Telford Bray, a resident priest in Cape Town, South Africa, told Newsweek: 'Lent is a time for Christians to prepare by fasting and penance and works of mercy, the Kerygma, the good news of the saving grace of God.
On this day it is common to see Christians, especially Catholics, with smudges of ashes on their foreheads. The holy day-officially known as the Day of Ashes-occurs 46 days before Easter. Ash Wednesday, the holy day of prayer and fasting where Christians celebrate the first day of Lent, falls on February 22 this year.
