March 2, 2022 Ash Wednesday

2021년 3월 2일 재의 수요일 

 

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

 

 요엘 예언서. 2,12-18
이제라도 너희는 단식하고 울고 슬퍼하면서
마음을 다하여 나에게 돌아오너라.
13 옷이 아니라 너희 마음을 찢어라. 주 너희 하느님에게 돌아오너라.
그는 너그럽고 자비로운 이, 분노에 더디고 자애가 큰 이
재앙을 내리다가도 후회하는 이다.
14 그가 다시 후회하여 그 뒤에 복을 남겨 줄지
주 너희 하느님에게 바칠 곡식 제물과 제주를 남겨 줄지 누가 아느냐?
15 너희는 시온에서 뿔 나팔을 불어 단식을 선포하고 거룩한 집회를 소집하여라.
16 백성을 모으고 회중을 거룩하게 하여라.
원로들을 불러 모으고 아이들과 젖먹이들까지 모아라.
신랑은 신방에서 나오고 신부도 그 방에서 나오게 하여라.
17 주님을 섬기는 사제들은 성전 현관과 제단 사이에서 울며 아뢰어라.
“주님, 당신 백성에게 동정을 베풀어 주십시오.
당신의 소유를 우셋거리로, 민족들에게 이야깃거리로 넘기지 마십시오.
민족들이 서로 ‘저들의 하느님이 어디 있느냐?’ 하고 말해서야 어찌 되겠습니까?”
18 주님께서는 당신 땅에 열정을 품으시고 당신 백성을 불쌍히 여기셨다. 

 

제2독서

 코린토 2서. 5,20ㅡ6,2
형제 여러분, 20 우리는 그리스도의 사절입니다.
하느님께서 우리를 통하여 권고하십니다.
우리는 그리스도를 대신하여 여러분에게 빕니다. 하느님과 화해하십시오.
21 하느님께서는 죄를 모르시는 그리스도를 우리를 위하여 죄로 만드시어,
우리가 그리스도 안에서 하느님의 의로움이 되게 하셨습니다.
6,1 우리는 하느님과 함께 일하는 사람으로서 권고합니다.
하느님의 은총을 헛되이 받는 일이 없게 하십시오.
2 하느님께서 말씀하십니다.
“은혜로운 때에 내가 너의 말을 듣고 구원의 날에 내가 너를 도와주었다.”
지금이 바로 매우 은혜로운 때입니다. 지금이 바로 구원의 날입니다. 

 

복음

 마태오. 6,1-6.16-18
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
1 “너희는 사람들에게 보이려고
그들 앞에서 의로운 일을 하지 않도록 조심하여라.
그러지 않으면 하늘에 계신 너희 아버지에게서 상을 받지 못한다.
2 그러므로 네가 자선을 베풀 때에는,
위선자들이 사람들에게 칭찬을 받으려고 회당과 거리에서 하듯이,
스스로 나팔을 불지 마라. 내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
그들은 자기들이 받을 상을 이미 받았다.
3 네가 자선을 베풀 때에는 오른손이 하는 일을 왼손이 모르게 하여라.
4 그렇게 하여 네 자선을 숨겨 두어라.
그러면 숨은 일도 보시는 네 아버지께서 너에게 갚아 주실 것이다.
5 너희는 기도할 때에 위선자들처럼 해서는 안 된다.
그들은 사람들에게 드러내 보이려고
회당과 한길 모퉁이에 서서 기도하기를 좋아한다.
내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
그들은 자기들이 받을 상을 이미 받았다.
6 너는 기도할 때 골방에 들어가 문을 닫은 다음,
숨어 계신 네 아버지께 기도하여라.
그러면 숨은 일도 보시는 네 아버지께서 너에게 갚아 주실 것이다.
16 너희는 단식할 때에 위선자들처럼 침통한 표정을 짓지 마라.
그들은 단식한다는 것을 사람들에게 드러내 보이려고 얼굴을 찌푸린다.
내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
그들은 자기들이 받을 상을 이미 받았다.
17 너는 단식할 때 머리에 기름을 바르고 얼굴을 씻어라.
18 그리하여 네가 단식한다는 것을 사람들에게 드러내 보이지 말고,
숨어 계신 네 아버지께 보여라.
그러면 숨은 일도 보시는 네 아버지께서 너에게 갚아 주실 것이다.” 

March 2, 2022

Ash Wednesday 

 

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

 

Reading 1 

Jl 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 

Ps 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. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
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. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
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. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
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. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

 

Reading 2 

2 Cor 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.

Gospel 

Mt 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."

