Ash Wednesday, 13
February 2013
First reading
Joel
2:12-18
‘Now, now – it is the Lord who
speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.’
Let your hearts be broken, not your
garments torn,
turn to the Lord your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will not turn again,
will not relent,
will not leave a blessing as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the Lord your God?
Sound the trumpet in Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
call the people together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom
and the bride her alcove.
Between vestibule and altar let the
priests,
the ministers of the Lord, lament.
Let them say,
‘Spare your people, the Lord!
Do not make your heritage a thing of
shame,
a byword for the nations.
Why should it be said among the nations,
“Where is their God?”’
Then the Lord, jealous on behalf of his
land,
took pity on his people.
Jesus is the Bridegroom and his
community is his bride. Lent is the time to come back to him. Lent is not
primarily at time simply to do penance for our sins. It is a time to make
ourselves worthier for the friendship and love of Jesus. First we must fast
from our sins, listen to God speaking to us and turn to him in silent prayer.
If we endeavour to form our lives according to the Gospel, particularly the
Gospel passages the Church proposes for us during Lent, we will be able to
welcome the Risen Lord at Easter in a new and deeper way.
Psalm
Psalm
50:3-6,12-14,17
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
My offences truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
That you may be justified when you give
sentence
and be without reproach when you judge,
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
____________________
Second reading
2
Corinthians 5:20-6:2
We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as
though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s
name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin,
so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As his fellow workers, we
beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For
he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of
salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is
the day of salvation.
Sinless himself Jesus was
overwhelmed with sin. He was surrounded by it on all sides and everyone he knew
and loved were sinners. For them, he offered his life on the Cross to make up
to the heart of God for all the sin and coldness of heart offered by human
beings, whom “he was not ashamed to call his brothers” (Hebrews)
Gospel
Acclamation
Ps50:12,14
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
Or
cf.Ps94:8
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
____________________
Gospel
Matthew
6:1-6,16-18
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Be
careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by
doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you
give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you
solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand
must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and
your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
‘And
when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers
standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them;
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your
private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will
reward you.
‘When
you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces
to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their
reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no
one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in
secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’
Praying, fasting,
sharing from the heart
In these first days of Lent, the readings teach us the
spirit for a fruitful Lent. Today we learn the three important practices of
Lent - prayer, fasting and almsgiving or better sharing. Jesus condemned
external practices, which do not come from the heart. Whatever we do, we are to
do for God alone and not for any worldly self-interest. We are to come closer
to God in spirit and truth. Jesus spoke at a time when people loved to be
religious so that others could see them and praise them. Today it may be the
opposite. To act publicly, either in prayer or fasting, may be a witness to
Jesus in the midst of unbelieving or mocking neighbours. To share our goods
with others may be a lesson to others who are selfishly affluent. By your
Lenten practices, do you want to come closer to God this Lent?
Thursday 14
February 2013
First reading
Deuteronomy
30:15-20
Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I
set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the
Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his
customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in
the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if
you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods
and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will
not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I
call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or
death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants
may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him;
for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land
which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’
The thing we must understand
about life is that God has created us out of love. It is a love he has for each
individual and in his love, he wants to share everything divine with us. In this
life, he gives us the chance to love and choose him as he has already chosen
us. The life of faith is the chance for us to choose him quite freely. However,
he has not abandoned us to a life of darkness. He has given us guidelines for a
life of happiness both now and in the next life. Unfortunately, Satan who tries
to teach us that God does not love us, but gives commandments to restrict our
freedom deceives many. ‘Be God now’, he says. However, to abandon God and do
just as we like is to destroy ourselves as Moses saw more than three thousand
years ago. The question is, do we see it too?
Psalm
Psalm
1:1-4,6
Happy the man who has placed his trust
in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the
wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust
in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust
in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind.
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust
in the Lord.
____________________
Gospel
Acclamation
Ps50:12,14
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or
Mt4:17
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at
hand.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
____________________
Gospel
Luke
9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of
Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief
priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third
day.’
Then
to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce
himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to
save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man
will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and
to have lost or ruined his very self?’
Crucify
your sins
To be a Christian is to follow Jesus.
He came to do the will of his Father at whatever cost. We too are to keep God’s
Commandments and the precepts given by Jesus in the Gospel. In an unbelieving
world, this will be difficult. It will involve suffering. To live uprightly
will always involve suffering at times. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus who
put his trust in God and suffered at the hands of his enemies. God did not let
him down, raised him on the Third Day, and sat him at his right hand. He will
do the same for us. We must crucify sin in us, deny the selfish inclinations of
our heart, and live for Jesus. In Lent, we must make pleasing Jesus in all we
say and do the object of our life. Are you ready to do this?
