PREPARING LENT: LISTENING AND FASTING
Season of Lent 2026: February 18 to April 2
Lent is the time in which the Church, with maternal solicitude, invites us to once again place the mystery of God at the center of our lives, […] a favorable occasion to listen to the voice of the Lord and renew the decision to follow Christ, walking with Him along the road that goes up to Jerusalem, where the mystery of His passion, death, and resurrection is fulfilled.
This year I would like to draw attention, first of all, to the importance of giving space to the Word through listening, since the willingness to listen is the first sign by which the desire to enter into relationship with the other is manifested. […] Entering into this interior disposition of receptivity means allowing ourselves to be instructed today by God in order to listen as He does, until we recognize that “the condition of the poor represents a cry which, in the history of humanity, constantly challenges our lives, our societies, political and economic systems, and especially the Church.”
If Lent is a time of listening, fasting constitutes a concrete practice that disposes us to welcome the Word of God. […] It makes more evident what we are “hungry” for […], allowing us not only to discipline desire, purify it, and make it freer, but also to expand it, so that it may be directed toward God and oriented toward the good. […]
For this reason, I would like to invite you to a very concrete and often little-appreciated form of abstinence, namely, abstaining from using words that wound and harm our neighbor. Let us begin to disarm our language, renouncing hurtful words, immediate judgment, speaking ill of those who are absent and unable to defend themselves, and slander. Let us instead strive to learn to measure our words and to cultivate kindness: in the family, among friends, in the workplace, on social media, in political debates, in the media, and in Christian communities. Then many words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.
Finally, Lent highlights the communal dimension. […] In the same way, our parishes, families, ecclesial groups, and religious communities are called during Lent to undertake a shared journey. […]
Within this horizon, conversion concerns not only the conscience of the individual, but also the style of relationships, the quality of dialogue, the ability to allow ourselves to be challenged by reality, and to recognize what truly guides desire, […] in our ecclesial communities as well as in humanity thirsting for justice and reconciliation.
I bless you all from my heart, and your Lenten journey.
Vatican, February 5, 2026,
Pope Leo XIV
Lenten Activities Schedule
February
- Wednesday 18 – Ash Wednesday: 11:30 hr (Cat) · 14:10 hr (Cast) · 19:00 hr (Bilingual)
- Thursday 19 – 19:45 hr: Knowing and Praying with the Bible
- Thursday 26 – 19:45 hr: Commentary on the Divine Comedy
March
- Thursday 5 – 20:30 to 21:30 hr: Holy Hour for married couples
- Saturday 7 – 10:00 hr: Lenten Retreat
- Thursday 12 – 19:45 hr: Fundamental Questions about Faith
- Thursday 19 – Solemnity of Saint Joseph: Masses at 11:30 hr (Cat) · 14:10 hr (Cast) · 19:00 hr (Bilingual); 19:45 hr: Knowing and Praying with the Bible
- Wednesday 25 – 19:30 hr: Community Celebration of Penance
- Thursday 26 – 19:45 hr: Commentary on the Divine Comedy
Every Friday of Lent
- After the 19:00 hr Mass: Stations of the Cross (Bilingual)