1. Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them; otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven.
GLOSS. Christ having now fulfilled the Law in respect of commandments, begins to fulfill it in respect of promises, that we may do God's commandments for heavenly wages, not for the earthly which the Law held out. All earthly things are reduced to two main heads, viz. human glory, and abundance of earthly goods, both of which seem to be promised in the Law. Concerning the first is that spoken in Deuteronomy, The Lord shall make thee higher than all the nations who dwell on the face of the earth (Deut 28:1). And in the same place it is added of earthly wealth, The Lord shall make thee abound in all good things. Therefore the Lord now forbids these two things, glory and wealth, to the attention of believers.
CHRYS.Yet be it known that the desire of fame is near a kin to virtue.
PSEUDO-CHRYS For when anything truly glorious is done, there ostentation has its readiest occasion; so the Lord first shuts out all intention of seeking glory, as He knows that this is of all fleshly vices the most dangerous to man. The servants of the devil are tormented by all kinds of vices; but it is the desire of empty glory that torments the servants of the Lord more than the servants of the devil.
AUG. How great strength the love of human glory has, none feels, but he who has proclaimed war against it. For though it is easy for any not to wish for praise when it is denied him, it is difficult not to be pleased with it when it is offered.
CHRYS. Observe how He has begun as it were describing some beast hard to be discerned, and ready to steal upon him who is not greatly on his guard against it; it enters in secretly, and carries off insensibly all those things that are within.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. And therefore He enjoins this to be more carefully avoided, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men. It is our heart we must watch, for it is an invisible serpent that we have to guard against, which secretly enters in and seduces; but if the heart be pure into which the enemy has succeeded in entering in, the righteous man soon feels that he is prompted by a strange spirit; but if his heart were full of wickedness, he does not readily perceive the suggestion of the devil, and therefore He first taught us, Be not angry, Lust not, for that he who is under the yoke of these evils cannot attend to his own heart. But how can it be that we should not do our alms before men. Or if this may be, how can they be so done that we should not know of it. For if a poor man come before us in the presence of anyone, how shall we be able to give him alms in secret? If we lead him aside, it must be seen that he shall give him. Observe then that He said not simply, Do not before men, but added, to be seen of them. He then who does righteousness not from this motive, even if he does it before the eyes of men, is not to be thought to be herein condemned; for he who does any thing for God's sake sees nothing in his heart but God, for whose sake he does it, as a workman has always before his eyes him who has entrusted him with the work to do.
GREG. If then we seek the fame of giving, we make even our public deeds to be hidden in His sight; for if herein we seek our own glory, then they are already cast out of His sight, even though there be many by whom they are yet unknown. It belongs only to the thoroughly perfect, to suffer their deeds to be seen, and to receive the praise of doing them in such sort that they are lifted up with no secret exultation; whereas they that are weak, because they cannot attain to this perfect contempt of their own fame, must needs hide those good deeds that they do.
AUG. In saying only, That you be seen of men, without any addition, He seems to have forbidden that we should make that the end of our actions. For the Apostle who declared, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (Gal 1:10); says in another place, I please all men in all things (1 Cor 10:33). This he did not that he might please men, but God, to the love of whom he desires to turn the hearts of men by pleasing them. As we should not think that he spoke absurdly, who should say, In this my pains in seeking a ship, it is not the ship I seek, but my country.
ID.He says this, that you be seen by men, because there are some who so do their righteousness before men that themselves may not be seen, but that the works themselves may be seen, and their Father who is in Heaven may be glorified; for they reckon not their own righteousness, but His, in the faith of Whom they live.
ID.That He adds, Otherwise you shall not have your reward before your Father who is in heaven, signifies no more than that we ought to take heed that we seek not praise of men in reward of our works.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. What shall you receive from God, who have given God nothing? What is done for God's sake is given to God, and received by Him; but what is done because of men is cast to the winds. But what wisdom is it, to bestow our goods, to reap empty words, and to have despised the reward of God? Nay, you deceive the very man for whose good word you look; for he thinks you do it for God's sake, otherwise he would rather reproach than commend you. Yet we must think him only to have done his work because of men, who does it with his whole will and intention governed by the thought of them. But if an idle thought, seeking to be seen of men, mount up in any one's heart, but is resisted by the understanding spirit, he is not thereupon to be condemned of man-pleasing; for that the thought came to him was the passion of the flesh, what he chose was the judgment of his soul.
2. Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say to you, They have their reward.
3. But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4. That your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in Secret Himself shall reward you openly.
AUG. Above the Lord had spoken of righteousness in general. He now pursues it through its different parts.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. He opposes three chief virtues - alms, prayer, and fasting - to three evil things against which the Lord undertook the war of temptation. For He fought for us in the wilderness against gluttony, against covetousness on the mount, against false glory on the temple. It is alms that scatter abroad against covetousness which heaps up, fasting against gluttony which is its contrary, prayer against false glory, seeing that all other evil things come out of evil, this alone comes out of good; and therefore it is not overthrown but rather nourished of good, and has no remedy that may avail against it but prayer only.
