Ash Wednesday: February 18, 2026

Welcome to Lent:  the 40-day period for spiritual renewal that the Church gives us every year.  A time to look at our lives and change what needs to be changed, so we can be more like Christ.

So let’s say I want to save $400 over a period of 40 days. . .   Since I can’t go out and get a part-time job, something would have to change; I would have to spend less and save more in order to gain $400 in savings.  It can be done if I’m willing to change.

Or let’s say  I want to buff up a bit over several weeks.  Something would have to change.  I would have to eat fewer sweets, which are always my downfall, and spend more time lifting some iron at the gym.  It can be done if I’m willing to change.

Or maybe I finally want to get started on a collection of homilies for publication. . . To get that done, something would have to change.  A little less time watching television and more time spent at the computer, actually working, instead of drifting off into another game of solitaire. . .  It can be done if I’m willing to change.

Hopefully, you get the point.  To achieve ANY of these things, I can’t keep doing the same old things. Something has to change. I will have to put in some time and effort, or the next weeks will come and go, and I will be in the same place I am today, no money saved, same old physical condition, and no progress on a book.

THE SAME WILL OCCUR DURING LENT.  If we JUST SAY we want to be a better person, and walk more closely with Christ, between now and the time Easter rolls around, but keep doing the same old things. . .  If we are serious about actually walking more closely with Christ, we will have to put some time and effort into it.  Which almost always means:  SOMETHING WILL HAVE TO CHANGE:  like, more prayer, more fasting, more almsgiving.

IF WE DON’T PUT IN THE EFFORT, then we will just be the same old people when Easter rolls around.  Good intentions get us nowhere. We have to put in the time and effort for any change to occur.

So to help us have a successful Lent, where change is possible, and we actually are better people at the end of Lent. The deacons and I will suggest a five-part road map, based on the Sunday Gospel readings, to help us put in the time and effort so that change is more likely to occur on our Lenten journey. Those five steps will be:

• to spend time alone

• to spend some time with God

• to nurture ourselves in the ways of God

• to come to our senses and return to the Lord with all our minds & hearts

• and finally, to treat others in the same way God treats us.

So join us each week on this journey:  put in the time and effort to make the changes you need to make, so we will ALL be better people, walking more closely with Christ, when Easter rolls around.

What a difference that will make for us as individuals, as families, and as a parish community to be walking more closely with Christ.

The alternative is to just have good intentions.  Do nothing, and just be the same old people when Easter rolls around.