02/19/2026
LENTEN DEVOTIONS:
NO STAIN TOO DARK
“I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42.6
Ash Wednesday triggers mixed feelings. Some anticipate the significance and symbol of receiving ashes on their foreheads. Others are uncomfortable with the rite, depressed at the beginning of a long penitential season, or simply unhappy about having messy ashes smeared on their faces.
Whether or not we wear ashes outwardly, a proper response to the condemnations of God’s Law means despising the totality of our sinful, fallen, arrogant, straying, boasting, doubting human natures. And even if our foreheads are clean, we sprinkle the ‘ashes’ of contrition over our hearts, never daring to claim purity of self. [That’s Lent in a nutshell.]
If Ash Wednesday were just about piling the ashes of sorrow on top of the dirt of our sins, we would merely be increasing the ugly stain of our guilt. On our own, we lack both the motivation and the means to become clean in God’s eyes.
Thank God that He is not so limited. He is both motivated and equipped to scrub us clean. He calls us to return to our Baptism and to recall the promises He made there. As we remember our
and believe in his forgiveness, the Holy Spirit reconnects us with Christ’s Baptism. He draws our sins away and places them upon the One who stood in the Jordan, ready to accept the burden of bearing all our filth. PRAYER: Merciful Lord, I thank You for Jesus and for taking control of my life by Your divine Spirit. Amen.
MIRACLES O LENT 2026; Next Wed Feb 25, ‘Tearing of the Temple Curtain’ @ Trinity
