Ash Wednesday

Today's Mass Readings

Lent is upon us. This day we recall the fact that we are sinners in need of conversion. In the Church ritual today, we are marked with the sign of the cross on our forehead using ashes. This cross recalls the sign of the cross we received traced on our forehead at our baptism. That original cross claimed us for Christ, and began our journey as members in the Body of Christ. Today’s cross is penitential in nature and reminds us of our own sinfulness as well as our need for conversion. In the first reading, the prophet Joel speaks of God’s call to the community. God asks us to return to Him with our whole heart. God is not calling us back to punish us, but to unite us as one assembly in touch with God’s mercy and kindness. Joel asks the people to cry out to God, “Spare, O LORD, your people.” (Joel 2:17b) The Lord responded to the cry and “took pity on His people.” (Joel 2:18b)

The psalm reinforces the cry of the people from the first reading. “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” (Psalm 51:3a) This psalm, along with the Letter to the Corinthians, calls on us to acknowledge our own sinfulness and to give our hearts over to God’s grace so that we might be reconciled to the Lord. We do not do this alone, but as a community. We are all called to reconcile with the Lord.

Jesus, in today’s Gospel, gives the Matthean community and all of us three practical ways which we can use in order to unite ourselves to Christ. They comprise our Lenten spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. As Catholic Christians, these ancient spiritual practices have become synonymous with Lent, yet they can be used anytime to help us connect our own sacrifices with the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us. In denying ourselves something, we can call upon the Lord in prayer to ask for strength to help us pass through the desire or temptation.

Today’s gospel reminds us that whatever we do this Lent to grow closer to the Lord, our intent must not be on reward for our self. Our faith journey is not always easy and the instantaneous, materialistic culture in which we live makes self-denial all the harder. This makes our ascetic gestures that much more of a sacrifice.

Lord, as we begin this Lenten season, help us to firmly resolve to live our lives differently. Aid our Lenten journey so that our prayer, fasting and almsgiving connect our sacrifice to Yours, so that our lives are a witness that we have turned away from sin and have become more faithful to You. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.

-Michael Montgomery