Repent And Believe in the Gospel!
1. “I Will Serve”
2. Away with All Masks
3. Here is Lent, Our Favorable Time
1. “I Will Serve”
Today we begin our forty days of Lent, forty days of preparation for Easter. Why these forty days of penance? To return to our roots — to God, to our better selves — and consequently also to our neighbour. In many ways we have tried to be our own gods, to decide for ourselves what is right or wrong, and we have ended up by making ourselves the center of the world at the expense of ourselves, of God, of our neighbour. Now is the right time to return to God and to turn to the people around us. We express our brokenness and our readiness to change when, after the gospel, we receive the ashes.
2. Away with All Masks
In many regions of the world people celebrate carnival in the days before Lent with much noise and merrymaking. Often they wear masks for the occasion. But today Lent begins, the time to put off our masks and to turn our face and heart to God and to people. In this holy season we reflect on the true meaning of our lives. Who am I and what am I living for? Am I living for God and the community? We shall be invited to receive ashes on our foreheads with the invitation, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” Away, then, with all masks and return to God, to your true self and to one another as God’s people.
3. Here is Lent, Our Favorable Time
Lent begins today. It is a “favorable time,” a season of grace. We are called to go up with Christ to Jerusalem, the place where he will suffer and die before he will rise in glory. This means that we are called with him to suffer and die to ourselves, to sin and to give up the evil in and around us, so that we can rise, individually and as a community, to a deeper Christian life, become more available to God and to people, and capable of rendering service with love. The way is conversion, repentance, summed up in today’s gospel as almsgiving, that is, caring for people; as praying, that is, listening to God’s word and giving it a response of love and commitment; and as fasting, that is, giving up our selfishness. We express our willingness to be converted when, after the gospel, we receive the ashes.
First Reading: Come Back to Me With All Your Heart!
True fasting and penance mean a sincere change of heart: turning away from evil to turn towards the loving God.
1 Reading: Joel 2:12-18
Even now, says the LORD, 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. 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, Offerings and libations for the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation; Assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; Let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep, And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach, with the nations ruling over them! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?'” Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people.
Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. (see 3a)Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me. R.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.” R.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me. R.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. R.
Second Reading: Now Is the Favorable Time
Jesus has restored us in the friendship of God. But this demands that we continue seeking God’s reconciliation today. Now is the right time to do this.
2 Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ: Ps 95:8
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
Gospel: Your Father Will Reward You
Outward practices of penance have no value un-less our interior attitude corresponds to our out-ward practice of helping our neighbor, praying and doing penance.
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Commentary
The theme of Lent is aptly expressed in today’s reading from Corinthians. Paul speaks of himself as an ambassador for Christ. An ambassador is a country’s representative before a foreign state. He conveys the message that he receives from his superior that he is not free to change, modify, or adapt. Christ’s message is divine in its origin and is simple and direct: “Be reconciled to God.”
Theologians have long speculated as to whether or not Christ would have come if man had not sinned. It is a debate that has long endured and will not be resolved here. The fact is that sin is a reality and is the cause of our spiritual alienation from God. The coming of Christ reversed the tide of woe. In Christ we have been brought home.
We are first reconciled in baptism. But like anything else in life, our spiritual life needs “fine-tuning.” Lent is the time for us to give expression to our gratitude by deepening the spirit of reconciliation.
Our readings today strongly emphasize this being done without ostentation. Joel tells us to rend our hearts and not our clothing. Reconciliation is a matter between God and you. It needs no publicity or display. Our praying may be done effectively in the silence of our home. Nor is our fasting a matter for the public forum. A fellow student from my seminary days fasted so vigorously that he was very unpleasant most of the time. I often wondered what was gained by it all.
Lent, while penitential, is also a time of joy. It is a special time of the year to say “Thank you” to the God who first loved us.
Blessing
Only God can make us whole again
from our brokenness.
Only God can give us the insight
to discover how often we are alienated
from him, from others, even from our true selves.
Only God can give us the strength
to change our ways and to become all new.
May the living and loving God bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and may Christ be your strength. R/ Thanks be to God.