1st Week of Lent 2026 - Wednesday - Get serious about repenting

 

A week ago, we gathered on Ash Wednesday. We received Ashes on our foreheads as a sign that during this season we will seek to turn away from sin and turn toward God.

Well, just one week into Lent now, our readings today are about one of the grandest examples of turning away from sin in the entire old testament.

Jonah preached for forty days that unless the city of Nineveh repented, it would be destroyed. And what happened? Well, they weren’t destroyed were they? Just the opposite. And it was really amazing. The entire city of Ninevah, which was so big that it took a person three days to cross, the entire city-- the nobility, the peasantry, everyone—marked themselves with ashes, they fasted, and prayed, in order to turned away from sin and turn to God.

What a great story. I love this story. And apparently, Jesus loves this story too. For as we heard in our Gospel Jesus tells the people of his generation that they need to be more like the people of Nineveh. In fact, Jesus used more serious language than that didn’t he?

He said the failure to turn away from sin—the refusal to turn away from sin—will result in condemnation.

What’s Jesus talking about here? I think some of you know. Jesus is talking about hell. Condemnation to hell. Serious stuff.

God doesn’t want any of us to go to hell. God doesn’t want any one of us to be excluded from heaven. Which is why Jesus tells people to turn away from sin and turn toward God. Because that’s what it takes. That’s the choice we must make.

Will you turn away from sin or not? This is a serious message isn’t it? For lent is a serious time. It’s okay to be serious during serious times.

During Lent we get serious about sin and turning away from sin and doing penance for sin—serious prayer, serious fasting. “Turn to God with all your heart” we heard on Ash Wednesday. Not half-your heart, not the part of your heart you have left after you’ve given it your hobbies. Give God all of your heart—that it may be filled with life—the life which Jesus obtains for us on the cross.

So, get serious about turning away from sin this Lent. Show your repentance through prayer, fasting, almsgiving for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - - - 

For the Church throughout the world: that during this holy season of Lent her fasting, prayer, and almsgiving may bear fruit.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

For the students, families, and staff of Corpus Christi Academy: for a flourishing of faith, hope, and love and help from God in our trials.

For the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

 

Ash Wednesday 2026 - Listening, Fasting, Community

Last Week, Holy Father Pope Leo issued a message to the Church for this Lent 2026. 

He said, “Lent is a time in which the Church…invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life.”

Many of us know well how easy it is to lose sight of God. Work, social standing, anxiety over health, money, or relationships, pastimes like sports and video games, can obscure the place that God is meant to have in our lives. And Lent, as the Holy Father says, invites us to place God back at the center.

To do so, the Pope goes on to explain that we do three things: Firstly, listening. Lent is about listening to God, to God’s voice, to the word of God. God is speaking to us in 2026, are we listening? 

We are deluding ourselves if we think it is good to go through the day without listening to God. To quote Jesus himself when he was 40 days in the desert, “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” We need to listen to God’s word for guidance, for the wisdom we need to make hard choices, and to hear those personal messages of love that God has for each of us.

Every day during Lent, we need to spend some time to listen to God’s Word, reading a little passage from the Bible, and considering what God is saying to us in our present circumstances, in the concrete details of our life.

[Teachers: try to incorporate the daily mass readings in your lessons. Parents, do the same in the life of the home. Have you read and thought about your scripture passage today?] 

Secondly, in his Lenten message, Pope Leo tells us to fast. Our Lord himself fasted in the desert and taught his disciples to fast. Abstaining from food, helps us to keep our hunger and thirst for righteousness alive. Physical hunger can be a powerful reminder of our need to pray and to seek God. It reminds us, too, of the hunger of the poor, towards whom we should have a special care during the Lenten season.

Lastly, the Pope reminds us that we are in this together, that the members of the Church, the members of the Body of Christ, observe Lent, together. Lent is a season for the whole church, to pray, fast, give alms, to listen to God together. 

During Lent we come to church more often to engage in communal prayer, like for daily mass, for stations of the cross, for holy hours and confessions, because Lent is a shared journey—the shared journey of the Church toward Easter.

