ASH WEDNESDAY

February 18, 2026

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

 

Shortly after I arrived in my first parish as rector, I was talking with a parishioner who was known as one of the more “spiritual” members of the congregation: a man of prayer. When I mentioned that I was still deciding what to give up for Lent that year, he replied: “Oh Father, that’s so old-fashioned. The point of Lent isn’t to give something up but to take something on.”

 

I could see that I had my work cut out for me. While it’s an excellent idea take on extra commitments of worship, prayer, study, or service during Lent, it’s not enough. We really do need to give something up as well.

 

In keeping with ancient Christian tradition, the Book of Common Prayer is absolutely clear. On page 17, it states: “Ash Wednesday and the other weekdays of Lent and Holy Week” are to be “observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial.” In a few minutes, I will read from the same Prayer Book these words: “I invite you … in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

It’s tempting to gloss over the fasting and self-denial parts of that equation. Yet without them, our observance of a holy Lent is inadequate and incomplete. From the very beginning, Christians have set aside special times and seasons for self-denial, following the example of our Lord himself, who fasted for forty days in the wilderness. But our contemporary culture is so unused to, indeed hostile to, the very idea of self-denial that, from time to time, we need a refresher on the practice's purposes.

 

At the outset, I will say that after we’ve reached a certain age, or if we suffer from certain medical conditions, then strict fasting—in the sense of skipping meals and going without food for extended periods—is not a good idea. The Christian tradition does not ask us to risk our health or safety in observing the spiritual disciplines. They are meant to help us, not harm us. But we can still practice self-denial by giving up something for a time. 

 

Also, there is a traditional distinction between fasting and abstinence. Fasting means reducing the total amount of food we eat, whereas abstinence involves going without certain types of food and drink. For example, every Lent I give up sweets, desserts, and alcoholic beverages. Even when strict fasting is not a good idea for health reasons, we can probably all still benefit from some such form of abstinence. 

 

The obvious question is, why should we practice such self-denial? The most obvious reason is the penitential aspect. We deprive ourselves of certain pleasures for a time to express sorrow for sin. Indulgence of every craving and gratification of every desire is the behavior of people who think they deserve every good thing that life has to offer. By self-denial, we remind ourselves that, no, the good things that we enjoy in this life are not our due, but rather gifts of which we’re profoundly unworthy. Periodically giving them up teaches us to be grateful rather than to take them for granted.

 

A second reason for self-denial is to remind ourselves that our life’s ultimate fulfillment lies beyond this world. The ashes that we’re about to receive symbolize our mortality. Sooner or later, we’re all going to die, and then we’ll have no choice but to let go of this life’s pleasures. By periodic seasons of self-denial, however, we practice letting go, in order to fix our eyes on the joys that await us in the life to come.

 

A third reason for self-denial involves intercession. How many millions of people in this world suffer from hunger, poverty, malnutrition, and disease? By giving up some of our creature comforts for Lent, we recall their suffering and are motivated to help alleviate it. Some people give the money they would have spent on whatever they’ve given up to charitable organizations that help the poor. Moreover, our disciplines of self-denial constitute sacrifices that we can offer up to God on behalf of those for whom we pray, for whatever reason, both the living and the dead.

 

A fourth reason for self-denial during Lent is to aid recollection. One of my personal disciplines is the traditional one of abstaining from meat on Fridays—not just during Lent but on all ordinary Fridays throughout the year. Now, I love fish, so eating fish on Fridays is no great penance for me. When I was young, certain adults in my life used to joke about the alleged hypocrisy of Catholics who would enjoy lobster bisque and seafood Newburg as if that counted as a penitential discipline. Years later, however, I read the Anglican spiritual writer Martin Thornton, who pointed out that taking the trouble to remember that it’s Friday and eat fish or a vegetarian dish is an act of devotion in itself: simply doing something different because it’s the day of the week on which our Lord died.

 

A fifth reason is the training that the Lenten disciplines afford us in self-control. Whenever we give something up, sooner or later, we’ll be tempted to break our rule. To take a trivial example, suppose we give up chocolate for Lent. I can virtually guarantee you that by the third week, there will come a moment when our entire being is consumed by a craving for a Hershey bar or a handful of M&Ms. Serious prayer will be necessary to muster the self-control to resist the temptation. But insofar as we develop the habit of resisting temptation in small and inconsequential things like chocolate, we build up the strength of character to resist the big temptations that inevitably come our way, like the temptation to tell a lie, break the law, or betray a friend for personal gain.

A sixth reason—and probably my favorite reason—is that the Lenten fast prepares us all the more to enjoy the Easter feast that follows. We are not Puritans, thank God. In my own case, having given up alcohol during Lent, few pleasures are so exquisite as that first glass of wine following the Great Vigil of Easter. And that is, of course, a metaphor for the entire pattern of the Christian life: we accept the sufferings and deprivations of this present world for the sake of the never-ending joys of the world to come.

 

So, those are just six reasons to practice self-denial during Lent. If we haven’t thought about what we’re going to give up, now is the time to do so. And if we want to take something on, like attending Friday Stations of the Cross and the lunchtime class following that, by all means, let’s do so. But please, let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that we can keep a holy Lent only by taking something on, without giving anything up. Neither Lent nor the Christian life works that way, and we shortchange ourselves if we pretend otherwise.