Readings for Ash Wednesday[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
The Lenten Season: The Lectionary readings for Lent fall into two basic themes broken into the first half of Lent and the second. In the first half, beginning today and running through the Saturday of the third week of Lent focuses on the model of discipleship. As we are confronted time and again with the demands of that call we come to understand that in spite of our best efforts, the call will always be out of our reach.
The second half of Lent the Lectionary shows us Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of St. John. We review his ministry, not so much as a synopsis, but rather to come to a closer understanding of the salvation He alone provides.
Taken together, the first half of Lent is ethical and the second is Christological. The first half empties us the second fills us up. At the end lies the great gift of Easter.
Reading 1 Joel 2:12-18
The land has suffered a great plague of locusts and Joel calls the people of Israel to repentance. He calls all the faithful to return to the Lord and have faith in him because they were in despair.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Supporting the lament in Joel, Psalm 51 provides a call to repentance as well. We acknowledge our sinfulness and vow to return to the grace of God.
Reading II 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
St. Paul calls the Corinthians to reconciliation with God. He reminds them that through reconciliation grace is received and through grace, God pours out salvation. His urgent call tells us that now (not later) is the time for this to occur.
Gospel Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
To begin our Lenten journey we are given the instruction on almsgiving, prayer and fasting from St. Matthew’s Gospel. We are reminded that what we do for God is for Him to see not for others to see.
In all three instances, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting the same instruction is given. We are to give generously but in private, we are to pray fervently but alone, and we are to fast with purpose but to hide our discomfort. (The section left out of this reading, Matthew 6; 7-15, is Jesus giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.)
Reflection:
In the view of many Christian denominations, Catholics are said to be good at guilt. In their eyes our Celebration of Ash Wednesday and even Lent exemplifies our faith. Those who have not taken a deeper look do not realize what truly happens each year. Ironically, those involved in modern manufacturing techniques would see very clearly what goes on. That is because the goal of the modern manufacturing facility is to produce quality parts with no defects and, to get to that perfect system, there must be, what is commonly called, “Continuous Improvement.”
We do not embrace guilt over our failures, but we do not hide it from ourselves either. We do not believe that once we have accepted Christ and named him our Savior that we can go on as we please having been saved with no more effort than to say “I believe”.
The Church has set up for us a cycle of “Continuous Improvement”. Each year during our Lenten Season we hear those words “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel” as we accept the ritual ashes that have marked the repentant faithful since ancient times. Each year we accept the penitent role and review in detail how we have succeeded in God’s call to holiness and how we have failed. The measure with which we measure ourselves is Christ the Savior – Zero Defects.
We believe that no one has achieved this state of perfection before or since the Lord took on his humanity and walked among us. We are not, however, dissuaded from trying to get as close to our model as possible. During our Lenten season we first hold ourselves up to the intense scrutiny that is only possible for one who understands the love Christ has for them and for all His creation. We see the flaws clearly. The deeper we are drawn in our relationship with the Lord the more clearly those stains appear. It is like stain on a fabric, the closer to pure white a fabric becomes in color, the more clearly even the smallest stains can be seen. In Lent we strive for the snowy white of our baptismal garment.
As we see those flaws we attempt to discover ways to change what we do and the way we behave to conform ourselves more closely to our Lord. We empty ourselves like a garage during spring cleaning so we can clean out the junk and put only the good things back. The first half our Lenten Season is exactly that – empting out all of what has accumulated in the past year or years. The second half is dedicated to filling ourselves with the love of Christ so that when Easter arrives, we rejoice, converted once more and ready once more to try for that perfect life in Christ.
We note the Gospel message today has been somewhat hidden this exposé of Lenten hope. Last year’s conclusion spoke to the Gospel well:
“Today is a day of fasting and abstinence in the Church. We will not be required to refrain from eating, and to abstain from meat again until Good Friday, the day after Lent ends. Today we offer our hunger to those for whom hunger is constant. We offer our goods for those who have none. We offer our prayers for all peoples, that they too might turn away from sin and return to the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture today is “The Repentant St. Mary Magdalene” by Domenico Feti, 1617-21
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
The Lenten Season: The Lectionary readings for Lent fall into two basic themes broken into the first half of Lent and the second. In the first half, beginning today and running through the Saturday of the third week of Lent focuses on the model of discipleship. As we are confronted time and again with the demands of that call we come to understand that in spite of our best efforts, the call will always be out of our reach.