AMBROSIASTER; The sum of all Christian discipline is comprehended in mercy and piety, for which reason He begins with almsgiving.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. The trumpet stands for every act or word that tends to a display of our works; for instance, to do alms if we know that some other person is looking on, or at the request of another, or to a person of such condition that he may make us return; and unless in such cases not to do them. Yea, even if in some secret place they are done with intent to be thought praiseworthy, then is the trumpet sounded.
AUG. Thus what He says, Do not sound a trumpet before yourself, refers to what He had said above, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men.
JEROME; He who sounds a trumpet before himself when he does alms is a hypocrite. Whence he adds, as the hypocrites do.
ISID. The name 'hypocrite' is derived from the appearance of those who in the shows are disguised in masks, variously colored according to the character they represent, sometimes male, sometimes female, to impose on the spectators while they act in the games.
AUG. As then the hypocrites (a word meaning 'one who feigns'), as impersonating the characters of other men, act parts which are not naturally their own; for he who impersonates Agamemnon, is not really Agamemnon, but feigns to be so; so likewise in the Churches, whoever in his whole conduct desires to seem what he is not, is a hypocrite; he feigns himself righteous and is not really so, seeing his only motive is praise of men.
GLOSS. In the words, in the streets and villages, he marks the public places which they selected; and in those, that they may receive honor of men, he marks their motive.
GREG. It should be known, that there are some who wear the dress of sanctity, and are not able to work out the merit of perfection, yet who must in no wise be numbered among the hypocrites, because it is one thing to sin from weakness, another from crafty affectation.
AUG. And such sinners receive from God the Searcher of hearts none other reward than punishment of their deceitfulness; Verily I say to you, they have their reward.
JEROME; A reward not of God, but of themselves, for they receive praise of men for the sake of which it was that they practiced their virtues.
AUG. This refers to what He had said above, otherwise you shall have no reward of your Father which is in heaven; and He goes on to show them that they should not do their alms as the hypocrites, but teaches them how they should do them.
CHRYS. Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, is said as an extreme expression, as much as to say, If it were possible, that you should not know yourself, and that your very hands should he hidden from your sight, that is what you should most strive after.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. The Apostles in the book of the Constitutions interpret thus: The right hand is the Christian people which is at Christ's right hand; the left hand is all the people who are on His left hand. He means then, that when a Christian does alms, the unbeliever should not see it.
AUG. But according to this interpretation, it will be no fault to have a respect to pleasing the faithful; and yet we are forbidden to propose as the end of any good work the pleasing of any kind of men. Yet if you would have men to imitate your actions which may be pleasing to them, they must be done before unbelievers as well as believers. If again, according to another interpretation, we take the left hand to mean our enemy, and that our enemy should not know when we do our alms, why did the Lord Himself mercifully heal men when the Jews were standing round Him? And how too must we deal with our enemy himself according to that precept, If your enemy hunger, feed him (Prov. 25:21). A third interpretation is ridiculous; that the left hand signifies the wife, and that because women are wont to be more close in the matter of expense out of the family purse, therefore the charities of the husband should be secret from the wife, for the avoiding of domestic strife. But this command is addressed to women as well as to men, what then is the left hand, from which women are bid to conceal their alms? Is the husband also the left hand of the wife? And when it is commanded such that they enrich each other with good works, it is clear that they ought not to hide their good deeds; nor is a theft to be committed to do God service. But if in any case something must needs be done covertly, from respect to the weakness of the other, though it is not unlawful, yet that we cannot suppose the wife to be intended by the left hand here is clear from the purport of the whole paragraph; no, not even such a one as he might well call left. But that which is blamed in hypocrites, namely, that they seek praise of men, this you are forbidden to do; the left hand therefore seems to signify the delight in men's praise; the right hand denotes the purpose of fulfilling the divine commands. Whenever then a desire to gain honor from men mingles itself with the conscience of him that does alms, it is then the left hand knowing what the right hand, the right conscience, does, Let not the left hand know, therefore, what the right hand is doing, means, let not the desire of men's praise mingle with your conscience. But our Lord does yet more strongly forbid the left hand alone to work in us, than its mingling in the works of the right hand. The intent with which He said all this is shown in that He adds, that your alms may be in secret; that is, in that your good conscience only, which human eye cannot see, nor words discover, though many things are said falsely of many. But your good conscience itself is enough for you towards deserving your reward, if you look for your reward from Him who alone can see your conscience. This is that He adds, And your Father who sees shall reward you. Many Latin copies have, openly.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. For it is impossible that God should leave in obscurity any good work of man; but He makes it manifest in this world, and glorifies it in the next world, because it is the glory of God, as likewise the Devil manifests evil, in which is shown the strength of his great wickedness. But God properly makes public every good deed only in that world the goods of which are not common to the righteous and the wicked; therefore to whomever God shall there show favor, it will be manifest that it was as reward of his righteousness. But the reward of virtue is not manifested in this world, in which both bad and good are alike in their fortunes.
AUG. But in the Greek copies, which are earlier, we have not the word, openly.
CHRYS.If therefore you desire spectators of your good deeds, behold you have not merely Angels and Archangels, but the God of the universe.
5. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say to you, They have their reward.
6. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. Solomon says, Before prayer, prepare your soul (Sir 18:23). This he does who comes to prayer doing alms; for good works stir up the faith of the heart, and give the soul confidence in prayer to God. Alms then are a preparation for prayer, and therefore the Lord after speaking of alms proceeds accordingly to instruct us concerning prayer.
AUG. He does not now bid us pray, but instructs us how we should pray as above He did not command us to do alms but showed the manner of doing them.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.Prayer is as it were a spiritual tribute which the soul offers of its own bowels. Wherefore the more glorious it is, the more watchfully ought we to guard that it is not made vile by being done to be seen of men.
CHRYS. He calls them hypocrites, because feigning that they are praying to God, they are looking round to men; and, He adds, they love to pray in the synagogues.
PSEUDO-CHRYS But I suppose that it is not the place here that the Lord refers to, but the motive of him that prays; for it is praiseworthy to pray in the congregation of the faithful, as it is said, In your churches bless God (Ps 63:26). Whoever then so prays as to be seen of men does not look to God but to man, and so far as his purpose is concerned he prays in the synagogue. But he, whose mind in prayer is wholly fixed on God, though he pray in the synagogue, yet seems to pray with himself in secret. In the corners of the streets, namely, that they may seem to be praying retiredly and thus earn a twofold praise: that they pray, and that they pray in retirement.
GLOSS. Or, the corners of the streets, are the places where one way crosses another, and makes four cross-ways.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.He forbids us to pray in an assembly with the intent of being seen of that assembly, as He adds, that they may be seen of men. He that prays therefore should do nothing singular that might attract notice; as crying out, striking his breast, or reaching forth his hands.
AUG. Not that the mere being seen of men is an impiety, but the doing this, in order to be seen of men.
CHRYS.It is a good thing to be drawn away from the thought of empty glory, but especially in prayer. For our thoughts are apt to stray of themselves; if then we address ourselves to prayer with this disease upon us, how shall we understand those things that are said by us?
AUG. The privity of other men is to be so far shunned by us, as it leads us to do anything with this mind that we look for the fruit of their applause.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.Verily I say to you, they have received their reward, for every man where he sows, there he reaps, therefore they who pray because of men, not because of God, receive praise of men, not of God.
CHRYS. He says, have received, because God was ready to give them that reward which comes from Himself, but they prefer rather that which comes from men. He then goes on to teach how we should pray.
JEROME; This if taken in its plain sense teaches the hearer to shun all desire of vain honor in praying.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. That none should be there present save he only who is praying, for a witness impedes rather than forwards prayer.
CYPRIAN; The Lord has bid us in His instructions to pray secretly in remote and withdrawn places, as best suited to faith, that we may be assured that God who is present everywhere hears and sees all, and in the fullness of His Majesty penetrates even hidden places.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. We may also understand by the door of the chamber, the mouth of the body; so that we should not pray to God with loudness of tone, but with silent heart, for three reasons. First, because God is not to be gained by vehement crying, but by a right conscience, seeing He is a hearer of the heart; secondly, because none but myself and God should be privy to your secret prayers; thirdly, because if you pray aloud, you hinder any other from praying near you.
CASSIAN. Also we should observe close silence in our prayers, that our enemies, who are ever most watchful to ensnare us at that time, may not know the purport of our petition.
AUG. Or, by our chambers are to be understood our hearts of which it is spoken in the fourth Psalm: What things you utter in your hearts, and wherewith you are pricked in your chambers (Ps 4:4). The door is the bodily senses; without are all worldly things, which enter into our thoughts through the senses, and that crowd of vain imaginings which beset us in prayer.
CYPRIAN. What insensibility is it to be snatched wandering off by light and profane imaginings, when you are presenting your entreaty to the Lord as if there were anything else you ought rather to consider than that your converse is with God! How can you claim of God to attend to you, when you do not attend to yourself? This is altogether to make no provision against the enemy; this is when praying to God, to offend God's Magesty by the neglectfulness of your prayer.
AUG. The door then must be shut, that as we must resist the bodily sense, that we may address our Father in such spiritual prayer as is made in the inmost spirit where we pray to Him truly in secret.
REMIG. Let it be enough for you that He alone know your petitions, who knows the secrets of all hearts; for He Who sees all things, the same shall listen to you.
CHRYS.He said not 'shall freely give you,' but, shall reward you; thus He constitutes Himself your debtor.
5. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say to you, They have their reward.
6. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. Solomon says, Before prayer, prepare your soul (Sir 18:23). This he does who comes to prayer doing alms; for good works stir up the faith of the heart, and give the soul confidence in prayer to God. Alms then are a preparation for prayer, and therefore the Lord after speaking of alms proceeds accordingly to instruct us concerning prayer.
AUG. He does not now bid us pray, but instructs us how we should pray as above He did not command us to do alms but showed the manner of doing them.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.Prayer is as it were a spiritual tribute which the soul offers of its own bowels. Wherefore the more glorious it is, the more watchfully ought we to guard that it is not made vile by being done to be seen of men.
CHRYS. He calls them hypocrites, because feigning that they are praying to God, they are looking round to men; and, He adds, they love to pray in the synagogues.
PSEUDO-CHRYS But I suppose that it is not the place here that the Lord refers to, but the motive of him that prays; for it is praiseworthy to pray in the congregation of the faithful, as it is said, In your churches bless God (Ps 63:26). Whoever then so prays as to be seen of men does not look to God but to man, and so far as his purpose is concerned he prays in the synagogue. But he, whose mind in prayer is wholly fixed on God, though he pray in the synagogue, yet seems to pray with himself in secret. In the corners of the streets, namely, that they may seem to be praying retiredly and thus earn a twofold praise: that they pray, and that they pray in retirement.
GLOSS. Or, the corners of the streets, are the places where one way crosses another, and makes four cross-ways.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.He forbids us to pray in an assembly with the intent of being seen of that assembly, as He adds, that they may be seen of men. He that prays therefore should do nothing singular that might attract notice; as crying out, striking his breast, or reaching forth his hands.
AUG. Not that the mere being seen of men is an impiety, but the doing this, in order to be seen of men.
CHRYS.It is a good thing to be drawn away from the thought of empty glory, but especially in prayer. For our thoughts are apt to stray of themselves; if then we address ourselves to prayer with this disease upon us, how shall we understand those things that are said by us?
AUG. The privity of other men is to be so far shunned by us, as it leads us to do anything with this mind that we look for the fruit of their applause.
PSEUDO-CHRYS.Verily I say to you, they have received their reward, for every man where he sows, there he reaps, therefore they who pray because of men, not because of God, receive praise of men, not of God.
CHRYS. He says, have received, because God was ready to give them that reward which comes from Himself, but they prefer rather that which comes from men. He then goes on to teach how we should pray.
JEROME; This if taken in its plain sense teaches the hearer to shun all desire of vain honor in praying.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. That none should be there present save he only who is praying, for a witness impedes rather than forwards prayer.
CYPRIAN; The Lord has bid us in His instructions to pray secretly in remote and withdrawn places, as best suited to faith, that we may be assured that God who is present everywhere hears and sees all, and in the fullness of His Majesty penetrates even hidden places.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. We may also understand by the door of the chamber, the mouth of the body; so that we should not pray to God with loudness of tone, but with silent heart, for three reasons. First, because God is not to be gained by vehement crying, but by a right conscience, seeing He is a hearer of the heart; secondly, because none but myself and God should be privy to your secret prayers; thirdly, because if you pray aloud, you hinder any other from praying near you.
CASSIAN. Also we should observe close silence in our prayers, that our enemies, who are ever most watchful to ensnare us at that time, may not know the purport of our petition.
AUG. Or, by our chambers are to be understood our hearts of which it is spoken in the fourth Psalm: What things you utter in your hearts, and wherewith you are pricked in your chambers (Ps 4:4). The door is the bodily senses; without are all worldly things, which enter into our thoughts through the senses, and that crowd of vain imaginings which beset us in prayer.
CYPRIAN. What insensibility is it to be snatched wandering off by light and profane imaginings, when you are presenting your entreaty to the Lord as if there were anything else you ought rather to consider than that your converse is with God! How can you claim of God to attend to you, when you do not attend to yourself? This is altogether to make no provision against the enemy; this is when praying to God, to offend God's Magesty by the neglectfulness of your prayer.
AUG. The door then must be shut, that as we must resist the bodily sense, that we may address our Father in such spiritual prayer as is made in the inmost spirit where we pray to Him truly in secret.
REMIG. Let it be enough for you that He alone know your petitions, who knows the secrets of all hearts; for He Who sees all things, the same shall listen to you.
CHRYS.He said not 'shall freely give you,' but, shall reward you; thus He constitutes Himself your debtor.
16. Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Verily I say to you, they have their reward.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Forasmuch as that prayer which is offered in a humble spirit and contrite heart, shows a mind already strong and disciplined; whereas he who is sunk in self-indulgence cannot have a humble spirit and contrite heart; it is plain that without fasting prayer must be faint and feeble; therefore, when any would pray for any need in which they might be, they joined fasting with prayer, because it is an aid thereof. Accordingly the Lord, after His doctrine respecting prayer, adds doctrine concerning fasting, saying, When you fast, be not you as the hypocrites, of sad countenance. The Lord knew that vanity may spring from every good thing, and therefore bids us root out the bramble of vain-gloriousness which springs in the good soil, that it choke out the fruit of fasting. For though it cannot be that fasting should not be discovered in any one, yet is it better that fasting should show you, than that you should show your fasting. But it is impossible that any in fasting should be gay, therefore He said not, Be not sad, but Be not made sad; for they who discover themselves by any false displays of their affliction, they are not sad, but make themselves; but he who is naturally sad in consequence of continued fasting, does not make himself sad, but is so.
JEROME; The word exterminare, so often used in the ecclesiastical Scriptures through a blunder of the translators, has a quite different meaning from that in which it is commonly understood. It is properly said of exiles who are sent beyond the boundary of their country. Instead of this word, it would seem better to use the word demoliri, 'to destroy,' in translating the Greek. The hypocrite destroys his face, in order that he may feign sorrow, and with a heart full of joy wears sorrow in his countenance.
GREG. For by the pale countenance, the trembling limbs, and the bursting sighs, and by all so great toil and trouble, nothing is in the mind but the esteem of men.
