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To repent means to “turn around.” Good Ash Wednesday advice. Turn around from our illusion of self–sufficiency and face God, which means facing the truth of who we are. This is a day to turn around and confess that we get it: one day we will once again be
ashes.
– Paul E. Hoffman (Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. How will you observe the season this year?)
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Daily Readings
Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17; 2 Corinthians
5:20—6:2 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 the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) Matthew 6: 1-6,16-18: Be
sincere! Gaining the esteem of others is something we all desire, but Jesus makes it clear that our religious acts should be done to bring us closer to God, not to impress people. Some of the examples of hypocrisy he gives refer to practices of the Pharisees. • How important is it to you that others know you are committed to following Jesus Christ? What are
your motives for letting others know that you are a Christian? • In what ways does your heavenly Father repay you for your personal prayer? Spend some time thanking God for these graces.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ Chapter 11: How we practice the love of benevolence in the praises which our Savior and his mother give to
God. Yea, truly, Theotimus, divine love being seated upon our Saviour's Heart as upon his royal throne, beholds by the cleft of his pierced side all the hearts of all people: for this Heart being the King of hearts keeps his eyes ever fixed upon hearts. But as those that look through a lattice see others clearly, and are but half-seen themselves, so the divine love of this Heart, or rather this Heart of divine love, continually sees
our hearts clearly and regards them with the eyes of his love, but we do not see him, we only half-see him. For, O God! if we could see him as he is, we should die of love for him, so long as we are mortal; as he himself died for us while he was mortal, and as he would yet die, if he were not immortal. O when we hear this divine Heart, as it sings with a voice of infinite sweetness the canticle of praise to the divinity, what joy, Theotimus, what efforts of our hearts to spring up to heaven that
we may ever hear it! And verily this dear friend of our hearts invites us to this. Arise, make haste, leave thyself and take thy flight towards me, my dove, my beautiful, unto this heavenly abode, where all is joy and nought is heard but praises and benedictions. All is flowers, all is sweetness and perfume; the turtles, the most silent of all birds, yet there take up their songs. Come, my well-beloved and all-dear; and to see me more clearly, come to the same windows by which I see thee: come
and behold my heart in the clefts of the opening in my side, which was made when my body, like a house in ruins, was so pitifully broken down on the tree of the cross: come, show me thy face. Ah! I see it now without thy showing it, but then I shall see it, and thou shalt show it me, for thou shalt see that I see thee: let thy voice sound in my ears, for I would join it with mine: thus shall thy voice be sweet and thy face comely. O what a delight will it be to our hearts, when, our voices being
tuned and accorded to our Saviour's, we shall take part in the infinite sweetness of the praises which the well-beloved Son gives to his eternal Father!
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