Emptying Ourselves This Lent

The message in today’s Gospel is pretty clear: it’s not about us. 

I remember asking people during my childhood, “What are you giving up for Lent?” It seemed to me that the bigger the sacrifice, the higher the esteem of the person. As a bonafide chocolate and candy lover, I could hardly imagine giving up such treats. But surely if someone was successful, they had every right to brag and gain people’s admiration!

With maturity, I of course see that Jesus’ teaching is different. Yes, it is good to fast, pray, and give alms during Lent. But it’s not about us. The focus should not be on what WE are giving up, or how WE are praying or giving alms. Rather, this passage points to a humility of heart, a redirecting of our attention towards the one who can satisfy us, enliven us, and multiply our gifts for the benefit of others. This Lent, let us live those practices that help us to empty ourselves, so that we may become filled… to overflowing service… with God.

—Laura Gilmartin Hancock is finishing her formation in the Seminars in Ignatian Formation with the Midwest Province of Jesuits and ministers as a spiritual care provider with Soulcare MKE LLC.

 

Prayer

Today God our Father brings us to the beginning of Lent.
We pray that in this time of salvation
he will fill us with the Holy Spirit, purify our hearts,
and strengthen us in love.
Let us humbly ask him: 
Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.

May we be filled and satisfied,
- by the word which you give us.
Teach us to be loving not only in great and exceptional moments,
- but above all in the ordinary events of daily life.
May we abstain from what we do not really need,
- and help our brothers and sisters in distress.
May we bear the wounds of your Son in our bodies,
- for through his body he gave us life.
Amen.

—From Creighton University Online Ministries

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.  Joel 2

Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me.  Psalms 51

For our sakes God made him who did not know sin to be sin,
so that in him we might become the very holiness of God.  2 Corinthians 5

Your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.  Matthew 6

All of this symbolism and ritual, and our beginning a change of our normal patterns, helps us mark how important the days ahead are for us.  All religious experience is prepared for.  We say today that we want, we deeply desire, that the six weeks of Lent will be a time of religious experience for us.

We are preparing to "rend our hearts."  This is a time to let our heart be opened - opened to examine what is there that needs forgiveness and healing, and opened to new graces, new generosity, new compassion.  We want to "turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel."

We want to reflect on the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us.  We want it to become personal.  Jesus was broken and given for me.   My own sins - what I have done and what I have failed to do - have been forgiven.  We want to feel that gratitude and let it transform how we feel about the sin of others.  In this Year of Mercy, we desire to experience Mercy and become more mercy filled, in our relationship with others. Experiencing our own poverty, we want to be renewed in a dedication to notice, have compassion for, and stand in solidarity with the poor of our world. Then, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy can come alive in us.

All of this "activity" is very counter-cultural.  Wearing that cross of ashes says that I am not afraid to walk around in the world, perhaps for only an hour, with a sign that says I know my life on this earth is not "all there is." I remember where I came from and where I'm going.  It says that I believe in everlasting life.  It says that I know who I am and I want to choose to take advantage of the days ahead.

This "public" aspect of Ash Wednesday can sound contradictory to what Jesus warns about in the gospel: "Be on guard against performing religious acts for people to see."  I suspect that what Jesus was warning his listeners about is rarely our problem.  I suspect the heart of what Jesus is warning us about is to help us to trust that God knows what we are doing and that God will hear our desires.  Doing anything that is religious to gain the approval, affirmation, praise of others is fairly empty and will ultimately twist us in very funny ways, as we all know.

The first four days of Lent are a unit. They help us prepare for the activities of prayer, fasting, contrition and almsgiving. Today, a journny to turn to God with all of our hearts begins.

Dear Lord, bless this day by blessing my desires.  Help me to know how deeply you long to enter more deeply into relationship with me.  Help me to fast from, to do without, whatever keeps me self-focused.  Strip me these days from some of the unhealthy patterns that make freedom difficult.  Let there be some taste of emptiness this day, and let me experience hunger for you, hunger for a new way of life, hunger for how I might serve others.  Let me enter "this joyful season Lent," and help us "prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery with mind and heart renewed."

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

UP FROM THE ASHES

“Rend your hearts.” —Joel 2:13

Today, the Catholic Church marks our heads with an ashen cross. Ashes connote humility and death. Ashes are what is left over after something is burned. They are commonly associated with the residue of destruction and death (Est 4:3; Jb 2:8). We die to ourselves in the self-denial of Lent. The ashes of our desires are what remain after this death.

After a forest fire, the forest floor is covered with ashes. The ashes are the residue of death and destruction. However, the ashes also are the beginning of new life for the forest. The fire clears away the accumulated litter on the forest floor which had been smothering seedlings which struggled to grow every year. Now that the fire has burned away this litter, the ashes serve as a sort of mulch which protects and nourishes the new seedlings. Thus, the ashes enable the cycle of new life to begin.

We are like that. The Lenten ashes of our repentance (see Jb 42:6) and dying to self smother our selfish desires, enabling and nourishing new life to blossom within us.

What new life does the Lord want to spring up as a result of your dying to self this Lent? (see Is 61:3) Will it be a call to a new vocation, the conception of a new child, a new holiness, the courage to witness publicly for Jesus, or joining a small Christian community? Repent! Die to yourself (Lk 9:23). Let Jesus create His new, abundant life (Jn 10:10) in you.

Prayer:  Father, may I crucify my flesh with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24). May I always be fertile and fruitful for You.

Promise:  “Keep your deeds of mercy secret, and your Father Who sees in secret will repay you.” —Mt 6:4

Praise:  John receives his ashes early on Ash Wednesday and makes a silent witness for Christ by wearing them throughout the day at his downtown job.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 Are you hungry for God and do you thirst for his holiness? God wants to set our hearts ablaze with the fire of his Holy Spirit that we may share in his holiness and radiate the joy of the Gospel to those around us. St. Augustine of Hippo tells us that there are two kinds of people and two kinds of love: "One is holy, the other is selfish. One is subject to God; the other endeavors to equal Him." We are what we love. God wants to free our hearts from all that would keep us captive to selfishness and sin. "Rend your hearts and not your garments" says the prophet Joel (Joel 2:12). The Holy Spirit is ever ready to transform our hearts and to lead us further in God's way of truth and holiness.

Devoting our lives to God
Why did Jesus single out prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for his disciples? The Jews considered these three as the cardinal works of the religious life. These were seen as the key signs of a pious (godly) person, the three great pillars on which the good life was based. Jesus pointed to the heart of the matter. Why do you pray, fast, and give alms? To draw attention to yourself so that others may notice and think highly of you? Or to give glory to God? The Lord warns his disciples of self-seeking glory - the preoccupation with looking good and seeking praise from others. True piety is something more than feeling good or looking holy. True piety is loving devotion to God. It is an attitude of awe, reverence, worship and obedience. It is a gift and working of the Holy Spirit that enables us to devote our lives to God with a holy desire to please him in all things (Isaiah 11:1-2).

Fulness of life with God our Father
What is the sure reward which Jesus points out to his disciples? It is communion with God our Father. In him alone we find the fulness of life, happiness, and truth. May the prayer of Augustine of Hippo, recorded in his Confessions, be our prayer this Lent: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrows or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete. The Lord wants to renew us each day and give us new hearts of love and compassion. Do you want to grow in your love for God and for your neighbor? Seek him expectantly in prayer, with fasting, and in generous giving to those in need.

In the wilderness of prayer and fasting with Jesus
The forty days of Lent is the annual retreat of the people of God in imitation of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness. Forty is a significant number in the Scriptures. Moses went to the mountain to seek the face of God for forty days in prayer and fasting. The people of Israel were in the wilderness for forty years in preparation for their entry into the promised land. Elijah fasted for forty days as he journeyed in the wilderness to the mountain of God. We are called to journey with the Lord in a special season of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and penitence (expressing true sorrow for sin and wrongdoing) as we prepare to celebrate the feast of Easter, the Christian Passover of Jesus' victory over sin, Satan, and death.

Growing in lively faith, firm hope, and fervent charity
The Lord Jesus gives us spiritual food and supernatural strength (faith, hope, and love) to seek his face and to prepare ourselves for spiritual combat and testing. We, too, must follow in the way of the cross in order to share in the victory of Christ's death and resurrection. As you begin this holy season of testing and preparation, ask the Lord Jesus for a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit so that you may grow in faith, hope, and love and embrace his will more fully in your life.

Lord Jesus, give me a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, and a great love of you. Take from me all lukewarmness in the meditation of your word, and dullness in prayer. Give me fervor and delight in thinking of you and your grace, and fill me with compassion for others, especially those in need, that I may respond with generosity.

Psalm 51:3-6,12-4,17

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Lent - the epitome of our whole life, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD

"Christians must always live in this way, without any wish to come down from their cross - otherwise they will sink beneath the world's mire. But if we have to do so all our lives, we must make an even greater effort during the days of Lent. It is not a simple matter of living through forty days. Lent is the epitome of our whole life." (excerpt from Sermon 205, 1)

More Homilies

February 17, 2021 Ash Wednesday