Lent and Conversion

“Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life….” Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV for Lent 2026, on the theme: “Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion”

When I think of Ash Wednesday I do think of my mortality, especially as I am now in my mid-70’s. I realize that I need to ensure that I aligned my daily life with the way of Jesus.

Pope Leo’s Ash Wednesday touches on listening.

“This year, I would first like to consider the importance of making room for the word through listening. The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship with someone.” And “Because of this, listening to the word in the liturgy teaches us to listen to the truth of reality….” And “In order to foster this inner openness to listening, we must allow God to teach us how to listen as he does.”

Pope Leo also mentions fasting during Lent.

“With spiritual insight, Saint Augustine helps us to understand the tension between the present moment and the future fulfilment that characterizes this custody of the heart. He observes that: “In the course of earthly life, it is incumbent upon men and women to hunger and thirst for justice, but to be satisfied belongs to the next life. Angels are satisfied with this bread, this food. The human race, on the other hand, hungers for it; we are all drawn to it in our desire. This reaching out in desire expands the soul and increases its capacity.” Understood in this way, fasting not only permits us to govern our desire, purifying it and making it freer, but also to expand it, so that it is directed towards God and doing good.”

There are verses in the Old Testament when ashes were used together with prayers.  Below are a few verses showing ashes for repentance:

• Job 42:6 we read, “Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.”

• Daniel 9:3 we read, “I turned to God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”

• Jonah 3:6: “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”

• Esther 4:1: “When Mordecai learned all that was happening, he tore his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, went through the city crying out loudly and bitterly.”

Lent is the perfect time to reconnect with the values that will offer an opportunity to build a better community and foster compassion, love, acceptance, and generosity.

Catholics/Christians usually will give up something for Lent as a sacrifice. That is good, however, I found that “giving up” was not really life changing for me.  It became an automatic response where thought was not required from me.

Several years ago, I decided to change direction with my sacrifice.  I thought it more valuable to include options that would improve my spiritual life and therefore, change how I interact with others.

As mentioned in my blog post yesterday, I will using the Examination of Consciousness specific for my political activism during Lent. In the past 9 months or so, I have become blunt, judgmentally blunt in my posts. I need to be more Christ-like in my responses while still being committed to my social justice cause.

For me that means considering the following:

1. What unconscious actions or words have I spoken with giving thought to how the listener may possibly receive it? An example of this would be, did I make a generalized comments about a situation alluding that it included “everyone.” We should be aware that the use of “everyone, everybody, all,” etc. is an offensive way to make a point.

2. Did I unintentionally say or do something that hurt someone because I was angry, frustrated, or not feeling well? Did I apologize afterwards? Too often we are aware that we have said or done something.

3. Have I avoided people, friends or family especially, that I might have hurt or held a grudge against? Why? In our current environment this is especially critical for Lent. We have allowed our views to create a division in our relationships while forgetting the real values we have in common. I know that my family and friends have the same values: love, compassion, generosity, respect. We differ in our religious and political views, yes. But we still reach out to each other, often with laughter as we share our memories.

Whatever process you use, be sure to make time to reflect, pray and act.

Hopefully, by now you have thought about what you will do to make Lent a journey that brings you closer to God and all of His children. If not, today is a very good day to start.

I will leave you with this from Pope Francis, April 29, 1917: May you be sowers of hope, builders of bridges and agents of dialogue and harmony.”

Here is a link to a very short video on Ashes

NOTE: We will be offering a free webinar on March 27, 2026, at 1 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. You can get more information here: Three Self-Emptying Days.