Ash Wednesday 2026
During lunchtime this past Wednesday, a coworker and I ran to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown to receive ashes. Funnily enough, the two of us had at a time attended the same tiny private Catholic elementary school in Southern California. It always blows my mind to consider the serendipity in how we ended up working for the same organization all the way in New York City.
Ash Wednesday, particularly Ash Wednesday in NYC, is one of my favorite days of the year. Walking Fifth Avenue and seeing bankers, recent immigrants, lawyers, nannies, and elderly couples--a huge swathe of American society--with ashes or in line to receive ashes fills me with unfettered joy. I didn't realize it until this year. Yes, per the Vatican's latest statistics, there are over 1.4bn baptized Catholics in the world. It's one thing to know this intellectually, but it's something completely different to see it in front of you. That sense of commonality, a tie to my Catholic brothers and sisters from all backgrounds, is moving.
I came home and made a quick pasta sauce using a recipe from the New York Times. It was perfect, since I needed to use the whole container of cherry tomatoes I'd bought a few days before. It's winter in NYC and I prefer my basil fresh from the farm during the peak of summer, so I didn't use basil. Shaved parmesan once I'd plated the pasta, although next time I'd be interested in trying the recipe with fresh ricotta. For additional protein, I topped each of our bowls with half a can of tuna.
