This year, Ash Wednesday was not much different from the ones in the recent past. Churches packed with seekers of the ash markings on their foreheads as a sign of devotion to the penitent season of Lent. An opportunity to attune our lives to true repentance. A chance to begin again on our spiritual journey to the kingdom of God.

The pews were packed. Those leaving from an earlier Mass encountered crowds coming in for the next. Parking lots were filled up, and open parking spaces difficult to find. Regular Mass attendees saw faces they had not seen before or remember faintly from so long ago.

 Thought and talk would soon centre on the inconveniences brought about by the irregular attendees. They are the ones who make parking space unavailable. They took all the seats, denying the regulars of their regular seats. Some of them could not even follow the Mass as appropriate. A few of them seeking to receive communion forgot that they had to say Amen to the Priest’s ‘The Body of Christ.’ In any case, we will not see them again until Easter, Christmas; and then next year. Our Church will soon return to normalcy.

Such thoughts and talks did not begin this Lent, we harboured them last year, the year before, and many years back: the thinking of ‘us’ and ‘them’. We forget that our duty is to embrace them, welcome them, and encourage them to return. How much time do we take in knowing them? Do we know if many of them attend daily Mass while we arrogate ourselves with piety because of our Sunday Mass attendance? Do we know if they attend Mass close to their homes, but come to our parish for Ash Wednesday because it is closer to their places of work? Do we know how much some of them support the work of the Church?

Then do we know what they are dealing with in life? They come to seek the face of Christ in a community of faith and the best we can do is to judge them even within our gathering of sinners! Is Ash Wednesday a day of starting a journey of repentance or a day to judge fellow sinners? Why do we seek validation of our own filthy unworthiness through the condemnation of others? Why don’t we embrace others; seek to understand their plights, their pains, and their paths? In loving embrace of our fellow men, we find meanings to our own lives. In walking with others, the road to salvation gets less lonely.

Every one of those we judge is a valuable sheep in the flock of The Good Shepherd. Assuming they are utterly lost, as most of us are, should we mock the humility of their return to the flock? Remember the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Prodigal Son? In imitation of The Good Shepherd, our role is to treat our brothers and sisters as heroes of our belief. They have been our unsung heroes for far too long.

Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill is near to the Vatican. It is about five kilometres away. That was where Pope Leo marked Ash Wednesday 2026. The Holy Father, in his homily, touched on the need to embrace others, not merely to tolerate them, but to be missionaries of the significance of Lent to others.

“Let us, therefore, embrace the missionary significance of Lent, not in a way that distracts us from our individual efforts, but in a way that introduces this season to the many restless people of goodwill who are seeking authentic ways to renew their lives, within the context of the Kingdom of God and his justice.”

May we find in our brothers and sisters, the true face of Christ the Redeemer.

 

Ayo Fasoro

Non Sum Dignus.

 

21 February 2026

 

Article for Sunday, 29 February 2026