About ten priests concelebrated, including the Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Msgr. Slađan Ćosić, and the rector of the cathedral, Canon rev. Marko Zubak.

At the beginning of the Holy Mass, the Archbishop emphasized that the two names for the same thing, Maundy Wednesday and Ash Wednesday, remind us that first of all, “today is a day of fasting, and then there is the custom and tradition of the faithful sprinkling themselves with ashes.” “Both in their own way are signs of the times that begin today. Times in which we prepare ourselves by fasting for Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection; and times in which we invoke God’s grace for personal conversion by sprinkling ashes”, said the archbishop, encouraging those present to convert on a 40-day journey toward the most important events in the history of salvation in which Jesus Christ revealed himself for the sake of man’s salvation, fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father.

Awakening of Conscience

He continued the same thought in his sermon, calling the Lenten fast a “spring season,” not only in a calendar sense, but also in a religious, spiritual sense, i.e. a period of firmer adherence to Jesus Christ. Noting that Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season of preparation for the feast of Easter, followed by the 50 days until Pentecost, he emphasized that these 90 days are “officially the most important period in the liturgical year.”

"These days that are immediately before us are days of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus, and the rest are days of celebration and joyful anticipation of the ascension of Jesus, the descent of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the Church of Christ", said Msgr. Vukšić, adding that spring in a spiritual sense means primarily the awakening of conscience for the conversion of the soul and heart.

"Just as in these spring days the Earth approaches the Sun, which warms it and creates conditions for the awakening of new life, something similar can be compared to happening in the life of believers because we are all together approaching the Sun, the risen Christ, who warms our consciences and prepares our hearts, our souls primarily for conversion", said the archbishop and, further reflecting on the Holy Mass readings from the book of Joel (2:12-18), he noted that rituals in temples are not enough for a person, but that it is much more important that the conversion of the heart occurs alongside them.

Rituals are not enough

"The Old Testament prophet warns of the danger of falling into the trap of performing rituals and thinking that everything that is necessary has been completed. The rituals are only a symbolism and an indication of what should happen. The ashes are important, it is necessary, it is part of the Christian liturgy and we will do it with pride tonight. But it is not enough, it is only an external sign and expression of what should happen inside each of us, and it is about our own conversion," Archbishop Tomo underlined, noting how easy it is to fall into the trap of thinking that rituals are enough in themselves. Quoting St. Paul, who called the community in Corinth (2 Cor 5:20-6:2) to reconciliation with God, he pointed out that this is exactly what should happen after the rite of blessing the ashes and the ash sprinkling.

"In order for conversion to occur, Jesus in the Gospel passage offers three classic means of Christian spirituality: almsgiving, fasting and prayer. There are three means and three ways to work on one's own conversion, but Jesus emphasizes these three privileged means to see how conversion really happened", said Monsignor Vukšić.

After the sermon, he blessed the ashes and the rite of ash sprinkling followed, with the priests present sprinkling a little ash on the heads of the faithful, created by burning olive branches that were blessed last year on Palm Sunday, with a call to conversion expressed in the words: "Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return" or "Repent and believe the Gospel!"

The liturgical singing was animated by the mixed cathedral choir Josip Stadler under the direction of Rev. Marko Stanušić.