Ash Wednesday

Return to the LORD, your God, for gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing.

All the readings today are rich in meaning for this important season. The gospel faces us with the three key Lenten practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The second reading insists that Lent “is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The first reading, quoted above, reminds us of the type of God we worship.

We often think of Lent as a time of penance. Perhaps we should spend time this year trying to familiarize ourselves with a God who is gracious and merciful, who forgives and blesses. This is the main reason for the practices inculcated in the gospel. We fast to empty ourselves of our tendency to put ourselves in the center of the universe. We pray to come to know God better and imitate what we know of God, seeing him reflected in Jesus. We give alms in imitation of Jesus, who gave so much to others and ultimately gave even his life that we might know the richness of his kindness.

Making Mass the center of our Lenten practices will help us appreciate the extent of God’s graciousness as we read the Scriptures. The Eucharistic Prayer spells out the depth of God’s mercy as we celebrate Jesus’ gift of himself on the cross and in the eucharistic bread and wine we share. As Saint Augustine stated, “The priest says, ‘body of Christ,’ and you answer ‘Amen.’ It is your own mystery you place on the altar. You say amen to what you are. Be, therefore, the body of Christ, so that your amen may be true.”

Let Us Pray:

O Jesus, may my Lenten practice draw me closer to you. Help me to prize God’s goodness so that I may appreciate the depth of his graciousness and mercy.