About Today
Thursday 19 February 2026
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
Other saints: Day of Sanctifying Works (Vietnam)
Vietnam
The third day of the Vietnamese New year celebration is concerned with what we are going to do with this new year which has been given us. It is a celebration of human work. As Christians we do not find fulfilment by self-absorbed self-contemplation. We do.
The First Reading tells how God put man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. In the Second Reading Paul boasts to the Ephesians how he has never asked them for money to support him in his preaching: when he needed money, he sat down and made tents. The Gospel is one of the most terrifying of all: the Parable of the Talents, which tells of the terrible fate of anyone who is given talents and uses them purely for sitting around and feeling safe.
Other saints: Bl. Alvarez of Cordoba OP ( - 1430)
19 Feb (where celebrated)
Dominican Friar and Priest.
Born at Zamora, Spain, towards the middle of the fourteenth century, Blessed Alvarez entered the Order in 1368. He preached throughout Spain and Italy and established the priory of Scala Caeli at Cordova where he promoted the regular life. By his preaching and contemplation of the Lord’s Passion he spread the practice of the Way of the Cross throughout the West. He died on February 19, about the year 1430.
Take up your cross daily and follow me
Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’
Reflection on the photograph
Kevin Carden is a contemporary photographer who uses digitally mastered imagery to create striking religious compositions. In this photograph, we see a man walking from darkness into light, a Bible held firmly in his left hand. His posture is upright and resolute, suggesting strength and purpose, yet the shadow cast upon the wall reveals another reality: it shows him bent beneath the weight of a cross. All of us carry hidden crosses. The contrast between the man and his shadow creates a simple yet powerful visual meditation.
So what does Christ mean in today’s Gospel when he calls us to take up our cross “every day”? It reminds us that love of Christ cannot be occasional or convenient; it is a daily choice. To carry our cross is to say “no” to what may seem easier or more comfortable, and at the same time to say a deeper “yes”, a yes to service, to fidelity, and to walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Precisely because this call is renewed each day, the Lord teaches us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” We need the grace and strength that only God can provide if we are to remain faithful in the ordinary rhythm of daily life.
Carrying our cross does not mean passively resigning ourselves to whatever suffering comes our way (whether loss, shame, hurt, or disappointment) realities none of us can entirely avoid. Rather, it invites us to meet life’s challenges with a reflective and trusting heart. Faith does not remove the weight of the cross, but it transforms how we carry it! Each day the Lord calls us anew, and each day we try, however imperfectly, to respond with courage, hope, and love.
A man walking with his shadow carrying the cross,
Photo by Kevin Carden,
Digitally mastered photograph,
Released in 2014
© Kevin Carden / GoodSalt
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
Other saints: Day of Sanctifying Works (Vietnam)
Vietnam
The third day of the Vietnamese New year celebration is concerned with what we are going to do with this new year which has been given us. It is a celebration of human work. As Christians we do not find fulfilment by self-absorbed self-contemplation. We do.
The First Reading tells how God put man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. In the Second Reading Paul boasts to the Ephesians how he has never asked them for money to support him in his preaching: when he needed money, he sat down and made tents. The Gospel is one of the most terrifying of all: the Parable of the Talents, which tells of the terrible fate of anyone who is given talents and uses them purely for sitting around and feeling safe.
Other saints: Bl. Alvarez of Cordoba OP ( - 1430)
19 Feb (where celebrated)
Dominican Friar and Priest.
Born at Zamora, Spain, towards the middle of the fourteenth century, Blessed Alvarez entered the Order in 1368. He preached throughout Spain and Italy and established the priory of Scala Caeli at Cordova where he promoted the regular life. By his preaching and contemplation of the Lord’s Passion he spread the practice of the Way of the Cross throughout the West. He died on February 19, about the year 1430.
Take up your cross daily and follow me
Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’
Reflection on the photograph
Kevin Carden is a contemporary photographer who uses digitally mastered imagery to create striking religious compositions. In this photograph, we see a man walking from darkness into light, a Bible held firmly in his left hand. His posture is upright and resolute, suggesting strength and purpose, yet the shadow cast upon the wall reveals another reality: it shows him bent beneath the weight of a cross. All of us carry hidden crosses. The contrast between the man and his shadow creates a simple yet powerful visual meditation.
So what does Christ mean in today’s Gospel when he calls us to take up our cross “every day”? It reminds us that love of Christ cannot be occasional or convenient; it is a daily choice. To carry our cross is to say “no” to what may seem easier or more comfortable, and at the same time to say a deeper “yes”, a yes to service, to fidelity, and to walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Precisely because this call is renewed each day, the Lord teaches us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” We need the grace and strength that only God can provide if we are to remain faithful in the ordinary rhythm of daily life.
Carrying our cross does not mean passively resigning ourselves to whatever suffering comes our way (whether loss, shame, hurt, or disappointment) realities none of us can entirely avoid. Rather, it invites us to meet life’s challenges with a reflective and trusting heart. Faith does not remove the weight of the cross, but it transforms how we carry it! Each day the Lord calls us anew, and each day we try, however imperfectly, to respond with courage, hope, and love.
A man walking with his shadow carrying the cross,
Photo by Kevin Carden,
Digitally mastered photograph,
Released in 2014
© Kevin Carden / GoodSalt