LEO; But that fasting is not pure, that comes not of reasons of continence, but of the arts of deceit.
PSEUD-CHRYS. If then he who fasts, and makes himself of sad countenance, is a hypocrite, how much more wicked is he who does not fast, yet assumes a fictitious paleness of face as a token of fasting.
AUG. On this paragraph it is to be specially noted, that not only in outward splendor and pomp, but even in the dress of sorrow and mourning, is their room for display, and that the more dangerous, inasmuch as it deceives under the name of God's services. For he who by inordinate pains taken with his person, or his apparel, or by the glitter of his other equipage, is distinguished, is easily proved by these very circumstances to be a follower of the pomps of this world, and no mean is deceived by any semblance of a feigned sanctity in him. But when any time in the profession of Christianity draws men's eyes upon Him by unwonted beggary and slovenliness in dress, if this be voluntary and not compulsory, then by his other conduct may be seen whether he does this to be seen of men, or from contempt of the refinements of dress.
REMIG. The reward of the hypocrites' fast is shown, when it is added, That they may seem to men to fast; verily I say to you, They have their reward; that is, that reward for which they looked.
17. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face;
18. That you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
GLOSS. The Lord having taught us what we ought not to do, now proceeds to teach us what we ought to do, saying, When you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face.
AUG. A question is here wont to be raised; for none surely would literally enjoin, that, as we wash our faces from daily habit, so we should have our deeds anointed when we fast; a thing which all allow to be most disgraceful.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Also if He bade us not to be of sad countenance that we might not seem to men to fast, yet if anointing of the head and washing of the face are always observed in fasting, they will become tokens of fasting.
JEROME; But He speaks in accordance with the manners of the province of Palestine, where it is the custom on festival days to anoint the head. What He enjoins then is, that when we are fasting we should wear the appearance of joy and gladness.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Therefore the simple interpretation of this is, that is added as an hyperbolical explanation of the command; as though He had said, Yea, so far should you be from any display of your fasting, that if it might be (which yet it may not be) so done, you should even do such things as are tokens of luxury and feasting.
CHRYS. In alms-giving indeed, He did not say simply, 'Do not your alms before men,' but added,' to be seen of them.' But in fasting and prayer He added nothing of this sort; because alms cannot be so done as to be altogether hid, fasting and prayer can be so done. The contempt of men's praise is no small fruit, for thereby we are freed from the heavy slavery of human opinion, and become properly workers of virtue, loving it for itself and not for others. For as we esteem it an affront if we are loved not for ourselves but for others' sake, so ought we not to follow virtue on the account of these men, nor to obey God for men's sake but for His own. Therefore it follows here, But to your Father which sees in secret.
GLOSS. That is, to your heavenly Father, who is unseen, or who dwells in the heart through faith. He fasts to God who afflicts himself for the love of God, and bestows on others what he denies himself.
REMIG. For it is enough for you that He who sees your conscience should be your rewarder.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Spiritually interpreted - the face may be understood to mean the mental conscience. And as in the eyes of man a fair face has grace, so in the eyes of God a pure conscience has favor. This face the hypocrites, fasting on man's account, disfigure, seeking thereby to cheat both God and man; for the conscience of the sinner is always wounded. If then you have cast out all wickedness from your heart, you have washed your conscience, and fast well.
LEO; Fasting ought to be fulfilled not in abstinence of food only, but much more in cutting off vices . For when we submit ourselves to that discipline in order to withdraw that which is the nurse of carnal desires, there is no sort of good conscience more to be sought than that we should keep ourselves sober from unjust will, and abstinent from dishonorable action. This is an act of religion from which the sick are not excluded, seeing integrity of heart may be found in an infirm body.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Spiritually again, your head denotes Christ. Give the thirsty drink and feed the hungry, and therein you have anointed your head, that is, Christ, who cries out in the Gospel, In that you have done this to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.
GREG. For God approves that fasting, which before His eyes opens the hands of alms. This then that you deny yourself, bestow on another, that wherein your flesh is afflicted, that of your needy neighbor may be refreshed.
AUG. Or; by the head we rightly understand the reason, because it is preeminent in the soul, and rules the other members of the man. Now anointing the head has some reference to rejoicing. Let him therefore joy within himself because of his fasting, who in fasting turns himself from doing the will of the world, that he may be subject to Christ.
GLOSS. Behold how everything in the New Testament is not to be taken literally. It were ridiculous to be smeared with of when fasting; but it is behoveful for the mind to be anointed with the spirit of His love, in whose sufferings we ought to partake by afflicting ourselves.
PSEUD-CHRYS. And truly we ought to wash our face, but to anoint, and not to wash, our head. For as long as we are in the body, our conscience is foul with sin. But Christ who is our head has done no sin.
Catena Aurea Matthew 6
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
[Illustration - Giotto
Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ash Wednesday
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, Ash Wednesday, we are beginning the Lenten Journey, a journey that takes 40 days and brings us to the joy of the Lord's Pasch. On this spiritual journey we are not alone because the Church accompanies and supports us from the outset with the word of God, which contains a programme of spiritual life and penitential commitment, and with the grace of the sacraments.
The Apostle Paul's words give us a precise order "We entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain.... Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6: 1-2).
