February 19, 2026
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Lectionary: 220
Reading
1
Moses said to the
people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (40:5a) Blessed
are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Verse
Before the Gospel
Repent, says the
Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021926.cfm
Commentary on
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Both readings today offer a clear choice between the way of
death and the way of life. The First Reading passage comes from near the end of
the Book of Deuteronomy, just before it relates the last actions and the death
of Moses. It is in a section known as the Third Discourse, that is,
a third discourse attributed to Moses. Only Deuteronomy speaks of a covenant
made in Moab, an area to the east of the Dead Sea and the last territory which
the Israelites passed through on the way to the Promised Land. The covenant is
complementary to that made at Horeb, where the Decalogue was given to Moses.
This reading (as does today’s Gospel) offers a choice
between life and death:
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity,
death and adversity.
Life is to be found by totally accepting the way of life
that God proposes:
If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God…
In other covenants outside that of the Old Testament, it was
common to name a list of gods who served as ‘witnesses’ to its contents. The
covenant between Yahweh and his people was witnessed by both heaven and earth:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life…
The way to life that God offers is not one that much of the
world proposes. In fact, the world sees God’s ways as limiting when, if
properly understood, they are truly liberating. The life that God offers is not
freedom to indulge in every desire and pleasure—pursuit of wealth, uninhibited
sex, indulgence in drugs, and other self-serving actions. Day after day
people’s lives are being destroyed by these things.
Life, now and in the future, consists in hearing,
assimilating, and living out the way of life that God proposes. Today, God
offers us the clear choice between life and death; he leaves the choice up to
us.
Comments Off
Commentary on Luke
9:22-25
Like the First Reading today, the Gospel passage is also
about death and life. It begins with Jesus foretelling what is going to happen
to him. He will experience intense physical suffering, mental suffering through
total rejection by the leaders of his own people, and a brutal execution. But
all will lead to resurrection and a new life that can never be taken away.
Jesus goes on to say that anyone who wants to be one of his
followers must be prepared to walk the same path, carrying their cross after
Jesus. Perhaps we should emphasise that we are to carry our own cross, which
will be different from the cross of Jesus and from that of other people. And
Luke adds that it is something we must be prepared to do every day.
Of course, it is a call that goes against many of our normal
instincts. Renouncing self goes against our desire to advance ourselves in the
eyes of others. And who does not want to preserve their life? Self-preservation
is a deep instinct. But self-preservation is not the same as self-advancement.
Jesus is saying that a life spent focused only on ourselves and our own self-advancement
is ultimately a recipe for self-destruction. We are bound to be disappointed.
The only way to live is, like Jesus, to offer our lives for
the benefit of others in love, in caring, in solidarity, in compassion and in
justice. This is the only way truly to find ourselves and to come out winners.
What is the good of winning the whole world—becoming incredibly rich and
famous—only to lose one’s integrity, one’s self-respect, one’s dignity as a
person, and thereby to lose one’s happiness?
Our world—Christian and otherwise—is covered with statues
and images of people who gave their lives for others and for causes and values
greater than themselves. They are our heroes and our models.
And first among them is Jesus, dying in apparent failure and
ignominy on the cross. We now see that cross as a victorious symbol of the
greatest love that one can show for brothers and sisters.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1005g/
Thursday,
February 19, 2026
Season of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
You love us and You invite us to
share in Your own life and joy, through a personal decision.
Help us to choose You and
life and to remain ever loyal to this basic option by the power of Jesus
Christ, Your Son, who was loyal to You and to us, now and forever.
Gospel Reading - Luke 9: 22-25
Jesus said to his
disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the
elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day
be raised." Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or
forfeit himself?"
Reflection
Yesterday we entered into the season
of Lent. Up until now the daily Liturgy followed the Gospel of Mark, step by
step. Beginning yesterday until Easter, the sequence of the readings of the day
will be dictated by the ancient tradition of Lent and of preparation for
Easter. From the very first day, the perspective is that of the Passion, Death
and Resurrection and of the meaning which this mystery has for our life. This
is what is proposed in the rather brief text of today’s Gospel. The text speaks
of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and affirms that the following
of Jesus presupposes that we carry our cross after Jesus.
Before, in Luke 9: 18-21, Jesus asks,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered giving different opinions:
John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the ancient prophets. After having heard the
opinions of others, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “The
Christ of God!” that is, the Lord is the one awaited by the people! Jesus
agrees with Peter, but He orders and charges them not to say this to anyone.
Why did Jesus forbid this? Because at that time everybody was expecting the
Messiah, but each one according to his own mind: some as king, others as
priest, doctor, warrior, judge or prophet! Jesus thinks in a different way.
He identifies Himself with the
Messiah, servant and suffering, announced by Isaiah (42: 1-9; 52: 13-53: 12)
The first announcement of the Passion. Jesus begins to
teach that He is the
Messiah, the Servant and affirms that, as Messiah, the
Servant announced by
Isaiah, soon He will be put to death in the carrying out of
His mission of justice (Is 49: 4-9; 53: 1-12). Luke usually follows the Gospel
of Mark, but here he omits the reaction of Peter, who advised Jesus against or
tried to dissuade Him from thinking of the suffering Messiah and he also omits
the hard response: “Far from me, Satan! Because you do not think as God, but as
men!” Satan is a Hebrew word which means accuser, the one who draws others far
away from the path of God. Jesus does not allow Peter to get Him away from His
mission. Conditions to follow Jesus. Jesus draws conclusions valid even until
now: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross
every day and follow Me.” At that time the cross was the death penalty which
the Roman Empire gave to marginalized criminals. To take up the cross and to
carry it following Jesus was the same as accepting to be marginalized by the
unjust system which legitimized injustices. It was the same as to break away
from the system. As St. Paul says in the letter to the Galatians, “The world
has been crucified for Me and I to the world” (Gal 6: 14). The cross is not
fatalism, neither is it an exigency from the Father. The Cross is the
consequence of the commitment freely assumed by Jesus to reveal the Good News
that God is Father, and that, therefore, we all should be accepted and treated
as brothers and sisters. Because of this revolutionary announcement, He was
persecuted and He was not afraid to deliver His own life. There is no greater
proof of love than to give one’s life for one’s brother or sister.
Personal Questions
•
Everybody was waiting for the Messiah, each one
in his/her own way. Which is the Messiah whom I await and whom people today
await?
•
The condition to follow Jesus is the cross. How
do I react before the crosses of life?
Concluding Prayer
How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread, nor a seat in company
with cynics, but who delights in the law of Yahweh and murmurs His law day and
night. (Ps 1: 1-2)
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