Lent 2026 - Are you ready?
This season of Lent invites us as Catholics in Ireland into a sacred time of repentance, renewal, and deeper conversion of heart. Over these forty days, we are called to grow closer to Christ through prayer, fasting, and giving, stripping away the distractions and attachments that draw us from Jesus. By embracing sacrifice and seeking holiness in our daily lives, we journey with Jesus toward the Cross and the hope of the Resurrection. Join us, Irish men, in committing to this Lenten pilgrimage, allowing God to transform our hearts and strengthen our faith in a profound and lasting way.
It is not enough just to wish well, we must also do well.
Saint Ambrose speaks of two kinds of men: those of the flesh and those of the spirit. He likens the former kind of man to the vulture, the latter to the eagle. The vulture feeds on dead things, stuffing its belly to the point that if danger appears, such as in the form of a predator, its belly bloated that the bird can only flap its wings miserably and hop for a few yards.
The eagle, on the other hand, feeds on living things and will quickly release its catch if danger threatens, taking to the skies with graceful ease and freedom.
The man of the flesh fattens himself on dead things so that a kind of materialistic obesity incapacitates his soul for the flight of contemplation. The man of the spirit, on the other hand, can take or leave the things of the earth; his destiny is union with God, and he knows this and pursues it. But this comparison is not just about two kinds of men; it's about the two possibilities of every human person. All of us have in our souls a vulture and an eagle, and for one to prosper, the other must die. If the vulture is to prosper, the eagle must die; if the eagle is to prosper, the vulture must die.
The death pangs of one are the labour pains of the other. During times of fasting we starve ourselves to life to avoid feeding ourselves to death.
Crucifixion and resurrection do not happen only at the end of life; they're an ongoing, lifelong day-to-day dynamic.
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