Fr. Leszek Gęsiak, spokesman for the Polish Episcopal Conference, the central authority of the Catholic Church in Poland, said in a message: "The liturgical season of Lent, which we are beginning, is a favourable time to stop and look within ourselves."
He added: "We enter this time so that we can experience inner conversion, which is the path to Christ."
According to custom, priests sprinkle the heads of the faithful with ash in a ceremony designed to inspire repentance, telling them: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The ashes traditionally used in Poland are those of twigs that were burned during the previous year's Palm Sunday.
Worshippers also abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday.
Lent, a 40-day period of fasting that leads to Easter, is traditionally a time of self-denial and penitence for believers.
'I join Christians worldwide in observing Ash Wednesday': Joe Biden
US President Joe Biden, who is a Catholic, tweeted during a visit to Poland on Wednesday: "Today, I join Christians worldwide in observing Ash Wednesday."
He added: "The Lenten season is a time for reflection and discernment and an opportunity to recommit ourselves to God and to one another. May we continue to keep the faith and look with hopeful hearts towards Easter."
US President Joe Biden pictured in Warsaw on Wednesday. Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
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Source: IAR, PAP, episkopat.pl
