Ash Wednesday, 2026 – I am always amazed and puzzled at the crowd of people who come on Ash Wednesday to receive ashes. What is it about ashes that attracts them and us? Pondering this a little further, I think of the words that are said as one receives the ashes. “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return”. These words cause us to acknowledge an inevitable truth. Pondering a little further, I am reminded of the virtue of humility.
We acknowledge our humanness with the virtue of humility. We are creatures, God is our creator. I think Lent is a good time to ponder this truth. Lent returns us again to a proper perspective in life. It acknowledges our dependence on God. In Lent we turn to God in our lives and ask God to “create in us new hearts” of love, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and peace and our personal lists could go on and on.
St. Benedict has a whole chapter on humility in his Rule. He tells us that we ascend to heaven by humility and that God always sees our actions and knows our thoughts. Living by humility he says that we will quickly arrive at that perfect love of God that casts out fear. (1 John 4:18) St. Benedict tells us that the virtue of humility will become a habit.
Yes, humility is counter–cultural but so is Lent. The Season of Lent is also a good time in our day and age to ponder the words of the prophet Micah about justice and love. In Micah, we read what God requires, “only to do justice and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8.
