Laudato Voices | Ash Wednesday| February 18, 2026
The holy season of Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday, when many of us receive ashes on our foreheads and hear the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Echoing Genesis 3:19, do not diminish human dignity; rather, they place us in the humility of creation and the mercy of God. From dust we were formed, and to dust we shall return. In that truth lies both repentance and hope. This Lent, the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has invited the faithful to disarm our language, to avoid harsh words, rash judgments, and the careless speech that wounds the Body of Christ. Such an appeal is deeply consonant with the perennial teaching of the Church. As Pope Francis reminds us in Fratelli Tutti, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (cf. Prov 18:21). Words can build communion or fracture it; they can console the afflicted or deepen their suffering.
Disarming Our Language in a Wounded World
To disarm our language is to allow the Gospel to purify our speech. In a growing culture where communications are often marked by polarization, online hostility, and harsh public discourse, Christians are called to a different witness. The Letter of James warns that the tongue, though small, can set a great forest ablaze (cf. Jas 3:5). Lent therefore becomes for us a season not only of fasting from food, but of fasting from destructive speech and actions.
Harsh words leave lasting wounds, especially upon children and the vulnerable. The Church has consistently upheld the inviolable dignity of every human person. As the Second Vatican Council teaches in Gaudium et Spes, “The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God.” To wound another through contempt or ridicule is to obscure that divine image.
As the Laudato Youth Initiative, we think our communities must become places where children are protected not only from physical harm but from verbal cruelty and emotional neglect. Families, parishes, and schools are called to cultivate a culture of gentleness, patience, and encouragement. In doing so, we bear the burden of those who suffer the consequences of harsh words, becoming instruments of healing rather than agents of further injury.
Bearing the Burden of the Poor
The Lenten call to conversion cannot ignore the cry of the poor. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis insists that the poor are not an afterthought in the Gospel but stand at its very heart. “Each individual Christian and every community,” he writes, “is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor.”
To make the poor visible is itself an act of justice. Too often, poverty remains hidden, masked by indifference or dulled by statistics. Lent urges us to look directly at those who suffer economic hardship, displacement, or exclusion, etc. Parishes, schools, and communities can respond through concrete acts of solidarity: food assistance, walking with the poor and children in their needs, accompaniment of the elderly, and the cultivation of relationships that affirm dignity rather than dispense charity from a distance.
When we disarm our language, we also dismantle narratives that blame the poor for their condition. We learn instead to speak with compassion and to act with courage.
From Dust to Stewardship: Ash Wednesday and Ecology
The ashes imposed upon us today proclaim our shared origin with the earth. The scriptural affirmation that we are formed from dust (Gen 2:7) reveals not only our mortality but our profound interconnectedness with creation. Humanity is not master over creation in a spirit of domination, but steward within it in a spirit of reverence.
In Laudato si’, Pope Francis speaks of an “ecological conversion,” calling the faithful to recognize that care for our common home is a moral and spiritual responsibility. The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one. Environmental degradation disproportionately affects those least able to defend themselves, especially children and impoverished grassroots communities.
Ash Wednesday confronts us with the truth that what we exploit, we ultimately become. If we degrade the soil, pollute the air, and poison the waters, we wound the very dust from which we were formed. Conversely, when we protect ecosystems, reduce waste, and adopt sustainable practices, we honor the Creator and safeguard future generations.
So, can we re-energize ourselves for the mission?
Lent is not a season of despair but of renewal. The ashes that mark us are traced in the sign of the Cross, signifying that repentance leads to resurrection. We are therefore called not merely to reflection but to action.
Taking an active role in addressing environmental challenges may include:
• Supporting sustainability initiatives and activities rooted in Integral Ecology and Ecological Education and Awareness
• Reducing personal footprint and managing pollution in all its forms
• Take systemic actions that can lead to ecological conversion
• Educating children in habits of ecological responsibility
To protect children from harsh words and harsh treatment requires:
• Forming consciences in the virtues of charity and patience
• Addressing bullying and online hostility with vigilance
• Modeling respectful dialogue in homes, schools, parishes and communities
To ensure the poor are visible and helped, demands:
• Intentional outreach and accompaniment to the poor
• Financial generosity during Lenten almsgiving
• Working towards achieving just economic structures
A Community Where the Cry Finds Welcome
The prophet Isaiah reminds us that the fast pleasing to the Lord is one that loosens the bonds of injustice and shares bread with the hungry (cf. Is 58:6–7). Our Lenten observance is authentic when it transforms our communities into sanctuaries of welcome, places where the cry of those who suffer is heard, honored, and answered. May this holy season renew in us the humility of dust, the gentleness of purified speech, and the courage of compassionate action. Let us strive to make our communities places where the wounded find healing, where the poor are seen and served, where children are safeguarded, and where the earth itself is cherished as God’s gift. In this way, our ashes will not merely mark our foreheads; they will mark a conversion of heart that bears fruit in justice, mercy, and love. Walk with us this Lenten Period (Ash Wednesday Reflection on
