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15 Feb 2015 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

It’s worth noting: We’ve spent five weeks already in chapter one of Mark’s gospel. So far, Jesus cast out a man’s demon, healed a woman’s fever, and then took on a whole village’s suffering. Now Jesus is confronted by a leper, or at least a man who endures an ailment disfiguring enough to make people afraid of catching what he’s got. This fellow suffers in two directions: physically and also socially. Science tells us that skin is the largest organ of the body. It’s also the only organ people can see. So unlike a heart condition or stomach ailment, when your skin is sick, it’s pretty obvious. Everything happens with Mark’s usual imperative. The leper wastes no time making his request known, and Jesus responds immediately. The language is strongly emotional: the Greek words imply that Jesus feels both compassion and anger regarding this man’s predicament. Since Mark is the earliest record we have of the Jesus story, people must have remembered that Jesus wasn’t just a blasé fixer or cerebral point-maker in his dealings with human pain. He feels it, and he’s offended by it. This isn’t the way things should be in the Kingdom he is announcing. Today we hear a lot about “compassion fatigue.” So much global suffering gets reported that we can’t seem to care about it anymore. We get all those solicitations with pictures of needy children, and we avert our eyes because there’s just so much of it. Human history is always one more war, one more conflict, one more ethnic/racial/ religious group abandoning their homes and running for their lives. There’s always another epidemic, another famine, a flood or drought or hurricane or earthquake. We send our dollars. But it seems like our best efforts slip into a black hole of need. It’s easy to get discouraged and to want to change the channel on the world’s everlasting lament. There’s no evidence Jesus ever experiences compassion fatigue. On the cross, struggling for each breath, Jesus takes pity on the thief next to him who shows remorse, and heals him with words of forgiveness. He looks out from that same cross and sees people screaming for his blood and feels that same pity, asking God’s forgiveness for them too. There seems to be no end to the capacity of genuine love to care and respond to the world’s need. So one more leper, one more blind man, one more grieving mother, one more sick daughter—and Jesus still sees the misery of each one and wills the end of their suffering at once. So let’s not lose heart. Ash Wednesday is this week. It’s another opportunity to peel the calluses off our love, and to begin again. Hope to see you there.

Authors Alice Camille

Compassion Ash Wednesday

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Keep your eyes on the road

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 THIS WEEK I almost fell into the clutches of the devil, and let me tell you, it was scary. I was driving down by the freeway where they’re doing road construction, and they had this long, open trench dug by the side of the roadway with about 15 workers standing around, leaning on their shovels, looking into it. The only place they gave you for your car was this skinny little strip of bumpy pavement with nothing between you and that ditch but a line of flimsy orange plastic cones. So, as the lane funneled down to where the ditch was, I began to get that dreadful feeling you get when you’re in a tall building and you stand too close to a window. The ditch became this magnetic monster sucking my car into its gaping maw like a giant vacuum cleaner. It was going to grab my poor vehicle, chew it up, and spit out the wheels. The horrifying thing was that, as the ditch continued to rivet my attention, the car really did start edging toward the opening, and before I could wrest it back, it actually knocked over one of the plastic cones! It was like I was being pulled into hell by the hands of the devil! "TURN AWAY FROM SIN and believe the Good News!” Jesus cries out in Mark 1:15. Well, he’s got me there because I tend to turn toward all that is dark and sinful. For some reason—maybe it’s because I’m mortal—I am attracted to the things of the world that speak of my mortality. I think we all are. For instance, newspapers feature the bad news on the front page because that’s what attracts people to buy the product. You never read about all the airplanes that make perfectly smooth landings. Just like I never notice my stomach until I get hungry. More people pay to see violent movies than gentle movies. The only baby attracting attention in church is the one that’s crying. While driving this week, I was not attracted by the safe pavement but to the menacing ditch. And to make matters worse, as I found out, we tend to move toward whatever we focus our attention on. That makes for perilous driving and stressful living unless we can get that focus under control. Beginning today, I’m going to turn away from all the passing things of the world that attract my attention—food, money, and that self-sufficiency that hardens my heart to the reality of God within me. So beginning today, I’m going to turn away from all the passing things of the world that attract my attention—food, money, and that self-sufficiency that hardens my heart to the reality of God within me. It’s what we do as Catholics during Lent. We fast, we pray, and we give our money away. More important, we turn away from the bad news of our sins—all the things that threaten the eternal well-being of our immortal souls—and believe instead in the Good News of Jesus Christ. We do not deny our sinfulness; our Lord Jesus came to call sinners, and that’s us. Rather, we focus our attention on the good news that our sins are forgiven because that’s the direction in which we want to move. As a sign of our repentance and God’s pledge of forgiveness, we receive a mark on our foreheads. It’s like the mark Cain received from God. Cain, you remember, got so mad at his brother Abel that he killed him. He was kind of like the Tony Soprano of the Genesis story. So in punishment he was banished from the land to become a restless nomad, exposed to the dangers of life on the run. But out of love for Cain, God placed a mark on his head as a sign to all not to do him any harm because he was under God’s personal protection. The mark we receive today is a sign to all that we are sinners, like Cain, but we, too, are under God’s personal protection. In Jesus Christ, God has pledged to us eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, we are never afraid because God will always be faithful to the divine promise. Free from fear, our hearts are open to the approach of God and God’s offering of love, which works the miracle of rebirth within us. We are made entirely new creatures. The ditch of sin no longer has power to lure us in. We are free to travel the road that leads to life.