During Lent, the whole church, together, prays in a special way for will soon be joining our company—the catechumens preparing for the easter sacraments—who will enter into full communion with the Church at easter. We pray and fast for them, mindful of the good example we are to set for them and the encouragement we are to offer them in pursuing holiness.

This weekend we will offer a Holy Hour for peace in our trouble world from 2pm to 3pm here in Church, a wonderful opportunity to pray together, to seek peace together, to implore God’s healing and justice together. We will also pray the stations of the cross each Friday at 7:30pm—a beloved and time-honored tradition of walking with Jesus as he carried his cross and suffered and died out of love for us. Stations of the cross are a powerful devotion which helps us listen to the voice of God’s love.

In just a few moments we will have ashes imposed on our foreheads. These ashes are a reminder of our mortality and sin, for from dust we were made and because of sin to dust we will return. By reminding us of mortality and sin, they more importantly remind us of our need for salvation, our need for God, our need for Jesus. For each of us facing our mortality sooner or later, recognize that Eternal Life is found in Jesus Christ alone, and we are called to believe in Him, love Him, and follow Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

May these ashes, together with our Lenten penances, help us to seek that fullness of life that only comes through intimate union with Jesus Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Ash Wednesday 2023 - 40 Days

 

Today begins the 40 days of Lent. 40 days. Why 40 days?

Certainly we think of the 40 days our Lord spent in the desert. Immediately after his baptism in the Jordan, the Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days in the wilderness—as he prepared to begin his public ministry which would culminate in the sacrifice of the cross and his resurrection. 40 days prepared him for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The number 40 appears several times throughout the Bible. 40 days of unrelenting rain flooded the earth to cleanse the earth of wickedness. Those 40 days of purifying rain prepared Noah and his family to enter into a new covenant with God—a new beginning for humanity.

For 40 days Moses stayed on Mt. Sinai, enwrapped in a cloud in which he prayed and conversed with God. Those 40 days of prayer for Moses prepared him for delivering the commandments to the Israelites, a new beginning for the Israelite people in which they would follow the laws of God.

For 40 years, the Israelites wandered through the desert to prepare them for the promised land.

For 40 days, the prophet Jonah preached to the Ninevites, calling them to conversion, warning them of destruction if they failed to repent. And after those 40 days, the Ninevites did repent, beginning a new life turned toward God.

Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb, and after those 40 days, Elijah was able to detect the voice of God whispering to Him on the winds calling him to faithfulness in his prophetic ministry.

40 days in the bible always represents a time of preparation—a preparation for some special grace, preparation for a new way of life.

These 40 days of Lent in 2023 are no different. During these 40 days we prepare for the liturgical celebration of Easter, but to prepare for new graces and perhaps a new mission.

Lent prepares our hearts for God’s will—whatever that might be. God’s declared purpose is to make all things new (Ap 21:5). He is almighty in his creativity, not just in a generic fashion, but in the lives of each one of us. What matters is to give him access to our lives — and to let him act freely.

Our Lenten observances of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are inviting God more deeply into our lives, that he might prepare us for the Easter mission. Folks, don’t waste these 40 days. They are precious. They are hard, but they are precious.

We are marked by ashes today, and we are humbled. Remember that you are dust. But, God can do amazing things with ashes! He created life—human life—from ashes, from dirt. If he can do that, imagine what he can do, if you gave him more. Imagine what he could do if you gave him 40 days of fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 40 days when you turned away from the things that are trivial, in order to be prepared for something more.

May we be generous with God in our Lenten observances, that God may prepare us for what eyes has not seen and ear has not heard for those who love him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - 

 

That this season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That God will rescue all those who live at a distance from him because of self-absorption or sin.  We pray to the Lord.

That all families will recommit themselves to fervent prayer this Lent so as to grow in greater love and holiness. 

That this Lent we will be faithful to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord sanctifies us.  We pray to the Lord.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.

For all those impacted by the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, for the defense of our nation from all threats foreign and domestic, for those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, inclement weather, or ongoing trials of any kind.

 

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered. 

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in the divine mystery may never be left without your assistance. Through Christ our Lord.

