Ash Wednesday is the day the Church stops pretending to be immortal and decides to live in the truth. We receive ashes not to feel guilt, but to speak the truth. We are dust, but not resigned dust. We are dust that remembers, that resists, that organizes. For all these reasons, we reject a faith that numbs. We do not accept a spirituality that soothes consciences while the people bleed. Fasting without justice is a lie. Praying without commitment is noise. Giving without transforming is complicity. Our sin is not only personal; it is a system that discards lives, exploits the earth, normalizes inequality, and calls dispossession progress. Conversion will not be individualistic.
This truth is not proclaimed with harshness, but with hope. Ash Wednesday is a day to return—return to God, to community, and to the best of ourselves. Ashes are not condemnation; they are invitation. They are the humble gesture of one who recognizes their fragility and, even so, trusts in the infinite mercy of the Lord. Conversion begins in the heart and extends into concrete acts of love, justice, reconciliation, and service.
We invite you to gather with us this Wednesday, February 18, 2026, and to participate in the times of prayer and reflection we have prepared for the whole community:
10:00 a.m. – Morning Prayer & Imposition of Ashes
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Ashes for the Road (stop by at any time to receive ashes and a brief prayer)
6:00 p.m. – Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes
Come as you are: with questions or certainties, with burdens or gratitude. The Church opens its doors not for the perfect, but for those who desire to begin again. Together we will enter this holy season of Lent with simplicity, faith, and hope.