Friday 15 February 2013
Readings at Mass
First reading
Isaiah 58:1-9
Thus says the Lord:
Shout for all you are worth,
raise your voice like a trumpet.
Proclaim their faults to my people,
their sins to the House of Jacob.
They seek me day after day,
they long to know my ways,
like a nation that wants to act with integrity
and not ignore the law of its God.
They ask me for laws that are just,
they long for God to draw near:
‘Why should we fast if you never see it,
why do penance if you never notice?’
Look, you do business on your fast-days,
you oppress all your workmen;
look, you quarrel and squabble when you fast
and strike the poor man with your fist.
Fasting like yours today
will never make your voice heard on high.
Is that the sort of fast that pleases me,
a truly penitential day for men?
Hanging your head like a reed,
lying down on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call fasting,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me
– it is the Lord who speaks –
to break unjust fetters and
undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke,
to share your bread with the hungry,
and shelter the homeless poor,
to clothe the man you see to be naked
and not turn from your own kin?
Then will your light shine like the dawn
and your wound be quickly healed over.
Your integrity will go before you
and the glory of the Lord behind you.
Cry, and the Lord will answer;
call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’
Religiosity is one thing. True religion is something else. Religiosity, we can say, is when we do religious practices for our own satisfaction. We are the centre of religiosity. With true religion, God is the centre. We worship him in spirit and in truth. We obey his Laws and we try to love as
He loves. We should listen to Isaiah today.
Psalm
Psalm 50:3-6,18-19
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
My offences truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
____________________
Gospel Acclamation
cf.Ps129:5,7
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Or
cf.Amos5:14
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
____________________
Gospel
Matthew 9:14-15
John’s disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’
Jesus the Bridegroom
The readings are teaching us the spirit of Lent and indeed of the Christian life. On Wednesday, we learnt how to pray, fast and share our goods. On Thursday, we learnt that in order to be a disciple we must deny our selfish and sinful desires and embrace the values of Jesus. Today we learn that being a Christian is not a matter of joining an organisation and following rules. Jesus is the Bridegroom. We the community of his followers is the bride. This implies that Jesus calls each of us to a relationship of intimacy. Bride and groom belong to each other, share the same life, and have the same ambitions. Each one lives and works for the other. The joys and sorrows of one are the joys and sorrows of the other. So it should be with you and Jesus. Are you ready to cultivate this attitude during Lent?
Saturday 16 February 2013
Readings at Mass
First reading
Isaiah 58:9-14
The Lord says this:
If you do away with the yoke,
the clenched fist, the wicked word,
if you give your bread to the hungry,
and relief to the oppressed,
your light will rise in the darkness,
and your shadows become like noon.
The Lord will always guide you,
giving you relief in desert places.
He will give strength to your bones
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never run dry.
You will rebuild the ancient ruins,
build up on the old foundations.
You will be called ‘Breach-mender’,
‘Restorer of ruined houses.’
If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
and doing business on the holy day,
if you call the Sabbath ‘Delightful’,
and the day sacred to the Lord ‘Honourable’,
if you honour it by abstaining from travel,
from doing business and from gossip,
then shall you find your happiness in the Lord
and I will lead you triumphant over the heights of the land.
I will feed you on the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
In everyday life, the love of our neighbour comes first. We cannot see God, but we can see our neighbour. How we treat others is how we treat God. We are to see God in everyone – they are made in the likeness of God and loved by God. We are to love them and serve them because God does and we are his children. We bring our life to God on Sundays. That day we are to be the children of God – not that we are not during the week, but on Sundays we can put aside our daily struggle to live and be his children. It is a day to rejoice in the Lord for all he is doing for us.
Psalm
Psalm 85:1-6
Show me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.
Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save the servant who trusts in you.
Show me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.
You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord,
for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Show me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.
O Lord, you are good and forgiving,
full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my voice.
Show me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.
____________________
Gospel Acclamation
cfPs94:8
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Or
Ezk33:11
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
____________________
Gospel
Luke 5:27-32
Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.
In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’
Fast from Sin
Jesus sees Levi. He is a sinner who lives by exploitation and violation of the Law. Jesus looks into his heart and sees his repentant spirit. He calls him and Levi gets up and follows him. He leaves behind his sinful life. If he can give a banquet for so many people then Levi is a wealthy man. However, he leaves everything for Jesus’ sake. This is not a sacrifice but a joy. He now has no interest in wealth but in following Jesus. We sinners can have confidence in a God of compassion. He asks nothing of us, except to love and to create a kingdom of love. Levi gives a banquet for Jesus but Jesus is the one who invites him to the banquet with God. Are you ready to get up, leave your sin, and follow Jesus this Lent? Do you despise ‘sinners’ like the Pharisees?
No comments:
Post a Comment