 

1st Week of Lent - Wednesday - Heed the call to repentance

Our Lenten readings urge us each year to consider the story of Jonah. Jonah, a Jewish prophet, and a reluctant one, was sent by God to preach to a pagan people, to a people who did not know the God of Israel, and certainly didn’t follow his ways. Nineveh was the capital city, in fact, of Israel’s great enemy at the time, the Assyrians. Nineveh is described as enormous, taking three days to walk across, and thoroughly evil. Nineveh is symbolic of every city of the earth, whose inhabitants are far from God.

God certainly sends his modern day prophets, Christians, us, to preach to the pagan cities of the earth. And yet, the point of the story during Lent is for us to identify not so much with Jonah, but with the Ninevites, who surprisingly, respond wholeheartedly to the call of repentance.

Hearing the Word of God, the 120,000 residents of Nineveh, everyone from the nobility to the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—expressed their repentance by fasting, covering themselves with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. God saw by their actions, how their repentance was genuine.

Now consider in the Gospel today, how the Lord Jesus condemns those of his generation for failing to repent. Jonah preached the Word of God and the Ninevites repented, now Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, preached, and his generation fails to repent. The Lord himself explains the eternal judgment for those who fail to repent.

Lent presents us with a stark option: will we associate with the Ninevites, who repent and show their repentance by their holy works and actions? Or will we be condemned by Jesus for failing to repent?

Next week, Wednesday evening, every parish in the diocese will have confessions from 5 to 8pm. If there is anyone in your life who has fallen away from the Church, be Jonah for them, call them to repentance. Your invitation might be the prophetic gesture which leads them back to God. And be a Ninevite for them, show them the power of repentance, the joy that comes from encountering God’s mercy, of returning to Him with your whole heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - - -

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Week of Lent 2018 - Monday - Lent is a season of Hope

Over in the Academy last week, I was talking about the theological and cardinal virtues. Alongside the western wall here at St. Clare, the theological virtues, faith hope and love, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, are depicted symbolically in our stained glass windows.

I’d like to speak this morning about the virtue of hope. Hope is depicted so often in Christian symbology as an anchor, as it is here, on one of our stained glass windows. The anchor was an early Christian symbol commonly found in the Roman catacombs as a symbol of the hope we have in the promises of Christ. Imagine you are a first century Christian taking refuge in the catacombs: three of your close friends have just been thrown to the lions or burned at the stake, or crucified and set ablaze as torches at one of Emperor Nero's garden parties. The anchor is a symbol that amidst the storms and uncertainties and suffering, Christ is our anchor, Christ is our hope.

Letter to the Hebrews speaks of hope as an anchor: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

Hope helps us to remain anchored in the truth, anchored in reality. Lent is a season of Hope. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us of the all too real reality of suffering and death, the result of sin, but it is a day of hope, the ashes are placed on the head in the sign of the cross, an expression of our hope to be saved from sin and purified from sin through Lent.

Yesterday’s Gospel, for the second Sunday of Lent, is filled with hope. Jesus’ glory was revealed in dazzling display on the Mount of Transfiguration. This was to give his disciples hope, that though he would suffer and die, the cross was not the defeat of God, but God’s defeat of sin and death.
I thought of this image of the anchor of hope today, in light of our readings today, in which we find Daniel confessing his sins and the sins of Israel to the Father in the first reading, and which speak of the Father’s forgiveness and our need to forgive in the Gospel.

The Virtue of Hope is discovered between two vices: the vice of despair and the vice of presumption. Despair claims that my sin is so great, God will never forgive me. Presumption claims that it doesn’t matter what I do, I am assured of salvation, so I don’t have to make any attempt to amend my life.

True Christian Hope is rooted in the truth, that Yes, God is full of grace, mercy and forgiveness for the sinner, but as sinners, like Daniel, we are called to confess our sins, and show mercy and forgiveness, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel. “For if you do not forgive, the Father will not forgive you.”

May our Lenten practices help us to grow in authentic Christian hope which leads us to acknowledge and confess our sins, amend our life, forgive others and lead others to the fountain of God’s mercy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -
 
That those despairing of God’s mercy and those presumptuous of God’s mercy may come to know and practice authentic Christian Hope.

That those preparing for baptism and full Christian initiation at Easter may be strengthened in Faith, Hope, and Love through the Church’s prayer and witness.

For the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of February, that those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption. We pray to the Lord.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.