PHOTOS: Mass for Ash Wednesday, Church of the Resurrection, Wellsville

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Father Austin Okoli, pastor of Church of the Resurrection parish in Wellsville, St. Joseph parish in Martinsburg, Immaculate Conception parish in Montgomery City and St. Patrick parish in Jonesburg, offers Mass in Wellsville on the evening of Ash Wednesday. He spoke in his homily of the significance of ashes and the Lenten pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Fr. Okoli then blessed the ashes, and he and Deacon Ronald Deimeke traced ashes in the shape of a cross on the foreheads of all who came forward. The ashes are a public acknowledgement of human mortality, the constant need for God’s mercy, and a desire to repent and receive the Good News of salvation. (20 photos)