2026-03-04
Dear Jerry,
Receive the ashes.
Lent begins not with an idea, but with something tangible: dust on skin, the scent of burned palms, the quiet words, "Remember that you are dust." It is a humbling truth. We are not separate from creation. We are part of it.
In his Message for Lent 2026, Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion, Pope Leo XIV calls us to listen:
"...our parishes, families, ecclesial groups and religious communities are called to undertake a shared journey during Lent, in which listening to the word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes part of our community life, and fasting a foundation for sincere repentance."
Ashes mark a beginning. As a Laudato Si' Action Platform community, we enter these forty days aware of our limits and of our responsibility. The earth that marks us is the same earth that groans.
May this Lent draw us closer to Christ, to the soil, to solidarity, and to a conversion that is steady, embodied, and shared.
Yours in faith,
The Laudato Si' Action Platform Team
(1050 K ST NW STE 400, Washington, DC 20001, United States)