Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday, we are encouraged to have a fresh start in our relationship with God. Jesus teaches about the importance of performing righteous deeds, giving alms, praying, and fasting in secret, rather than seeking the approval of others. These disciplines help us grow closer to God and live authentic, fulfilling lives. We are reminded that God sees everything and loves us deeply. Take time to reflect on this passage and talk to Jesus about its meaning for you. Greetings, friends. What a joy to share the Gospel. Ash Wednesday is a day of welcoming, welcoming a fresh start, a new beginning in our relationship with God the Father in Jesus Christ, His Son. It is a day to hear again, as if for the first time, repent and believe in the Good News. Let's take a moment now to quiet our inner selves. If you will, take a deep breath, slowly in and slowly out. Come, Lord Jesus. Allow your Holy Spirit to bring your word to life in me. May I hear your voice, Good Shepherd. Reading a passage from the Gospel is the first step of the ancient prayer of Lectio Divina. By reading, we begin to grow in familiarity with the passage, opening ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit carried on the words of the Gospel. On this Ash Wednesday, we read from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6, verses 1-6 and 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 hand 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 others to be fasting, except to your Father, who is hidden, and your Father, who sees what is hidden, will repay you. Taken from the Sermon on the Mount, this passage stands at the very center, the apex even, of that exquisite teaching of our Lord found in Matthew's Gospel. Simply, Jesus introduces His disciples to the disciplines of an authentic spiritual life, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. We fast from food or drink or words or certain activities. By fasting, we seek to give exposure to our inner longing that can only be filled by God, and to create space for the encounter with God. In almsgiving, we turn our eyes from ourselves toward the other, toward those we encounter along the way in need of our love, our generosity, of finances, time, personal presence. And with prayer, we seek intentionally to nurture, to foster our relationship of intimate love with God. Now in themselves, there is nothing new in Jesus' teaching here. This is the spiritual life found in the Judaism of Jesus' own day. What is fresh, so vividly expressed by Jesus, is the insistence that these disciplines are lived only in the sight of God, the Father who sees in secret. It is only by grounding our lives in the source of true being in God that we are free to live lives of authenticity, fulfillment, generosity. Once again, we encounter Jesus as the revelation of the Father. Returning now to a second reading of the passage, pause again, intentionally surrendering yourself over to the Holy Spirit. As the passage is read, allow your imagination to be opened up, exposed, if you will, to the living Word. What word, what phrase, perhaps a movement within the narrative, stands out for you? Once again, we read Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 through 6, 16 through 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 hand 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 others to be fasting, except to your Father, who is hidden, and your Father, who sees what is hidden, will repay you. The second step of Lectio Divina, after reading, is meditation. In meditating, we pause to embrace the word, phrase, that movement of the passage that has spoken most powerfully to us. What is speaking to you at this moment? My own heart is touched so deeply with the repeated phrase, your Father who sees in secret. The New Testament scholar, Fr. Francis Martin, reminds us, nothing escapes the Father's deep, attentive gaze, and his heart forgets nothing. So much time I have spent, still spend, I'm afraid, seeking the approval, the admiration, the high regard of other people. See me, know me, love me, so much of my striving cries out. All the while, the God of the universe, the all-holy, all-loving One, sees me and knows me with a deep, attentive gaze. Lord Jesus, teach me, in these Lenten days ahead, to live more fully under the deep, attentive gaze of the Father. Allow my Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to so draw me into His love that I might experience greater freedom to love those who cross my path day by day. Friends, let me invite you again to continue to sit with this Gospel passage. What is it saying to you in this moment? Talk to Jesus about what His word is doing in you now. Before leaving prayer, be sure to place the word you have received deep in your spirit where the Lord might bring it growth in the days ahead. And friends, it is a joy to share the Gospel with you.