PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Today is Ash Wednesday and Christians are marking the start of Lent. A special service was held Wednesday morning at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

Priests placed ashes on parishioners' foreheads in the shape of a cross, a gesture meant to symbolize sorrow for their sins.

Father Dennis Gill says receiving the ashes is secondary to confessing your sins and re-committing to the gospel.

"The more important aspect is to hear the word of God and let the word of God convert our hearts," Gill said. "Receiving the ashes, which come from the palm that was blessed last palm Sunday and burned to form the ashes today, is an external sign that we're committed to Christ, and his cross, and to a period of penance."

Father Gill says in-person church attendance is about double what it was a year ago. And, he hopes it will continue to bounce back as the pandemic eases.