Lent begins with the quiet, disruptive honesty of ashes traced on our foreheads. In a world overflowing with noise, urgency, and uncertainty, this simple gesture reminds us of something essential: we are creatures held in God’s grace, invited again to begin anew.

St Dominic lived in turbulent times—years marked by division, poverty, and distrust. Yet he responded not with despair, but with a deep, contemplative hope. He listened first. He walked with people. He spoke truth with compassion. And he believed that preaching begins not in the pulpit, but in the witness of a life shaped by the Gospel.

As we enter Lent in 2026, the challenges around us feel familiar to Dominic’s world: fractured communities, rising anxiety, and a constant pull toward distraction. Into this landscape, Dominic offers three invitations.

First, to contemplate. Dominic insisted that all preaching flows from prayer—to contemplate and to share the fruits of contemplation. Lent calls us to slow down, to create space for God’s voice beneath the surface of our lives.

Second, to seek truth. Not the loudest truth or the easiest, but the one revealed in Christ—humble, liberating, and always oriented toward love. In a world shaped by quick takes and polarisation, this is a radical discipline.

Third, to walk with others. Dominic travelled on foot not for efficiency but for encounter. Lent invites us to notice who is weary, who is isolated, who needs mercy—and to respond with real presence.

Today’s ashes are not a mark of defeat but of possibility. They remind us that God can create new life from dust. May this season draw us closer to Christ, closer to one another, and closer to the truth that sets us free.