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Ash Wednesday 2026 Homily

Ash Wednesday 2026 Homily

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 ASH WEDNESDAY 2026

Normally the first word that a baby learns, unsurprisingly, is “mama.” One of the next words that most babies learn is “more.” A baby wants more food, more drink, more mom, more dad, more everything.

We never forget that word, do we? From our infancy we simply want more and more. We even want more of non-tangible, non-physical things. We want more feedback. More compliments. More leisure. More knowledge. We very naturally want more. And no one has to stoke the fires of more, to remind us to desire more. We want more sleep, and no one needs encouragement to hit the snooze button, or to spend more time online, or to eat more ice cream. All of these things come to us naturally.

The opposite of “more” may not be “less” but simply “no” or “none.” The beginning of Lent is a good time to remind ourselves that the word “no” can be a loving word. When a mom or dad tells their teenage daughter to be home at 11, she might say, “but why can't I stay out until 12? Don't you love me?” And they could respond “Yes, we love you, - be home by 11.” In other words “We love you, no, you can’t stay out until 12.” “I love you, no” is an alternative to “I love you, yes.” Our body often demands that we respond to its desires with yes. But in Lent we tell our bodies “I love you, no!”

On Ash Wednesday and throughout Lent the Church encourages us to say “no” to ourselves more often. She teaches us that “more and more” is not beneficial for our bodies or our souls. The more we say “no” to food and drink and pleasure, the more capable we are of saying “yes” to God.
We don’t seek to free ourselves from external chains just for the sake of being free. Freedom is not a goal as much as a means. Freedom is like time or money. It’s meant to be used, otherwise it loses its meaning. Freedom from the demands of the body has a positive more than a negative purpose. We are free “from” so that we can free “for.” We are free from self-focus, self- aggrandizement, self-coddling, so that we can be free for service to the church and others. To liberate ourselves from the incessant demands of our own bodies frees us for service to others. When we are not slaves to our bodily desires, we are more available, more willing, more capable, to serve those around us and to practice our faith at full throttle.

On Ash Wednesday our undying church smudges ash on our forehead and whispers “You’re gonna die.” We can almost feel the priest’s breath on our face as he says, in effect, “You're no bigger or better than this little pile of dust.” And this is not a virtual or digital encounter. The priest doesn’t appear through a screen. Receiving ashes is a real encounter between two real people, and if someone doesn't believe that Catholicism is true, today at least they know that Catholicism is real, and that realness may, down the road, lead to belief. Ours is not a fake or a counterfeit religion. There's nothing more real than wearing a scuff of ash on your forehead at lunch today. The deep religious sentiment conveyed today is not too intellectual. A smudge on our forehead is not an idea or a concept. It’s simply there...all..day...long, a temporary Catholic tatoo. And we can’t outrun our forehead.

On archeological digs, it’s very common that as the workers tunnel down through the layers of dirt and rock and broken shards of pottery, they find an ash layer. This shows where a fire burned down the castle, the city, the fort, or the house. This is where everything before came to an end. This layer demarcates destruction and a new beginning. A bed of ash separates one era from another. May today be our own personal ash layer. From today’s ashes may we start again. Today - may we drop our sins like a murder weapon. May we leave behind the old man and start the Chrisitan adventure again, harnessing our desires. We will return one day to the dust from which God made us. And when we return to that state there will be judgment, there will be mercy, and there will be condemnation. There will be heaven, hell, or purgatory. And there will be eternity. May we prepare well for that endless day. Amen.
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