wednesday-today-to-usher-in-lent","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Church marks Ash Wednesday today to usher in Lent | Inquirer 黑料社","twitter_description":"To the faithful: Start Lent today, Ash Wednesday, by fasting. 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