Ash Wednesday
Mass with O'Dea High School Community
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
St. James Cathedral

Today God brings us to the beginning of Lent and our scriptures make it clear that if we’ve wandered away from him - in big ways or small ways - God just wants us back.
 
This journey, which begins by smudging ashes on our foreheads, will end in the new life of Easter on April 5th. Between now and then God calls us to examine our lives, to turn away from whatever has led us away from him, and to return to the waiting arms of our forgiving God. Yes, he just wants us back.
 
The Prophet Joel gives us that ancient summons: “proclaim a fast, call an assembly, gather the people!” And so here we are, a gathered assembly, to begin the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, praying that they not simply be outward displays, but truly what they are intended to be - an outward sign of an inner change of life with very practical consequences for how we live.
 
Jesus reminds his disciples, and he reminds us today, that to pray, to fast, and to give to the poor can draw us deeper into the Father’s embrace, only if we undertake these for the right reasons.
 
Rather than showing off, or somehow manipulating God, these disciplines are meant to change us. Our prayer during this season can be more fruitful if we strive to listen more attentively to what God is calling us to, rather than telling God what we want him to do. He wants us back, and the way back is to listen to him.
 
In order to achieve that closer connection with God and others, our Lenten disciplines have to go beyond simply giving up my favorite food.
 
Here are some possibilities of things to give up and things to take up that might help us to draw closer to God and to the people in our lives:
 
·        Give up harsh words: use generous ones.
·        Give up texting for a day: take up having a conversation with a friend.
·        Give up anger: take up gentleness and patience.
·        Give up pessimism: take up hope and optimism.
·        Give up worrying: take up trust in God.
·        Give up complaining: value what you have.
·        Give up stress: take up prayer.
·        Give up judging others: discover Jesus within them.
·        Give up social media for a day: take up reading the Bible.
·        Give up selfishness: take up compassion for others.
·        Give up being unforgiving: learn reconciliation.
·        Give up words: fill yourself with silence, and listen to others.
 
These are just a few suggestions, you may have other ideas of how certain ways of behaving have led you away from God, perhaps in small ways, perhaps in big ways But, we don’t reflect on our behavior and attitudes and how we might have wandered away from God in order to beat ourselves up and to tell ourselves what losers we are. No!
 
We are assured, as we begin this journey of Lent, that God has already loved us first. St. Paul tells us that it is for our sake that God sent his Son, the sinless one, to be subject to the brokenness and sin of our world, so that we might be brought back, and draw closer to the Father.
 
And so may the ashes we wear today remind us of the depth of God’s love for us. May whatever practices we commit to taking on or giving up, help us to come closer to our God who loves us unconditionally.
 
Whether we have wandered a short distance, or miles away from him, it doesn’t matter. He just loves us. He just wants us back.

Father Gary F. Lazzeroni