Dear friend, Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting and the ashes symbolize the dust from which God created us. Using ashes made by burning the palms donated by parishioners that hung in their homes since the previous year’s Palm Sunday service the priest or deacon makes a cross on the forehead of the faithful attending the Ash Wednesday service. This year due to COVID our parish diocese encouraged the parish priests and deacons to sprinkle ashes over the individual head of those in attendance which was the original ancient Jewish tradition. My sister’s parish used a cue tip to draw a cross on their parishioner’s foreheads. However the ashes are distributed, as the priest or deacon performed the ritual he would speak the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
As Christians we are proud to wear these ashes for in Matthew 10: 32-22 32 “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven“.
You’ve heard it said no news is good news but then again the Bible is all good news and needs to be shared so for this season of Lent I will be posting the readings for each day during Lent – God’s Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness.
Ash Wednesday’s readings: Joel 2:12-18, Psalm 51, Corinthians 5:20-6:2, and the Gospel reading from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.
Joel 2:12-18 12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord, your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land,
and had pity on his people.
Psalm 51 1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;[a]
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right[b] spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing[c] spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God[d] is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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 thatwe might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Working together then we appeal to you not to receive he 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 if a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The word of the Lord.
The Holy Gospel according to Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples: 6 “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]
Please take your time to read invite the Holy Spirit to be with you so that every word inspires you to seek God during Lent and beyond.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, be with us during these days of Lent. Have mercy on us, and forgive us our sins. Help us to stay true to your Word and to make it a part of our very being. We humbly ask this in your Son’s name. Amen!
And during your prayer time please add to your prayer list a dear friend who’s family have all tested positive with COVID. My friend is a truly loving and caring wife and mother who also loves the Lord as does her family. Thank you!
May God bless you and yours and keep you all safe and in His loving care!
Peace, love and joy in Christ Jesus!
Marie Antoinette
His Righteousness 