HOMILY FOR THE ASH WEDNESDAY OF THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR – YEAR B
HOMILY FOR THE ASH WEDNESDAY OF THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR – YEAR B
THEME: Your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
Joel 2:12-18
Psalm 50:3-6,12-14,17
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
LITURGICAL COLOUR
VIOLET/ PURPLE
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, a time of preparation and reflection as we prepare ourselves well for the upcoming celebrations of Holy Week and Easter, the most important moments in our whole entire liturgical year.
ALSO RECOMMENED: HOMILY FOR ASH WEDNESDAY – YEAR B
WHAT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF ASH WEDNESDAY?
Today as as we commemorating the Ash Wednesday, we have this imposition of blessed ashes on all the people of God as a clear and symbolic representation of our desire to be forgiven from our sins, and as a sign of our repentance and regret from all the things that we have disobeyed the Lord for, and which therefore brought us into the path of sin and evil, out of which we are seeking the Lord for His help and grace, so that, He may free us from the shackles of our sins and evils.
FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we hear how the prophet Joel in which we are all called to repent and turn away from our many sins and wickedness, all because of the great love and compassion, His mercy and forgiveness that He was willing to offer us all generously. The prophet Joel came to the people of God, to those who have been afflicted by hardships, trials, sufferings and difficulties because of their disobedience and lack of faith in God.
FROM OUR SECOND READING
In our second reading today, the Apostle Saint Paul reminds the faithful there of the fact and truth that the Lord their God has saved their people and brought them all to His presence once again, through none other than His own Beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent into this world in order to bring unto us the perfect manifestation of His love and salvation.
FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In our Gospel passage today, we hear of the Lord’s discourse regarding the matter of the practice of fasting. The Lord was teaching them about the right way of how each and every one of them ought to be fasting, that is by doing so not because they wanted to be seen or witnessed, praised or honoured by others in doing that. In essence, the Lord reminded them and hence all of us as well, that our practice of fasting and abstinence which we always do today on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstinence itself which we practice on Fridays throughout the year, and other Lenten practices, like almsgiving and other devotions, should always be centred on God.
CONCLUSION
As we enter into this Season of Lent today, being marked with the blessed ashes as a sign of our repentance, let us more importantly mark our hearts with the genuine sign of repentance and with the strong desire to seek God’s love and mercy, His compassion and forgiveness. The ashes should not be merely just an external symbol or formality, and it should not be the source of pride and ego, thinking that we are better or more righteous than others. Rather, it should remind us all of our sinfulness, and our weakness in our faith life, so that we may come to seek the Lord, to seek His loving compassion and mercy, that He may lead us all out of the darkness and into His light once again.
May the bless our Lenten journey to come, that we will make best use of it.
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