Ash Wednesday, day of repentance and fasting, first day of Lent.
Consecration of ashes and giving of the ash cross on the forehead of the faithful.


Invitation

May I hereby call your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?

This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
 Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.

Available every day

Consideration
In the Gospel we hear three trumpet blasts in succession: ‘When you give alms…'(let go), ‘when you pray…(repent), and ‘when you fast…(die). Three times there is a sharp reaction against appearances, the mere external show, the sensation. It is about the interior, about the inside, about the total reversal of yourself. Truthfulness and authenticity. That is the gospel message.

FIRST READING   Joel 2, 12-18

Tear your heart not your clothes.

From the Prophet Joel

Thus speaks God the Lord :
“Return to Me, with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, with mourning.
“Tear your heart and not your garments,
“return to the Lord your God,
for He is gracious and merciful,
and longsuffering, and full of love,
and He is sorry for any calamity.”
Who knows, He may return and be sorry
and then leaves behind blessing,
a meal offering and a libation to the Lord your God!
“Blow the trumpet on Zion,
proclaim a holy Lent,
call a solemn assembly !
“Gathers the people,
convenes a holy assembly,
gather together the elders
and gather also the children and the infants ;
let the bridegroom leave his chamber
and the bride her bridal chamber.
“Between the anteroom and the altar let
the priests, who perform the service of the Lord ,
weep and say :
“Spare thy people, Lord,
let not thy inheritance be mocked,
do not let the heathen dominate it.
“Should one say among the nations :
Where is their God?”
Then the Lord stood up for his country
and spared his people.

INTERLUDIUM   Ps. 51(50), 3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14, 17

God, have mercy on me in your compassion,
erase my sinfulness in your mercy.

God, have mercy on me in your compassion,
in your mercy, blot out my sinfulness.
Wash my guilt completely from me,
cleanse me from all my sins.

I acknowledge that I have sinned,
always I have my offence before my eyes.
Towards You alone have I sinned,
I have done what is contrary to You.

Create in me a pure heart, my God,
give me again a steadfast spirit.
Do not cast me away from your Face,
do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the opulence of your blessing,
make me strong in generosity.
Lord, loosen Thou my lips,
that my mouth may sing thy praises.

SECOND READING      II Cor. 5, 20-6, 2

Be reconciled to God, for now is the favorable time.

From the second letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians
from Corinth

Brothers and sisters,

We are ambassadors of Christ,
God calls you by our word.
We beseech you in Christ’s name :
be reconciled to God !
He who knew no sin
has He made sin for us,
so that through him we might become God’s own holiness.
As God’s co-workers we urge you :
See to it that you do not receive his grace in vain.
After all, He says :
“In the auspicious time I have heard you,
in the day of salvation I have come to your aid.”
Now there is that favorable time,
today is the day of salvation.

VERSE FOR THE GOSPEL  Ps. 51(50), 12a. 14a

Create in me a pure heart, my God,
give me again the opulence of your blessing.

GOSPEL    Mt. 6, 1-6.16-18

Your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew

At that time Jesus said to his disciples :
“Remember :
Do not practice your righteousness before the eyes of men ,
to attract attention ;
otherwise thou hast no right to wages
with thy Father who is in heaven.
“When therefore ye give alms ,
do not trumpet it before you
as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the street,
that they may be praised by men.
“Verily, I say unto you :
They have already received their reward.
“When ye give alms
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does.
Lest thy alms be kept in secret ;
and your Father, who sees in secret
will repay you.
“When ye pray ,
do not behave like the hypocrites
who like to stand in the synagogues
and on the corners of the streets to pray
to be noticed by men.
“Verily, I say unto you :
They have already received their reward !
“But when ye pray ,
go into thy inner chamber,
shut the door behind you
and pray to thy Father, who is in secret;
and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.
“When thou fast,
set not a gloomy face like the hypocrites ;
they stiffen their faces
to show men that they are fasting.
“Verily, I say unto you :
They have already received their reward.
“But if ye fast ,
then anoint thy head and wash thy face
so as not to show to men that ye are fasting,
but fast for your Father who is in secret
and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.”
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Laudato Si

Encyclic of

POPE FRANCIS

On the care of the common home

A universal community 

89. The creatures of this world should not be regarded as a commodity without an owner: “Thou, however, spare everything, because it is Thine, Thou Lord, who loves all that lives” (Wis. 11, 26) . This leads to the conviction that all of us, as beings of the universe and created by the same Father, are linked together by invisible ties and form a kind of universal family, an exalted community that prompts us to a holy, loving and humble respect. I would like to recall that “God has so closely connected us to the world that surrounds us that the desertification of the soil is, as it were, a disease for each, and we may lament the extinction of a species, as if it were a mutilation.”

 

To be continued            

 

The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch  Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation