2026 Cycle A - Ash Wednesday

Readings

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6-2; Mathew 6:1-6,16-18

Homily Theme

Prayer Fasting Almsgiving

Many of us Catholics will be wearing a dirty mark on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, even Catholics who don’t normally attend Mass on a regular basis. It is the one day in the year when you can tell who was in church for sure.  It would make a great  difference to our world, if all billion and a quarter of us baptized Catholics, also made a good confession and resolved to make a great Lent  also.

Listen carefully to the words the priest says as he bestows the ashes upon your head ‘Remember, thou art dust and unto dust you shall return’ or he may simply say.  ‘Repent and believe the Good News’.  Many of you may have visited Lourdes, Fatima or Medjugorje and were moved by that visit. Some others may have had a religious experience on a special weekend retreat or during a parish Mission. You came away with plans to change your life and put God first in it. You promised to pray more and to Fast often, to be more generous with Alms Giving to the poor. Lent is a time to renew those promises and to really grow spiritually. It can change your life and the lives of those with whom you come in contact.

Many parishes during Lent will have a Parish Missions or some of you may be able to make a Spiritual Retreat somewhere.  What an opportunity to reach out to family members, friends and neighbors who don’t normally attend church and to invite them to come with you.   During such occasions, people who have been away from the Church for many years often convert and return to the practice of the faith.

The Church recommends we all observe Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving in reparation for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  What a different world it could be for forty days, if we not only wore a dirty mark on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, but we all  made a real effort to live the  faith  as it was meant to  be lived for all the  forty days leading up to Easter. Many people could be converted by such a powerful witness. We might even be converted ourselves, Ash Wednesday is a Fast and Abstinence Day as is Good Friday. Remember also all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence from meat: yet another opportunity to witness when people see you abstaining.  Some may even tell you that you have a dirty mark on your forehead. What a wonderful opportunity to explain why.  You could even invite them to come to church with you if there happens to be a Parish Mission near by. 

Have a grace filled Lent and a wonderful spiritual growth.