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Christians Mark Start Of Lent With Ash Wednesday

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As is their custom, Christians spent Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent.

Worshipers from all over the world filed into St. Patrick's Cathedral to mark the start of the Season of Lent with ashes -- a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the church.

"I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada," Lincoln Ho told CBS2's Diane Macedo. "I actually came specifically for this week so that I'm here for Ash Wednesday."

Lent is a 40-day period of prayer, penance and sacrifice in preparation for the celebration of Easter.

"A Christian who takes his or her religion seriously can get themselves in good shape to greet the Lord at Easter," Monsignor Robert Ritchie said.

To start that preparation, worshipers come to church to have a priest apply ashes on their foreheads and give them one of two messages.

"Remember that you are dust into dust -- ou shall return as a very ancient biblical reminder of the frailty of human life -- and repent and believe in the gospel is a formula to remind the Christian that this is a time to change their lives if they have to change their lives and believe in what the gospel is all about," Ritchie said.

For some, the ashes then take on extra meaning.

"You really think about your humanity, why we're here. We're here for each other, to help each other. So I suppose, really, that's kind of what it's about for me, anyway," said Ursula Duggan, who was visiting from Ireland.

This year the messages of Ash Wednesday are more important than ever, Ritchie said.

"During these days when there's so many attacks against Christians throughout the world, Ash Wednesday reminds us who probably don't have to worry about being attacked or being killed that those people ... took their faith seriously, and we should take our faith seriously, too," Ritchie said.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has also spoken out against the recent ISIS attacks on Christians. On Wednesday at Mass he did not touch on the topic, but did stress that with Lent now here, this is a time for repair.

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