Ash Wednesday
Reading I
Jl 2:12-18
Even now, says the Lord,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the Lord, your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep,
And say, "Spare, O Lord, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?'"
Then the Lord was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
R (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Reading II
2 Cor 5:20–6:2
Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
Gospel
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."
COMMENTARY
When the situation is literally darkest, Yahweh calls the people to repentance. They are to fast, with weeping and mourning. Nowhere does Joel indicate disapproval of this practice. By calling the people to interiority – “rend your hearts and not (just) your garments” – must be seen as an intensification of what Joel has already called for at the beginning of his book. The hoped for result of the repentance is that perhaps Yahweh will act according to the characteristics listed within this exhortation. Twice the people are called to repent. Then Yahweh may turn and have mercy. Although Yahweh is free and cannot be manipulated by the cult, his response is not disconnected from the actions of the people.
For Paul, all who are in Christ have been sent out into the world with the message to reconcile, and not just the apostles. This is both imperative and empowerment. As Messiah, Christ was acknowledged as sinless, yet through God’s choice he came to stand in that relation to God which normally is the result of sin. He became part of sinful humanity. Through God’s loving act in Christ, we have come to stand in that relation to God which is described by the term righteousness, that is, we are acquitted in his court, justified, reconciled.
Human involvement in the Gospel is essential, and Paul identifies the Corinthians as his co-workers. We need to spread the Gospel, and no one should be an obstacle to this mission. Paul calls us to the now moment.
Today’s Gospel speaks to us about three works of piety 1st almsgiving, 2nd prayer, and 3rd fasting. These things concern our relationship to God and constitute a reformation of conventional attitudes. These practices would have been especially important for the Pharisees. Each of the sections contains a description of behavior that should be avoided, an instruction on the proper attitude, and the promise of a reward from God. It is the pious self-display is criticized, and not the pious actions in themselves.
Regarding prayer, Jesus teaches that it should be sincere personal communion with God and that it should be brief because it is for our good, not God’s, since he already knows what we need. It is the food of faith. Public worship, though, is not disparaged but rather what should be avoided is making a public spectacle of oneself in prayer.
Fasting is a common religious practice and can be booth public and private. The sermon presupposes its legitimacy. The disciples have been told not to fast in Jesus’ lifetime, but subsequently. Jews do not have a season of fasting like we do during Lent but have a few days of communal fasting, esp. Yôm Kippűr, the Day of Atonement. According to the Didache, Jews kept private fasts on Mondays and Thursdays, whereas Christians chose, Wednesdays and Fridays (the latter being in memory of Jesus’ suffering). Fasting was understood as humbling oneself before God, as strengthening prayer, as related to almsgiving, as an expression of mourning. A fast should be directed toward God, and not toward human beings and this requires faith.
REFLECTION
Today we begin the season of Lent, which will last until Holy Thursday. (From Holy Thursday until the Easter Vigil Mass is called the Tridium). It is a time for a re-evaluation of our relationship with God and one another. This is only possible through interiorization of the Word of God. Today’s readings speak clearly on this point, stressing that what’s important is not the exterior practices, but rather the change of heart which these practices should reflect.
The Church has set aside for us this time as a way to strengthen our bond with God. The things we do during lent are not and should not be done for God. These things – the praying, fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving are for us, they are a way for us to soften our hearts and live more closely the Gospel. We must be careful, however, to make sure that these things are done for the edification of others and for the glory of God and not for self-righteousness as the Pharisees apparently did during the time of Jesus. We pray because we want to become more intimate with God, not because we want others to see how pious we are. In the same way we should fast because we want to deny the flesh so that the spirit has the opportunity to unite more closely to God, or because we want to share in the humbling need of those who go hungry every day. We should not fast so that we can claim to be such “good Catholics”.
Unfortunately, many of us suffer from such bad religious habits just as the Pharisees did. We will jump at the opportunity to “serve” the Church when others will see what we do. Some even go as far as donating only so their names will be published in a parish bulletin or behave in a pious manner when the pastor or Bishop is present, but will not sit with the dying or change a diaper from an elderly person. That’s not what Christ is about. Lent must be a time of true conversion where we begin to empty ourselves of the falseness the world has given us and allow this new found emptiness to be filled with Christ.
Biblical Sources
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Prinsloo, W. S., “The Theology of the Book of Joel”; Wolff, H. W., “Joel and Amos”; Murphy-O’ Connor, J., “St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archaeology”; Theissen, G., “The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth”; Schelkele, K. H., “The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians”; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Kingsbury, J.D., “The Christology of Mark’s Gospel”; Schweizer, E, “The Good News According to Mark”; Tucket, C. (ed.), “The Messianic Secret”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.
Reflection by
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa