Ash Wednesday 2026

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 Ash Wednesday places a strange and powerful message before us.

In just a few moments, ashes will be placed on our foreheads. They are visible. They mark us publicly. And yet, the Word of God today insists that the heart of Lent is not about what can be seen.

Saint Paul gives us the key in the second reading:

 “We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.”

That is a surprising thing to hear on a day like today.

Ashes remind us of our weakness, our mortality, our sinfulness. They remind us that we are dust. And yet Paul dares to say that even with ashes on our foreheads, God entrusts us with His message. Even in our need for repentance, God still chooses to work through us.

That is why our Lenten theme this year is “We Are Ambassadors for Christ.”

An ambassador does not speak on personal authority. An ambassador represents someone else. An ambassador carries the message, values, and intentions of the one who sends them.

Lent begins not with disqualification, but with calling.

The prophet Joel says today, “Return to me with your whole heart… rend your hearts, not your garments.” God is not interested in outward displays alone. He wants the heart. He wants honesty. He wants conversion that goes deeper than appearances.

Psalm 51 gives us the language of that honesty: “A clean heart create for me, O God.” Not a perfect heart. Not a heart that pretends. A clean heart — one that is open to mercy.

And then the Gospel brings it all together. Jesus warns us about doing good for show: praying so others will notice, fasting so others will admire us, giving alms so others will praise us. Lent, Jesus says, is about what happens in secret — the quiet space where God meets the truth of who we are.

That can be uncomfortable. The desert always is.

But the desert is also where clarity comes. Jesus Himself is led into the desert before His public ministry begins. Lent is our desert — a time when distractions are stripped away so we can remember who we are and whose we are.

And that matters, because ambassadors must know who they represent.

We live in a world full of voices that tempt us to define ourselves by success, control, comfort, or recognition. Lent pushes back against those voices. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, God recenters our lives so that when we speak, act, and love, it is Christ who is seen through us.

Ashes tell the truth: we are fragile, we are sinners, and we need God.

 But being ambassadors tells another truth just as important: God has not given up on us. God still trusts us. God still appeals to the world through ordinary, imperfect people who are willing to return to Him with their whole hearts.

As we receive ashes today, we do not come forward as people who have it all together. We come forward as people who are willing to begin again.

Saint Paul says it plainly: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Not tomorrow. Not later in Lent. Now.

May this season help us to listen more closely, love more deeply, and live more intentionally — not for show, not for praise, but so that through us, Christ may speak His word of mercy to a world that desperately needs it.

We are dust.

 And we are ambassadors for Christ.



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