Lent begins today. Today we receive ashes as signs of our creation, we were made from the earth; as a sign of our mortality, we shall return to dust; as a sign of ownership on our foreheads, we have been redeemed and purchased by the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. These forty days of Lent are a time of shedding vice and acquiring virtue. What does Mother Church propose for our reading and hearing on this day?
Mass Readings
The First Reading is from the Book of the Prophet Joel. In this reading (Joel 2:12-18) we hear the pleading of the Lord when he calls to His people, "return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God." We are called to return with our whole heart. This means that we are to turn away from those things that have our heart which are not God.
Are we attracted to sin, petty imperfections, obsessions, do we worship false gods of money or human esteem? If so, we are to turn our hearts away from these things and turn our entire heart to God. How do we turn to God? Joel tells us that we turn with fasting and weeping. Fasting and weeping is recognition that we have given our hearts to false love, we have sinned, and are remorseful. We should feel remorse for sin. We return with the confidence that He is waiting to receive us with the grace we need to be saints.
The Second Reading from Second Corinthians (2Cor 5:20 – 6:2) calls us to repentance now! Saint Paul teaches, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." What could be clearer? Saint Paul urges us to conversion now because none of us is promised a tomorrow. As we say in the "Hail Mary", pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Two days are the most important in our lives: today and the day of our death. The past is gone; there is no promise of another day. Perhaps tomorrow is the day of our death. We must turn to God now! Saint Paul urges us, "Behold, now is the very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
In the Gospel (Mat 6:1-6, 16-18) Jesus teaches us how to conduct ourselves when we turn to Him. We learn how to properly show charity, how to pray, and how to fast. When we do some act of charity we are not to make a show of our good works. If we do make a show of our works, the Lord says that "you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father." When we pray, we are told to "go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret." What is the "inner room?" There are two senses of this phrase. First, we are to literally pray in a place that does not lend itself to the esteem of others. More fundamentally, we are to enter the inner room of our hearts. The heart, as we read in the first reading, is where we turn to God. Our prayers must come from our hearts and not just our lips.
Finally, we are called to fasting by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity! Jesus says, "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites." At the time of Christ, persons who were fasting would make a show of their fasting by publically boasting of their pius acts so that they would receive the approval and esteem of others. Jesus calls us to fast but to fast in a certain way. We are to fast and look perfectly natural while we do so! In fact, we are to dress ourselves and appear as we would on any other day. Only Our Lord should know of our fast. Our fasting must come from our heart, our inner room, where we meet Him.
Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us did fast and pray,
Teach us with you to mourn our sins,
And close by you to stay.
(Hymn for Evening Prayer)
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us! St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!
VVV
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