The second half of Lent the Lectionary shows us Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of St. John. We review his ministry, not so much as a synopsis, but rather to come to a closer understanding of the salvation He alone provides.
Taken together, the first half of Lent is ethical and the second is Christological. The first half empties us the second fills us up. At the end lies the great gift of Easter.
Reading 1 Joel 2:12-18
The land has suffered a great plague of locusts and Joel calls the people of Israel to repentance. He calls all the faithful to return to the Lord and have faith in him because they were in despair.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Supporting the lament in Joel, Psalm 51 provides a call to repentance as well. We acknowledge our sinfulness and vow to return to the grace of God.
Reading II 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
St. Paul calls the Corinthians to reconciliation with God. He reminds them that through reconciliation grace is received and through grace, God pours out salvation. His urgent call tells us that now (not later) is the time for this to occur.
Gospel Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
To begin our Lenten journey we are given the instruction on almsgiving, prayer and fasting from St. Matthew’s Gospel. We are reminded that what we do for God is for Him to see not for others to see.
In all three instances, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting the same instruction is given. We are to give generously but in private, we are to pray fervently but alone, and we are to fast with purpose but to hide our discomfort. (The section left out of this reading, Matthew 6; 7-15, is Jesus giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.)
Reflection:
In the view of many Christian denominations, Catholics are said to be good at guilt. In their eyes our Celebration of Ash Wednesday and even Lent exemplifies our faith. Those who have not taken a deeper look do not realize what truly happens each year. Ironically, those involved in modern manufacturing techniques would see very clearly what goes on. That is because the goal of the modern manufacturing facility is to produce quality parts with no defects and, to get to that perfect system, there must be, what is commonly called, “Continuous Improvement.”
We do not embrace guilt over our failures, but we do not hide it from ourselves either. We do not believe that once we have accepted Christ and named him our Savior that we can go on as we please having been saved with no more effort than to say “I believe”.
The Church has set up for us a cycle of “Continuous Improvement”. Each year during our Lenten Season we hear those words “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel” as we accept the ritual ashes that have marked the repentant faithful since ancient times. Each year we accept the penitent role and review in detail how we have succeeded in God’s call to holiness and how we have failed. The measure with which we measure ourselves is Christ the Savior – Zero Defects.
We believe that no one has achieved this state of perfection before or since the Lord took on his humanity and walked among us. We are not, however, dissuaded from trying to get as close to our model as possible. During our Lenten season we first hold ourselves up to the intense scrutiny that is only possible for one who understands the love Christ has for them and for all His creation. We see the flaws clearly. The deeper we are drawn in our relationship with the Lord the more clearly those stains appear. It is like stain on a fabric, the closer to pure white a fabric becomes in color, the more clearly even the smallest stains can be seen. In Lent we strive for the snowy white of our baptismal garment.
As we see those flaws we attempt to discover ways to change what we do and the way we behave to conform ourselves more closely to our Lord. We empty ourselves like a garage during spring cleaning so we can clean out the junk and put only the good things back. The first half our Lenten Season is exactly that – empting out all of what has accumulated in the past year or years. The second half is dedicated to filling ourselves with the love of Christ so that when Easter arrives, we rejoice, converted once more and ready once more to try for that perfect life in Christ.
We note the Gospel message today has been somewhat hidden this exposé of Lenten hope. Last year’s conclusion spoke to the Gospel well:
“Today is a day of fasting and abstinence in the Church. We will not be required to refrain from eating, and to abstain from meat again until Good Friday, the day after Lent ends. Today we offer our hunger to those for whom hunger is constant. We offer our goods for those who have none. We offer our prayers for all peoples, that they too might turn away from sin and return to the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture today is “The Repentant St. Mary Magdalene” by Domenico Feti, 1617-21
1 comment:
Thanks for your commentary Jim. I particularly liked your analogies of the cloth with the stains and the garage that needs to be emptied before we put only good things back. And I also appreciated your summaries: "We are to give generously but in private, we are to pray fervently but alone, and we are to fast with purpose but to hide our discomfort" and "Today we offer our hunger to those for whom hunger is constant. We offer our goods for those who have none. We offer our prayers for all peoples, that they too might turn away from sin and return to the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
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