FACULTY OF Arts and Letters (AB) regent Rev. Fr. George Phe Mang, O.P reminded Artlets to practice acts that show God’s love as they seek forgiveness for their sins during the Lenten season.
“Our smile, our concern, our support, and our understanding for one another are the acts of God’s love that we can do the most, especially during this Lenten season. With that, we become a sign of God’s love for others,” Phe Mang said during the Ash Wednesday college mass for the Artlet community at the Santisimo Rosario Parish on February 22.
The AB regent said prayers purify intentions and enable Christians to relate all their acts to God, while fasting detaches them from their “comforts.”
Phe Mang noted that the charity of almsgiving should serve as a reminder that true wealth is not found in worldly things, but in “the love of God.”
He emphasized that repentance and reconciliation are requirements for their charity as Christians.
“We are required to return to the Lord and ask forgiveness of our sins and practice acts of modification, fasting, refraining from pleasurable acts, and asking God to spare us from the punishment we deserve for sinfulness,” the AB regent said.
“God relents from punishing his people because of their repentance […] When we repent, God is always merciful and loving.”
A university-wide Ash Wednesday mass was also held at the Plaza Mayor and was presided by Vice Rector for Religious Affairs Fr. Pablo T. Tiong, O.P.
Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season, which prepares Christians to commenorate the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Catholics annually observe Ash Wednesday 46 days before Easter Sunday. F
