This Week at Ascension

February 18, 2026

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - Psalm 96

The First Sunday in Lent

February 22, 2026

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer on Zoom

9 a.m. The Great Litany & Sung Mass

10:15 a.m. Confession

11 a.m. The Great Litany

& Solemn High Mass *

11 a.m. Buletin here.

Temptation of Christ, oil on canvas, George Cornicelius (1825-1898)

* VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE 

✠ Weekday Mass Schedule ✠

12 p.m. on Monday & Friday

8 a.m. on Tuesday & Thursday

6:30 p.m. on Wednesday

View the Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Live-stream Mass here

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

Weekday Daily Offices

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom

6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom

From the Rector

Every Ash Wednesday, I revisit Archbishop Rowan Williams' 2009 Lenten message. Over the years it has become a stalwart text, grounding and shaping my yearly Lenten observance. While offering insights on the historical development of Lent, Archbishop Williams' invites his listeners to remember that "Lent is springtime. It's preparing for that great climax of springtime which is Easter – new life bursting through death." May you have a holy and blessed Lent. 

Fr. de la Torre

Archbishop Rowan Williams' 2009 Lenten Message

In the earliest centuries of the Church, newcomers to the Christian community were baptised at Easter. It seemed to be the obvious time to do it – Easter, the conquest of death, the beginning of new life – and so it was that it came to be the common practice for bishops, particularly, to baptise and anoint new believers at that great feast. But of course, believers had to be prepared for this event, prepared by instruction, and prayer, and self-denial. It was believed that self-denial; fasting and extra prayer was something that, as it were, limbered you up, rather like doing exercises for some great race. It made you more spiritually mobile and agile. And so that period of preparation for baptism came to be associated with fasting, with prayer and with self-denial. 

That's how Lent began. A period where people were thinking about baptism, about the beginning of new life, whether literally as new converts to Christianity or – for the rest of the church – people wanting to renew that sense of commitment. And still, on Easter Eve, at this day people will renew their baptismal promises in a solemn service in church. 

But that also became associated very early on with the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and praying and discovering what God was asking of him. In the Gospels we're told that Jesus goes straight from his own baptism into the desert to confront the Devil and to overcome temptation. And that forty days in the desert became a great image that controlled the sense of the pre-Easter fast, that pre-Easter preparation. 

During this period, it became more and more common for churches to strip away some of the decoration, to make themselves look a bit simpler, a kind of outward manifestation of the inner stripping and the inner austerity that was going on. 

In the middle ages, in many English churches, the hangings and the decorations in church were replaced with hangings of very coarse cloth – sack cloth. People would sometimes wear sack cloth and the beginning of Lent was marked by a ceremony where ash was placed on people's heads in memory of their mortality – Ash Wednesday. 

In general, the colour used during Lent for vestments and hangings - if it wasn't the use of old and shabby cloth – the colour would be purple, a sombre colour associated with judgement. 

But it's important to remember that the word 'Lent' itself comes from the old English word for 'spring'. It's not about feeling gloomy for forty days; it's not about making yourself miserable for forty days; it's not even about giving things up for forty days. Lent is springtime. It's preparing for that great climax of springtime which is Easter – new life bursting through death. And as we prepare ourselves for Easter during these days, by prayer and by self-denial, what motivates us and what fills the horizon is not self-denial as an end in itself but trying to sweep and clean the room of our own minds and hearts so that the new life really may have room to come in and take over and transform us at Easter. 

Ash Wednesday

February 18



8 a.m. Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes               

12 p.m. Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes

7 p.m. Solemn High Mass with Imposition of Ashes

Stations of the Cross &

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

6 p.m. on the Fridays of Lent

February 20, 27

March 6, 13, 20, 27

Lenten Faith Formation

Into the Desert: Monastic Wisdom for Our Lives

March 1, 8 & 15 at 12:45 p.m.

During Lent, the Church follows Jesus Christ into his forty-day fast in the desert, but the Church's monastics simply take up permanent residence in this desert, dedicating their lives to prayer, penance, and the study of Scripture. This Lent, we will explore the contours of the monastic vocation, asking how the wisdom gained from the desert can enrich our lives in the modern world. A hearty lunch will be provided. 

