February 2026 (taken from The Link Magazine)

Dear All,

Ash Wednesday this year is so annoyingly early, on 18th February – almost as early as it can be. Last year it was 5th March, two weeks later.

Why? Well, the date of Easter is calculated on the lunar cycle, Easter Day being the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (21st March), so can be as early as 22nd March and as late as 25th April. This year it is April 5th. This is because the death and Resurrection of Jesus was tied in with the Jewish Passover which itself shifted with the cycle of the moon. To add to the complications, the Western Churches and Eastern Churches disagree on which calendar to use, Gregorian vs Julian (I’m not going into them ….too complicated…..) so we celebrate Easter each year on different dates.

All very messy and annoying, as planning from year to year – especially with academic terms, for example – is a nightmare.

Why not fix a date and stick to it? Christmas is on 25th December, why not Easter? Well Easter really has to be a Sunday: it has been suggested that we go for a fixed Sunday – for example the second Sunday of April – but there is no mechanism for Christians to agree: so basically, we are stuck with it and the spread of 35 possible days.

I personally rather like it. Life is messy, and the fact that Easter cannot be pinned down has a real resonance I feel. We cannot control God, cannot put him in a neat, orderly box that we can deal with easily. God has a habit of breaking out of any box we put him in – as the Jewish and Roman authorities found when Jesus broke out of the tomb on that first Easter Day.

So let us embrace the mess of life, the uncertainty, the mystery and as we embark this year on the voyage of Lent, as we mark ourselves with crosses of repentance in ash on our foreheads, let us journey on into the spiritual wilderness, that we may encounter Jesus on the way, walk with Him and trust in His power to remake, heal and bring new life.

From 18th February, Happy Lent!

Love Fr. John