Ash Wednesday
14th February 2024 (Wednesday)
Psalter: Week Proper
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Joel 2:12-18
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Sion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17 (R. see 3a)
R/. Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Brethren: We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Verse Before The Gospel
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts.
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel : Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Reflect, Repent, convert and live rightly!
Guidelines: Conversion is the constant invitation for us. Blessed are they who hearken to this call for a worthwhile life and live accordingly!
1. Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, a very unique day whereby we step into a new liturgical season. It is the holy season of Lent. Lent is very special in the life of the church and of many Christians. Not that the other seasons are not important. But lent makes a difference because of its very nature, the process and the purpose.
2. Lent addresses directly our human fragility. It lays bare before us our vulnerability that is prone to fall. It reminds us of our basic transience. Ashes with which we are smeared today indicate this sense of earthly nothingness, perishability, and impermanence. This sense is quite explicit in the pronouncement, “From dust, you have come and unto dust, you shall return”.
3. Thereby the holy lent urges us to focus our attention on our sinfulness that fails us in faith and charity. In Lent, there is a focused concern with sin and evil. But the purpose is not to feel guilty, melancholic, and discouraged. The purpose is essentially positive. It is to repent and return to the Lord.
4. That is why in the first reading, God summons us through prophet Joel, “Rend your hearts and not your garments; return to me with all your heart”. In the second reading, in his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul exhorts, “Be reconciled to God… so that we might become the righteousness of God”.
5. How to tread this journey of repentance and conversion? In the gospel, Jesus takes our attention to the three fundamental means of our whole Christian living and growth. These are in fact the three Jewish pilastric practices.
6. They are namely prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Jesus cautions us against hypocrisy in practising them. It is not to make a show or display one’s religiosity. All these should be done in a spirit of humility, and right intention.
7. The purpose is to grow righteous in the sight of God and toward others. Accordingly, our prayers must help us to draw closer to God. Our fasting must help us to be more self-disciplined. Our almsgiving must deepen our sensitivity, fraternal responsibility and charity.
Practice: Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. God will certainly listen to us and help us. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; He will relent over disaster. He will reward us