Authors Father Paul Boudreau

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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A time to prepare

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Welcome to Lent! On this Ash Wednesday, some of us have the custom of wishing one another a "good Lent." Why good? Shouldn't we be wishing one another a solemn or serious or remorseful Lent? Maybe we should, but it is entirely appropriate to extend this good wish to others. Lent is good. It's good because it focuses us on what is most important. Every year Lent invites us to prepare for the celebration of the great high feast of Easter. It calls us to join ourselves more closely to the main event of our faith: the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus. "Return to me with your whole heart": In other words, repent. Turn back to God. One of the things that gives Lent such power is hearing once again the voice of God calling us back, a voice filled with patience, love, and mercy. With regret but also with joy we realize that voice has always been speaking to us, though we haven't always listened. So we gather to make our prayer for mercy and give thanks for God's unfailing compassion. We receive a mark on our foreheads as a sign of an inner change of heart and mind that will express itself in our attitudes and what we do. So we gather to make our prayer for mercy and give thanks for God's unfailing compassion. We receive a mark on our foreheads as a sign of an inner change of heart and mind that will express itself in our attitudes and what we do. One way Lent draws us anew into Christ's sacrificial and reconciling love is through practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices—all mentioned in the scripture readings for this day—are ways to show ourselves we are keeping the season. But please don't get caught up in mere observance. Let's not forget that one of the things Jesus did was to overturn an outward, rules-oriented path to holiness. His way begins on the inside: Holy living comes from a heart renewed by a transforming encounter with the living God. On this day the gospel is full of warnings about performing righteous deeds for all to see. How to avoid this danger? Pray, fast, and give alms with humility, not to impress others or ourselves, but with the intention to purify ourselves, serve others, and give glory to God. Anything we do to turn toward God is prayer. Lent aims to make prayer more a part of our lives, both by praying more regularly and deepening our experience of prayer. One place to start: Pray every day, in whatever way suits you. Catholic tradition offers a wealth of ways to pray: morning and evening prayers, meal time prayers, prayerful reading of scripture, devotions, the liturgy, spiritual reading, prayer groups, retreats, and even now prayer resources on the internet. Lent gives us the chance not only to pray more but also to become more prayerful, to make our entire lives a prayer. Fasting: What we do with food is an outward sign of what we do with ourselves. The official days of fasting and abstinence serve as reminders of the deeper meaning of fasting: to see and then try to remove all that separates us from the love of God and neighbor. The hallowed Catholic custom of giving something up for Lent is, as well, a form of fasting. That leaves almsgiving. Sure, one way to give alms is to open your checkbook more often for the great number of worthy causes in need of funds. The larger spirit of alms, though, is one of generosity—which can take many forms. The Easter mysteries celebrate Jesus' giving of himself for the sake of the world. In imitation of him, give more of yourself, your time, and your energy, especially with those who most need your help. The practices of Lent are just that: practices. We do them to get better at them. But they are not ends in themselves. Lent is not the end; Easter is. Death and loss are not the end; Resurrection and new life and renewal are. Back in the fifth century, Pope Saint Leo the Great had a good line about Lent. He said: "What a Christian does at all times should be done now with greater care and devotion." We carry over how Lent has formed us into the rest of the year. And each year the spirit of Lent and Easter become part of us a little more. Welcome to Lent! It is a blessed time. In it we draw closer to our Lord, and we learn to pray more deeply, remove the obstacles in our lives to love, and give of ourselves more generously. What could be better than that? Have a good one.

