18 February 2026 – Let us, Christians, with a spirit of repentance and humility receive the salutary ashes which the Church will place upon our heads. These ashes are the image of what we are of ourselves: dust and nothingness. They remind us of the dreadful sentence pronounced upon sinful man: Thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.
But when the Church places the ashes upon us, she does not wish only to recall to us our earthly origin and the sentence of death; she also wishes to open to us the way of mercy. If we acknowledge our misery, if we confess that we have sinned, then God is faithful and just to forgive us.
Let us then enter this holy season of forty days with a contrite heart. Let us accept the penance which the Church imposes upon us; let us unite ourselves to the fasting, the prayers, and the almsgiving which she recommends. May these exercises not be for us a vain outward observance, but the reparation of our faults and the pledge of a new life.
O my God! I confess that I have sinned against Thee. I have deserved death; I have deserved to be reduced to dust. But remember that Thou hast created me to know Thee, to love Thee, and to serve Thee. Do not permit that I perish in my iniquity. Accept my repentance; strengthen my weakness; and grant that, purified by penance, I may attain to the joys of the Resurrection. (Dom Guéranger)
On the Ashes and Their Meaning
The ashes are made from the palm branches that were blessed on Palm Sunday, in order that we may understand that the glory of this world is brought to nothing. What was once a sign of homage becomes a sign of penance; for all earthly splendour ends in dust.
The ashes are placed upon the head, because the head is the principal part of the body, that man may acknowledge that in all things he is subject to God. By this sign he is reminded of his origin and of his end: that he was taken from dust and shall return to dust.
Therefore the priest says: ‘Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.’ Not that he may despair, but that he may humble himself and turn to God; for humility is the beginning of exaltation. (Durandus)