Ash Wednesday & 1st Sunday in Lent – Year B
February 14 & 18, 2024
Welcome to the First Sunday in Lent. As the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday, you will find resources below for both Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday in Lent.
Gospel Lectionary Text
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
6:2 "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
6:3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
6:4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
6:5 "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
6:6 But whenever 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.
6:16 "And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
6:17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
6:18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal,
6:20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Denial
by David Lehman
I am not hungover.
I am not hungover.
Not hungover am I.
Am I hungover? Not!
Hungover am I not.
Am hungover? Not I.
I hungover not am.
I am hungover. (Not).
Not I am hungover.
hungover I am not.
Am I not hungover?
Not am I hungover.
I not am hungover.
Hungover not am I.
Prayer
Let us pray.
Gracious God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of Life, have mercy on us. Reveal yourself in all things, to all things, and through all things. Grant us the gift of becoming a community of the incarnation, mystery of Word made flesh, who sees and celebrates Good News in hard places. Give us the tongue of a teacher to sustain the weary with the Word, and free leaders from all walks of life to love their city and seek its peace with the Gospel of Jesus.
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 1:9-15
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
1:12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,
1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
CONTEXT
This Ash Wednesday, we step into Lent, commemorating Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert before he began his public ministry. Lent is a time of preparation for the coming Easter celebration. It begins with the smearing of ashes on our forehead — a graphic sign of our mortality and the condition of our need for mercy. Morbid? Maybe.
But it’s also one of the most honest Church traditions. A faith that doesn’t deal honestly with the reality of mortality, sin and death sets up the conditions for greater pain, suffering and violence. Lent provides the much needed spirituality of subtraction (fasting) designed to help us limit distractions and get honest about what’s really going on. This truth-telling is made possible by the baptismal blessing in this week’s text, which is the mercy of God poured out on all flesh.
Question
In the silence and stillness of your Lenten wilderness journey, consider: Does your view of God lean towards fear and condemnation, or love and forgiveness?
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Coming soon.
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
The Knots Untie (2)
by Rumi
We have tried the fullness of presence.
Now it's time for desolation.
Love is pulling us out by the ears to school.
Love wants us clean of resentment
and those impulses that misguide our souls.
We are asleep, but Khidr
keeps sprinkling water on our faces.
Love will tell us the rest of what
we need to know soon.
Then we'll be deeply asleep and profoundly awake
simultaneously, like cave companions.
Prayer
Let us pray.
Gracious God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of Life, have mercy on us. Reveal yourself in all things, to all things, and through all things. Grant us the gift of becoming a community of the incarnation, mystery of Word made flesh, who sees and celebrates Good News in hard places. Give us the tongue of a teacher to sustain the weary with the Word, and free leaders from all walks of life to love their city and seek its peace with the Gospel of Jesus.