Authors Joel Schorn

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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Receive the Good News

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 There's a bit of irony in the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday. Jesus warns us, "Do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues . . . so that others may see them." Well, here we are: praying in front of each other in a church, where "others may see us." Soon we'll get ashes on our foreheads, and everybody who sees us for the rest of the day will notice us. But I don't think we risk ignoring Jesus' warning. I doubt that you came here to impress other people with your holiness. You came for other reasons. Let's look at those reasons. What are we doing here today on Ash Wednesday? Why do we say these special prayers and listen to these readings about repentance, almsgiving, and fasting? Why do we solemnly come forward and let someone put ashes on our foreheads? In essence, to recall some basic truths about ourselves. Lent is a time to reflect, to understand who we really are as men and women who have been created by God and redeemed in Jesus Christ. When you receive your ashes in a few minutes, the minister will say something to you as he or she applies them to your forehead. The church gives us two prayers the minister can say at this moment—a traditional prayer and one the church introduced more recently. You will hear only one of them, but both of them say something about us. The traditional formula is: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. These words remind us of the hardest, most piercing truth about ourselves: We will die. We are mortal. Our bodies will decompose into dust. On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that this will happen sooner rather than later. The traditional formula is: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. These words remind us of the hardest, most piercing truth about ourselves: We will die. We are mortal. Our bodies will decompose into dust. On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that this will happen sooner rather than later. The second formula is this: Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel. Some people think this is a cheerful slogan that came into fashion because the old one was too depressing. But no—it reminds us of another truth about ourselves: We are Christians. Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel is a prayer of conversion.Turn away from sin: Repent of the pride and the anger, the selfishness and the skepticism, the lusts and self-concern. Be faithful to the gospel: We are children of God, saved by Christ. Receive this good news and walk with Christ in joy. Taken together, these two exhortations tell us about our fundamental identity as human beings. We're going to die, our bodies will be reduced to ashes, but we're also going to live forever with God. That, in a nutshell, is the journey of Lent. We begin in ashes and we end in glory. Today we receive the ashes. At the end of Lent is Easter, when the glory of the risen Lord appears. The journey of Lent is a journey of conversion. The early Christians thought that people who sinned seriously after baptism were not really converted, so they saw the 40 days leading up to Easter as a special time of repentance, reflection, and prayer. It was a time when the Lord would complete the work begun in baptism. That is the way we see Lent today. We understand that we are all sinners, and that our conversion to the gospel is incomplete. As Christians, we are a work in progress. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of a holy time when we will ask God to make our conversion complete so we can follow the gospel more seriously. How do we do so? In today's gospel reading, Jesus mentions the three traditional practices of Lent: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Do these things. Give alms: Be generous with others, particularly to the poor and needy. Do some fasting: It reminds us that we depend on God for everything. Pray more: Jesus says, "Go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret." This "inner room" is the secret place in our heart. A lot of the time our heart is an out-of-the-way place we don't like to visit very often. Open the door to your heart this Lent. If you do, you will find yet another truth about yourself. God dwells there. God's love fills our hearts, and gives us the grace we need to turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.

Authors Jim Manney

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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The mark of ashes

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Most Catholics are not surprised the church makes feast days such as the Immaculate Conception or the Solemnity of Mary on New Year's Day holy days of obligation. But they might be surprised to learn that Ash Wednesday is not among these days—nor has the church made any day of repentance an "obligation." Interestingly, in most years more Catholics come to church on this day than on any celebratory holy day. What this fact tells us is that our coming here to begin this season of repentance comes of our own free choice. And it is good that we are here together on this day of communal repentance, to receive the mark of ashes. It seems to me very countercultural that this is so. While immersed in a society that by and large denies death and sacrifice, you have all chosen to gather here. The ashes that we have come together to receive on our foreheads will remind us of our return to dust. As we work through the rest of the day we recall, on our own skin, what all our professional and material achievements will return to. Nothing binds us to this practice, but we do it. It must be that we recognize how our sins have brought about death, not only our own spiritual death but in some way also Christ's upon the cross. We have chosen death in the past, but today we choose repentance from our sins and life in Christ. It must be that we recognize how our sins have brought about death, not only our own spiritual death but in some way also Christ's upon the cross. We have chosen death in the past, but today we choose repentance from our sins and life in Christ. But with ashes we not only remind ourselves of our shortcomings and our desires to turn our attentions to God, we also communicate this message with one another here. We serve as the image of Christ to one another and thereby support and reinforce one another. This act does not deny the gospel reading today in which Christ cautions, "Do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues . . . so that others may see them." We are here as a community so that each may see, not that each may be seen. Today, then, we draw on one of earth's basest substances—ashes—to remind us that, for the next 40 days, many of our needs and desires will go unmet. And that is a good thing. The sign of ashes on the forehead goes back to very ancient times, when cleaning up and disposing of ashes from wood fires constituted a major household chore. When a family member died or another grave event occupied the hearts of the household, the subsequent neglect of this chore meant the ashes would pile up and fill the air, so much so that telltale smudges would be found on the faces of the inhabitants. The ashes, then, represented neglect of domestic needs and vanities in deference to mourning. So by wearing ashes on our faces today, we're saying, "My attention is focused elsewhere, on more important things than the deadening distractions of daily life." And we are not alone. After we have received ashes, look around to the people who will take the journey of Lent with you. Keep this sight with you over the next 40 days. These days will be a period for contemplation, reflection, and preparation as we join Jesus in his retreat into the wilderness. For as we imitate Jesus we, too, must imitate the isolation he felt while alone in the desert. But you need not be isolated from those you see around you, as from the daily demands on our attention. We are graced with this communion of the faithful formed by the Body of Christ. So we will look to this mark of ashes to reinforce that in the individuality of our choice for repentance and embrace of divine life, we remain together.

Authors Sean Reynolds

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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Spiritual recovery time

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Today's children live in a challenging culture. They are often overwhelmed, not only by harmful messages in the media but also through excessive participation in extracurricular activities, particularly sports. Physical therapists have expressed concern for the increasing number of young children coming for treatment for damage done to muscles and tendons because of overinvolvement in sports. Parents, they fear, don't seem to realize that even young healthy children need a break, with substantial time for physical and mental recovery. Such an insight is valuable not only for a healing of the body but for healing of the soul as well. For the soul, the recovery period begins with a returning to God. The image of returning is prominent in the Ash Wednesday readings, especially in the reading from the Book of Joel. "Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart . . . . Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God." But such returning must be genuine, says the prophet, amounting to nothing less than the handing over of a heart that is torn with grief at its separation from God. The rending of exterior garments alone, as is the Jewish tradition for expressing mourning, is not sufficient. Scripture also warns against allowing our hearts to become hard, as happened to many of those who wandered through the desert with Moses, their faith and trust eroded by difficult circumstances. The danger to our faith and spiritual life is that a hardened heart does not feel its grief, recognize its separation, or experience the desire to return to its God. Scripture also warns against allowing our hearts to become hard, as happened to many of those who wandered through the desert with Moses, their faith and trust eroded by difficult circumstances. The danger to our faith and spiritual life is that a hardened heart does not feel its grief, recognize its separation, or experience the desire to return to its God. Instead, we are to offer a prayer of repentance, as we heard today in the psalm, saying, "A clean heart create in me, O God; renew in me a steadfast spirit." Anyone who has experienced a separation from a loved one, spouse, family member, or friend knows how difficult it can be to make the decision to return to the relationship, to reconcile and seek forgiveness for whatever wrongs have damaged it. "I'm not going to be the one to make the first move," we hear ourselves saying. And, filled with the pride that has hardened our hearts, we deny ourselves the real treasure of returning: reconciliation. But when God is the loved one, the situation is different. With God there is an ongoing invitation for reconciliation because God's principal desire is for our love. With boundless grace and mercy God continually invites us back into relationship, telling us, "Now is the acceptable time." God doesn't want us to wait. "Yet even now," not later, God says, "return to me with your whole heart." In truth, any separation in a relationship provides an opportunity for self-examination, for real honesty about our intentions when making decisions, for acknowledging our insistence at putting our needs before the needs of another. With a heart open to God, we must ask ourselves, "What aspects of my life and my attitude need to be recreated in line with gospel values?" For each of us, and particularly for those whose hearts have been hardened by pain and suffering, grief and loss or deep disappointments, the liturgical year provides a time when we, as a community and as individuals, can take stock of our lives and our hearts and accept God's loving invitation to be created anew. The symbolism of ashes is especially significant in the realm of new creation. The ancient Jewish tradition noted in scripture regarded ashes as a sign of repentance, a symbol of that which once was, being no more. Today, with the symbol of ashes so prominently displayed on our foreheads, we are visibly reminded that through returning our hearts to God, by repentance and God's generous forgiveness, we will be reconciled to the God who loves us. So on this Ash Wednesday, as we enter into the season of Lent, a period of spiritual recovery through returning and repentance, we would do well to also reflect on the words of the prophet Isaiah, "For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: 'In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.' "

Authors Mary Morrell

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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With whole hearts

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 "Return to me with your whole heart," the prophet tells us. It is a call that went out to the Israelites and one that goes out to us. God's call has come down to us through covenants, prophets, and especially in Jesus. Creation itself testifies to God's great love for and God's great desire for us to live in God. The Lord is gracious, kind, and merciful, scripture says, and calls us to make a total response to that grace, kindness, and mercy—our whole hearts, our entire selves. Lent give us a chance to do just that. Scripture today, however, has some warnings about how to make that wholehearted response. Do not make a show of your return to God. We repent to please God, not for the praise of others. Wholeheartedness means our actions flow out of who are on the inside. To draw attention to how generous we are, how much we pray, how well we fast, the gospel says, is not to repent at all. Scripture today, however, has some warnings about how to make that wholehearted response. Do not make a show of your return to God. We repent to please God, not for the praise of others. Wholeheartedness means our actions flow out of who are on the inside. To draw attention to how generous we are, how much we pray, how well we fast, the gospel says, is not to repent at all. In fact it's the exact opposite. If we rend our garments but not our hearts—staying with only the external gesture—our return to God cannot be real. The clean heart we pray for in the psalm is the spirit of true repentance that starts on the inside, with our faith, our trust, our closeness to God. From that heart flows the actions that help us return to God. And actions are important. Saint Paul calls us to do something. Working together, he says, we are invited to participate in and continue Jesus' ministry of reconciliation. Our giving of ourselves in prayer, fasting, and generosity expresses our giving of ourselves to God and one another. Our Lenten practices offer us an opportunity to answer God's call with our whole selves, body, soul, and spirit. Today and this week, as Lent begins, we have followed scripture's command to call an assembly; we have proclaimed a fast. The call has gone out to all, the prophet says: elders, children, infants-everyone. And just as we are all called, so our commitment should be total. Our salvation is at hand. Now is an acceptable time for us to embark on a journey back to God.

Authors Joel Schorn

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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Open your hearts

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: Ash Wednesday Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 The readings today seem almost ironic. They tell us to pray in secret, to quietly give alms, to not be dramatic about fasting. And yet when this liturgy ends and we leave with obvious black marks on our forehead, aren’t we doing just the opposite? Didn’t Matthew’s gospel just tell us to be secretive about the religious things we do? Quite the contrary. Matthew is asking us to honestly look into our own hearts and answer why we are praying and fasting and giving alms. Is it for show, to earn worldly recognition, to barter for all the other times we knowingly live an unchristian life? These are motives that push us away from God, not draw us closer to him. In essence, they place our own pride above the Lord. The prophet Joel beautifully and simply states a remedy for that: While telling us in the first reading to return to the Lord with our whole heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, he also says, “Rend your hearts not your garments.” Rend your hearts. To rend something means to tear it. Joel is telling us tear open our hearts to God’s grace, to God’s love, to God's mercy and salvation. We need to abandon our patchwork hearts, pieced together by our “deadly” sins, and instead center our hearts in the Lord. Rend your hearts. To rend something means to tear it. Joel is telling us tear open our hearts to God’s grace, to God’s love, to God'smercy and salvation. We need to abandon our patchwork hearts, pieced together by our “deadly” sins, and instead center our hearts in the Lord. We belong in Christ. We were made to be with him. Our bodies are but dust and to dust they shall return when sickness or tragedy or age wins out over medicine and youth. That, however, is not the end. We were created not only for earthly life but for eternal life. And so God became human to open the gates of heaven as the perfect sacrifice for human folly against the Divine. How do we reach back to the hand Christ has outstretched to us on the cross? How do we rend our hearts for him? We begin by making time for him, to recognize and acknowledge the things that are separating us from him and from his plans in our lives. We can start with our imperfections: perhaps it is our lack of patience, our unwillingness to let go of a grudge, our judgmental and critical remarks. Perhaps we procrastinate too much or cling to our technology to avoid being truly present for the people in our lives. Perhaps we put so much effort into our work or our appearance that we allow it to become our sole priority and focus. Today as we begin our Lenten journey, we prepare ourselves as Christ did when he went into the desert to pray for 40 days before beginning his ministry: Let us remember that we are called to participate in the resurrection but that we cannot do so without first participating in the crucifixion. Let us find something to change in our daily lives—it need not be earth-shattering—which will refocus our attention to reflect the eternity to which we are called. Rend your hearts to be open to this miracle of grace. Pray to the Lord to show you the things in your heart that are keeping you from completely abandoning ourselves to his love, his mercy, his salvation. And ask the Lord to help us let go of these things. If you can do that, then you will truly be living the words of Saint Paul: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Authors Katherine Martin

holy day/feast Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

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