Lent 2026

Lent2026 

"Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful." (Joel 2:13) 

Dear friends, 
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. 
At Christmas we rejoiced that God has drawn near to us in the mystery of the Incarnation. In this holy season of Lent, we are invited to draw near to God in return. In the season of Epiphany, we unveiled our "Christmas present" and got know who Christ is as he was revealed to us by different witnesses and through his miracles or signs. Lent now asks how we will live as God's people. 
Lent begins in honesty. Marked with ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our mortality and our need for mercy. This is not a season of spiritual gloom, but of spiritual clarity. We lay aside illusion. We resist self-justification. We allow God to search us and know us. In the wilderness account of the Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus confronts temptation not by grasping at power, but by entrusting himself wholly to the Father. Lent shapes that same posture in us. It reorders our love and strengthens our obedience. 
The Church offers three enduring disciplines: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Through prayer, we place Christ again at the centre of our common life. Through fasting, we learn freedom from what quietly controls us. Through almsgiving, we embody God's compassion toward those who suffer and make it our own. I encourage every parish to embrace these practices not as ritual obligation, but as missionary formation. A praying Church becomes a discerning Church. A generous Church becomes a credible witness. A disciplined Church becomes a resilient Church. 
Lent is also a time for corporate reflection. As a diocese, we continue to navigate change, financial realities, and the call to renewed evangelism. This season invites us to examine not only personal habits, but communal assumptions. Where must we let go in order to be faithful? Where is the Spirit calling us from preoccupation with our own survival, into mission for others? Repentance is not retreat; it is courageous alignment with God's future. 
The road of Lent leads us toward Holy Week and ultimately to Easter. We do not rush there. We walk deliberately through confession, reconciliation, and surrender, trusting that resurrection always follows the cross. 
The ashes on our foreheads will fade. The mercy of God will not. My prayer for us is simple: that this Lent will deepen our communion with Christ and with one another; that it will strengthen our stewardship and clarify our mission; and that it will prepare us to proclaim the joy of the Resurrection with renewed conviction. 
May the Spirit lead us faithfully through these forty days.