Wednesday, February 18
Ash Wednesday – Year A
First Reading – Joel 2:12-18
“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17
℟ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
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.
℟ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
℟ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
℟ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
The sacrifice acceptable to God a is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
℟ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Verse Before the Gospel – Psalm 95:8
Harden not your hearts, as at Mer′ibah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.
Gospel – Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypo crites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, Ignatius Press, Copyright ⓒ 2006.
