A Homily - Ash Wednesday (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ©

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14

Alternative Acclamation Psalm 94:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 – 6, 16 - 18

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The anointed one is not a king, Jesus was not a lord; the Romans may have crowned him with thorns, but to them it was a joke, they were mocking him when they called him king of the Jews.

Jesus was a man of the land, one of the am haaretz, his anointing came through death and through his death he showed us the way of compassion.

Remember.

It is right and good to pray for the people. It is even better when you do so, to leave the temple, to leave the church, to be with those who are suffering, knowing that God, the creator of the universe, that God will not intervene in the suffering we experience apart from our agency. God has equipped us all to be able to deal with extraordinary grief and hardship, we have been equipped with everything we need to lift-up those among us who have been struck down.

When you speak to people as a Christian, and much more so if you are speaking as a minister of the Church, speak to them with a spirit of modesty and humility; go to them as a servant.

Celebrate, rejoice and be grateful. Share the good news: that God is with you and that God is kind and that God is caring. Do so, even knowing that God will not intercede in the course of our lives. God will not free us from oppression, alter our material condition, remove us from the path of danger. God relies on us to do that work, for our sisters and brothers, on behalf of the divine,

If you wish to share the good news, make your life an example of it.

If you wish to show that God is with us, be with the suffering.

If you wish to show that God is good, exhibit goodness in your own life.

If you wish to show that God is kind and caring, then you must be kind and caring…even if imperfectly.

Be mindful.

With God there is never justice without mercy, there is no judgement without love.

Know that when we seek forgiveness from the divine, we are looking for something that has already found us, which is not to say that we should not seek it.

When we come to the knowledge of our trespasses and we are contrite, that contrition is the shower that washes us, this is the baptism of repentance, symbolized by the water, the reality of which is a fait accompli.

We are all sinners.

We are animals.

There is little difference between the human being and the wolf, or the lion, except that God speaks to us from our innermost being, God is present at the core of our personhood. By being present to us in this way God gives us the power to overcome our animal nature, a nature that is bloody and raw. God gives us the grace to live a holy life; and the wisdom to pursue it in good conscience.

There is no crime that God has not forgiven…rejoice.

Do not look for God’s hand in the tribulations we suffer, or the rewards we enjoy during the time we are on Earth; our troubles are like the wind, fleeting and ephemeral, temporary and accidental as brief as the pleasures we may enjoy.

Consider the teaching of the apostle: our salvation is the work of God; God has done the work, beginning as Saint John said, in the first moment of creation, with the light in the darkness, all things come to being in the Word

Know this!

The fall, such as it is, happens subsequent to and in the context of God’s saving work.

Jesus revealed the truth of it, and entrusted we who follow the way with the task of sharing it.

This is the gospel:

You are reconciled to God.

There is no debt to pay.

Allow the burden of sin, and the fear of it to fall away from.

Be glad.

It was always God’s plan that we fall and rise together, that we rise and fall as one…because we are one, we are joined together from the beginning, in the goodness of God, and we cannot separate what God has joined.

The apostle tells us in the simplest terms that the mission of the church is to announce the reconciliation.

Hear this!

Everyone is reconciled in God’s love; there are no exceptions.

The members of the church are meant to serve as ambassadors of this good news.

The church is not, nor should it ever be structured like a recruiting agency, obsessed with signing up members and promising a reward that has already been given freely by the creator.

The mission of the church is to proclaim the reconciliation, to proclaim that every day, from here to eternity, that every day is the day of salvation.

All creation belongs to God, all that is good and all that frightens us, everything comes from God and will redound to the good.

This is the essence of faith.

Therefore be mindful!

You will have no reward from God in this life.

Consider the Gospel reading for today:

Do not seek glory or glorify yourself in public.

Do not seek admiration from the world at large.

Do as Jesus said: pray in private, not in public, do not boast of your piety.

Do not brag on how much you give to the world, or how well you pay your employees, do good for the sake of doing good, be fair for fairness’ sake.

Go to your work and to your disciplines gladly, if you are fasting then fast, smile and be happy.

This is the way to proceed, not just for the season of Lent, but for all the days of your life.

 

First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©

Let Your Hearts Be Broken, Not Your Garments Torn

‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent.

Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent, will not leave a blessing as he passes, oblation and libation for the Lord your God?

Sound the trumpet in Zion!

Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom and the bride her alcove.

Between vestibule and altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, lament.

Let them say, ‘Spare your people, Lord!

Do not make your heritage a thing of shame, a byword for the nations.

Why should it be said among the nations, “Where is their God?”’

Then the Lord, jealous on behalf of his land, took pity on his people.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17

Our God comes and will not be silent!

Devouring fire precedes him,

it rages strongly around him.

He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth to judge his people:

“Gather my loyal ones to me,

those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

for God himself is the judge.

Were I hungry, I would not tell you,

for mine is the world and all that fills it.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of he-goats?

Offer praise as your sacrifice to God;

fulfill your vows to the Most High.

You hate discipline;

you cast my words behind you!

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ©

Be Reconciled to God

We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.

 

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

A pure heart create for me, O God, and give me again the joy of your help.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

Alternative Acclamation Psalm 94:8

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 – 6, 16 - 18

Your Father Who Sees All that is Done in Secret Will Reward You

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’

 

Ash Wednesday (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation