Daily Gospel Reflection for February 18, 2026: Ash Wednesday

Today we begin the great season of Lent. It always seems to arrive so quickly after Christmas and this year is no exception. The tree and decorations have been put away and all the parties have come and gone. We may feel like our homes and our souls are a bit barren. And indeed they are.

 

Lent is a time for simplification, for focusing on the essential, for cleaning our interior homes, so to speak. It is a time of introspection, of growth, of healing, of preparation. Many parishes host Exodus 90 groups for men and Fiat 90 groups for women during this time. They invite us to make sacrifices, to cast off what comforts us for a time, to increase our participation in prayer and the sacraments.

 

Lent is a time to focus on the essential, to home in on what is most important in our lives. So, what is most important to you? I would love to say I have my priorities straight and have God first, family second, and job third, but is that reflected in how I spend my time and energy? Am I first and foremost a woman of prayer and a missionary disciple? Do I take after our Blessed Mother in my own mothering and in my own marriage? Do I shine the light of Christ in my workplace and give my all during work hours?

 

Sadly, I often fail miserably. But Lent is a wonderful opportunity to begin again, to start afresh, to make a sincerely profound examination of conscience and choose to choose love, over and over again. Let us be encouraged by today’s readings to “go to your inner room” to “pray to your Father in secret” and thus “return to [God] with your whole heart” (see first reading).