March 1 - The Rule of Saint Benedict 

Fr. Christopher Poore, Assisting Priest and Ph.D. Student in Theology at The University of Chicago Divinity School

March 8 - One Monk's Journey: Monasticism for Our Times

Br. Ephrem Arcement, OHC, Guestmaster at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY

Guest Preacher at 9 a.m. Sung Mass & 11 a.m. Solemn High Mass

March 15 - Revival of Anglican Monastic Orders and their Companions 

Fr. Robert Petite, Assisting Priest and Oblate of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (Fellowship of St. John)

2026 Confirmation Announcement

On Saturday, April 18 at 11am, Bishop Paula Clark will be presiding over a Confirmation Mass at St. James' Cathedral. The Sacrament of Confirmation is open to all Baptized Christians seeking renewal of their Baptismal grace and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on their Christian life. 

If you're interested in learning more about the Sacrament of Confirmation or formal Reception into The Episcopal Church, please join us for an information session on Sunday, March 22, following the 11am Solemn High Mass in the upstairs Library - a light lunch will be served. 

If you wish to be Confirmed or have any questions regarding Confirmation, please email Fr de la Torre - cdelatorre@ascensionchicago.org. Additionally, please mark your calendars for a mandatory retreat on Saturday, April 11 from 9am-1pm and a Confirmand dinner with Fr de la Torre and Fr Poore on Thursday, April 16 at 6pm. 

2026 Confirmation Formation Schedule

• Sunday, March 22 at 12:45pm - Confirmation Information Session
• Saturday, April 11 at 9am - "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism" Confirmation Retreat
• Thursday, April 16 at 6pm - Confirmand Dinner
• Saturday, April 18 at 11am - Confirmation Mass at Saint James' Cathedral

2026 Flower Donations

2026 flower sign-up sheets are now available on the table in the narthex. Donations may be given in memory of departed loved ones or in thanksgiving for a birthday, anniversary, or an important milestone. The donation amount to cover the cost of flowers on the High Altar is $65 and on any one of the Shrines the amount is $35.



If you are interested in donating flowers, please fill out the sign-up sheet on the table in the back of the church and pay by check. You can also make a flower donation by Zelle or by visiting Ascension PayPal page. Once you’ve made your donation, please email the parish office your personal dedication.

Help out with Coffee Hour in February

If you're looking for a way to give back and support Ascension's robust parish life, we hope you'll consider serving as a coffee hour host. With our new online sign-up sheet, it's now easier than ever to sign-up for coffee hour: https://tinyurl.com/y66pztfz.

So, what does hosting coffee hour entail? We ask that you set-up, provide and prepare snacks, and clean up Wheeler Hall. You can provide any food items you wish and there are always pastries available in the freezer for easy thawing. Coffee and cold beverages are provided by the church. Reimbursement funds are available for coffee hour expenses, but please make sure to provide a receipt in order to complete a reimbursement request. 

If you have any questions about hosting coffee hour, please speak to Father de la Torre or Hospitality Committee members Josh or Ellie Simpson, LaVerne Saunders or Carol Noren. They will be glad to help and guide you.



The Prayers of the People

As part of our Sunday offering of the Mass, we bring to God our petitions and thanksgivings. As a community, we do this by bidding the parish’s intentions in the Prayers of the People. If you wish to have someone added to the Prayers of the People, please email Father de la Torre or the Parish Office.

Lord, hear the prayers of thy people; and what we have asked faithfully, grant that we may obtain effectually, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

William Van’tKruis, Gwen Hubbard, Shannon Ayala, Jose Vargas,

Mary Callahan, Lynette Ngumi, Leslie Sterk, Marcela Simpson, Christina Kimmel, Daynen Heldt, Nate Cole, Ed Blatz, Marlea Edinger, Elizabeth McLaughlin, MB Hwang, Juanita Malone,

Claire Green, Brenda Martins

Birthdays

Requiescat in pace

Marty Stenson, 2/14/2026; Michael Hammett, 2/2/2026;Michael Hammett, 2/2/2026;

Alfredo Caliva, 1/31/2026; Mary K. Jones, 1/27/2026; Richard Young, Priest, 2/15/1996;

Ruth Schram, 2/16/2023



Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them;

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.



Organ and Choral Repertoire for

February 22, 2026

Approved minutes of Vestry meetings are always available online to parishioners who request the link. If you would like Internet access to these Vestry Minutes, please email the Parish Office and request the link. Once you access the web page, you can read all recent Vestry meeting minutes. The link remains live indefinitely. Any parishioner who has the link will not need to request a new link from month to month.