Indeed in the Christian vision of life every moment must be favourable and every day must be a day of salvation but the Church's Liturgy speaks of this in a very special way in the Season of Lent. And we can understand that the 40 days in preparation for Easter are a favourable time and a time of grace precisely from the appeal that the austere rite of the imposition of ashes addresses to us and which is expressed in the Liturgy in two formulas: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel"; "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return".
The first appeal is for conversion, a word to be understood with its extraordinary gravity, grasping the surprising newness it releases. The appeal to conversion, in fact, lays bare and denounces the facile superficiality that all too often marks our lives. To repent [or convert] is to change direction in the journey of life: not, however, by means of a small adjustment, but with a true and proper about turn. Conversion means swimming against the tide, where the "tide" is the superficial lifestyle, inconsistent and deceptive, that often sweeps us long, overwhelms us and makes us slaves to evil or at any rate prisoners of moral mediocrity. With conversion, on the other hand, we are aiming for the high standard of Christian living, we entrust ourselves to the living and personal Gospel which is Jesus Christ. He is our final goal and the profound meaning of conversion, he is the path on which all are called to walk through life, letting themselves be illumined by his light and sustained by his power which moves our steps. In this way conversion expresses his most splendid and fascinating Face: it is not a mere moral decision that rectifies our conduct in life, but rather a choice of faith that wholly involves us in close communion with Jesus as a real and living Person. To repent and believe in the Gospel are not two different things or in some way only juxtaposed, but express the same reality. Repentance is the total "yes" of those who consign their whole life to the Gospel responding freely to Christ who first offers himself to humankind as the Way, the Truth and the Life, as the only One who sets us free and saves us. This is the precise meaning of the first words with which, according to the Evangelist Mark, Jesus begins preaching the "Gospel of God": "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15).
The "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" is not only at the beginning of Christian life but accompanies it throughout, endures, is renewed and spreads, branching out into all its expressions. Every day is a favourable moment of grace because every day presses us to give ourselves to Jesus, to trust in him, to abide in him, to share his lifestyle, to learn true love from him, to follow him in the daily fulfilment of the Father's will, the one great law of life. Every day, even when it is fraught with difficulties and toil, weariness and setbacks, even when we are tempted to leave the path of the following of Christ and withdraw into ourselves, into our selfishness, without realizing our need to open ourselves to the love of God in Christ, to live the same logic of justice and love. In my recent Message for Lent I wanted to recall that "humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine', to give me gratuitously "what is His'. This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ's action, we may enter into the "greatest' justice, which is that of love (cf. Rom 13: 8-10), the justice that recognizes itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected" (Message, 30 October 2009).
The favourable moment of grace in Lent also reveals its spiritual significance to us in the ancient formula: "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return" which the priest says as he places a little ash on our foreheads. Thus we are referred back to the dawn of human history when the Lord told Adam, after the original sin: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3: 19). Here, the word of God reminds us of our frailty, indeed of our death, which is the extreme form. Before the innate fear of the end and even sooner in the context of a culture which in so many ways tends to censure the reality and the human experience of death, the Lenten Liturgy, on the one hand, reminds us of death, inviting us to realism and wisdom; but, on the other, it impels us above all to understand and live the unexpected newness that the Christian faith releases from the reality of death itself.
Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but dust is precious in God's eyes because God created man, destining him to immortality. Hence the Liturgical formula, "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return", finds the fullness of its meaning in reference to the new Adam, Christ. The Lord Jesus also chose freely to share with every human being the destiny of weakness, in particular through his death on the Cross; but this very death, the culmination of his love for the Father and for humanity, was the way to the glorious Resurrection, through which Christ became a source of grace, given to all who believe in him, who are made to share in divine life itself. This life that will have no end has already begun in the earthly phase of our existence but it will be brought to completion after "the resurrection of the flesh". The little action of the imposition of ashes reveals to us the unique riches of its meaning. It is an invitation to spend the Lenten Season as a more conscious and intense immersion in Christ's Paschal Mystery in his death and Resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity, which is born from the Eucharist in which it also finds its fulfilment. With the imposition of ashes we renew our commitment to following Jesus, to letting ourselves be transformed by his Paschal Mystery, to overcoming evil and to doing good, in order to make our former self, linked to sin die and to give birth to our "new nature", transformed by God's grace.
Dear friends, while we prepare to set out on the austere Lenten journey, let us invoke with special trust the protection and help of the Virgin Mary. May it be her, the first believer in Christ, to accompany us in these 40 days of intense prayer and sincere penitence so that we may arrive purified and completely renewed in mind and in spirit at the great Mystery of the Pasch of his Son.
I wish you all a good Lent!
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
C O N T E N T S
Collects and Readings for Ash Wednesday
About Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fast
Fasting and Penance Today
Suggestions for Families
- Special Prayers and Devotions for Families
- For Study and Reflection - Mind, Heart, Soul
Also see Lent I - Pre-Lent and Lent II (includes updated suggestions)
Ash Wednesday - Collects and Readings
Collect:
Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.
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 rend your hearts and not your garments". Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, 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 thy people, O Lord, and make not thy 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. The Lord answered and said to His people, "Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
Second Reading: II Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2
So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beseech 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
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. But 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 hypocrites, 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".
Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fast
with suggestions for family observance of the season
(From Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter)
"The main current of Lent must flow through the interior man, through hearts and consciences. The essential effort of repentance consists in this. In this effort the human determination to be converted to God is invested with the predisposing grace of conversion and, at the same time, of forgiveness and of spiritual liberation".
This reflection by Pope John Paul II in Lent of 1979, recorded in a collection of his meditations, The Light of Christ, indicates the attitude with which we should approach our observance of this penitential season -- a season that begins with a sign of repentance so ancient as to be almost lost in antiquity, and continues with penitential action equally ageless.
Putting ashes on our heads as a form of penitence is a practice inherited from Jewish tradition. In Old Testament times, fast days expressed sorrow for sins and the desire to make atonement to the Father. Ashes, for Jews and Christians alike, are a sign of repentance, sorrow, and mourning. The King of Nineveh believed the prophecy of Jonah and fasted forty days wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes to save the city, and ordered the people to do so, too [Jonah 3:4-10]. Jeremiah calls Israel to "wallow in ashes" of repentance [Jeremiah 6:26]. Abraham speaks of being unworthy to speak with God because he is "but dust and ashes" [Gen 2:7] -- being man, he is created from dust. Jesus also refers to this symbol in Matthew 11:21, "Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."
The ashes imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are a reminder of our unworthiness and sinfulness sinfulness that corrupts and stains us and leads to death (we return to the dust from whence we came.) Ashes remind us of our original sin and our need of redemption our need to be cleansed of sin and made worthy of Salvation. This is why the priest says, as he imposes ashes on our foreheads, "Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return" [Genesis 3:19] or Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel. [Mark 1:15]
We cannot appreciate God's infinite mercy if we do not realize we need mercy. We cannot understand salvation apart from our recognition of our need to be saved, rescued, from something namely our sin, which otherwise separates us forever from God. Ashes remind us of this need. When we wear the ashes on our heads, we also acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ, who forever substituted His own death for the "burnt offerings" made by Old Testament priests to atone for the sins of the people.
On Jewish fast days, or days of atonement, the penitent customarily wore sackcloth (burlap), placed ashes on his head, and went barefoot. These traditions associated with penance continued to be observed by the early Christians, although Jesus warned against ostentatious public displays of penance [see Matthew 6:16-18]. In the New Testament, fasting had similar significance, but fast times were also a time of intensified prayer and willingness to abide by the will of Christ and the Father who sent Him.
We also fast because of 1) our sorrow at the loss of the Lord: "The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away, and then shall they fast" [Luke 5:33-35]; 2) our intention of giving our Christian life more depth and more seriousness of purpose. Pope Leo the Great says in his forty-second sermon: "While men are distracted by the many cares of life, their religious hearts are necessarily defiled by the dust of the world"; and 3) the need to prepare ourselves spiritually for the celebration of Easter: for the renewal of our baptismal vows, and for Easter Communion.
According the Didache, a second-century document that is an important record of early Christian beliefs and practices, Christians were to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. Emphasis on seasonal fasting became more pronounced in the second and third centuries when a more strict fast was observed from Good Friday until Easter. Eventually this shorter fast developed into the forty-day fast.
In 1099, Pope Urban II called the first day of Lent Feria quarta cinerum or Ash Wednesday. During the early centuries of the Church only persons who had committed grave sins received ashes and were asked to do public penance which usually lasted until Holy Thursday when they were reconciled to the Church through confession and the reception of Holy Communion. The custom, as early as the fourth century, was to "quarantine" (from the word for "forty") or separate the penitents from the rest of the community during the forty days of Lent. Ashes were a sign of this separation. The penitential quarantine applied to poor and rich alike.
Fasting and Penance Today
In the same 1979 Lenten message quoted above, Pope John Paul II said,
"Penance is not just an effort, a weight, but it is also a joy. Sometimes it is a great joy of the human spirit, a delight that other sources cannot bring forth. Contemporary man seems to have lost, to some extent, the flavor of this joy. He has also lost the deep sense of that spiritual effort which makes it possible to find oneself again in the whole truth of one's interior being. Our civilization especially in the West closely connected as it is with the development of science and technology, catches a glimpse of the need for intellectual and physical effort. But he has lost the sense of the effort of the spirit, the fruit of which is man seen in his inner self. The whole period of Lent since it is a preparation for Easter is a systematic call to this joy that comes from the effort of patiently finding oneself again. Let no one be afraid to undertake this effort."
The Code of Canon Law states that Fridays throughout the year and in the time of Lent are penitential days for the entire Church. Although fasting usually refers to any practice of restricting food, there is a distinction, in the Church, between fast (limiting food to one full meal a day, with two smaller meals allowed) and abstinence (abstaining from eating meat.) Abstinence from meat on Fridays as the universal form of penance on all Fridays is no longer mandatory. We may choose another way of observing the Church's requirement for acts of penance on Fridays, but we are not to neglect it, either.
Since the change in the abstinence rules, some people have become confused about the requirement to observe penitential days. As a result, the discipline of fasting (or abstaining from meat) or any form of regular penance has all but disappeared. Confession, or the Sacrament of Penance (or Reconciliation) has sharply declined, as well.
Both fast and abstinence are required on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. For the record, rules of the Church in the United States about fasting and abstinence in effect since 1966 state that:
"Catholics in the United States are obliged to abstain from the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the season of Lent. They are also obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. Self-imposed observance of fasting on all weekdays of Lent is strongly recommended. Abstinence from flesh meat on all Fridays of the year [excluding solemnities like Christmas which may fall on Friday] is especially recommended to individuals and to the Catholic community as a whole." (ref. Canons 1249-1253, Code of Canon Law)
(See also Fast and Abstinence page for more information on the practice.)
Fasting and abstinence, which foster self-discipline and self-denial and other beneficial spiritual exercises, are strongly encouraged as voluntary practices at any time of the year. But it will be the responsibility of families, as the "domestic Church", to foster this spiritually energizing practice, not only during the required Lenten days, but at other times as well. To fast willingly, in reparation for our own sins and for others, can transform not only our own lives, but the life and vitality of the larger community.
As Pope Leo I stressed in the 5th century, the purpose of fasting is to foster pure, holy, and spiritual activity. It is an act of solidarity that joins us to Christ an act of self-donation in imitation of His total self-sacrifice. Fasting can heighten our understanding of Christ's Mystical Body, the Church, and of our total dependence on His love and mercy.
Farewell to Alleluia and Gloria
During the penitential seasons of the Church, the Gloria and the Alleluia are not said or sung. The Gloria is sung only at the Mass on Holy Thursday, usually with great ceremony, organ and sometimes trumpets, and often with the ringing of bells. After the singing of the Gloria, musical instruments are to be silent until the Alleluia at the Easter Vigil. (Catholic families might imitate this solemn silence by not playing instrumental music in their homes at this time.)
In the Middle Ages and throughout the 16th century, the "burying" of the Alleluia was a solemn ritual on Septuagesima Sunday. A procession of children carrying a wooden plaque bearing the word "Alleluia" laid it at the feet of the statue of the Blessed Virgin, covering it with a purple cloth. It remained there until Easter at the Gospel procession, when the plaque was carried as the priest intoned the three Alleluias before the Easter Gospel. In Paris, a straw figure inscribed with the word was carried out of the choir at the end of the service and burned in the church yard.
Although the practice of literally removing the Alleluia from the Church may have disappeared, even today in some parish celebrations of the Easter Vigil an Alleluia card is carried in procession and placed in front of the altar during the singing of the first Alleluias before the Gospel for Easter.
The hymn Alleluia, Song of Gladness and the one that follows date from the early 9th and 10th centuries; both refer to the farewell to the Alleluia in the liturgy.
From the Mozaribic Liturgy of Spain
Stay with us today, Alleluia,
When the morning rises,
thou shalt go thy way.
Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Lord be thy custodian, Alleluia.
And the angel of God accompany thee.
May the Lord keep thee alive
And protect thee from every evil.
Alleluia, alleluia.
The mountains and hills shall rejoice, Alleluia,
While they await thy glory.
Thou goest, Alleluia; may the way be blessed,
Until thou shalt return with joy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Suggestions for Families
Lent is a time for each of us to increase our knowledge of the "faith that is in us" in order that we can fulfill our vocation as Christians to extend this rich blessing of faith to others. We accomplish personal renewal and revitalization of our faith through penance, prayer and instruction.
Fasting
The value of self-denial must be learned early in a person's life. Lent provides an excellent opportunity to teach our children the necessity of self-denial in our permissive society.
The whole family will observe the Lenten fast according to the Church. Fasting means restricting the food we eat, and also the size and number of meals. Abstinence means abstaining from eating meat.
Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday as well as on all Fridays during Lent. The strict fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday means that we will eat only one main meal on that day, with the other two being very light (and no snacking).
A spirit of fasting can include restriction of luxuries such as television watching, shopping and going out with friends. The entire family could choose main "give-ups" that all will observe (for example, desserts, television, or a favorite show). Each child can select additional things to "fast" from during Lent maybe a video, or candy. (No fair giving up homework or not hitting your sister!)
We can give away clothing or possessions to those in need or we can give time to the Lord by volunteering our services. It would be good to involve children in this special kind of giving.
There are special foods for Lent. Hot cross buns are traditinally eaten on Good Friday, for example. (An interesting recipe book is A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz, published by Ignatius Press.)
A food that symbolizes prayer and fasting is the pretzel (from the Latin word, bracellæ, "arms".) It is a traditional Lenten bread of very ancient origin. Early Christians made the bread from flour, salt and water only, shaping it to represent the folded arms in prayer, just as they are made to this day. The German tribes who invaded Rome called the bracellæ "brezel'" or "prezel". Pretzels are traditionally eaten throughout Lent, and in some places are especially associated with Saint Joseph's Day [March 19] which usually falls within Lent. A recipe for soft pretzels follows:
Pretzels
The pretzel represents the shape of the penitent's crossed arms, and was a traditional Lenten food in central European towns.This recipe is for a chewy soft pretzel, like those hot pretzel vendors sell.
Combine in a mixing bowl:
1 cup warm water
1 package (1 1/2 T) active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
Add and beat at least 3 minutes:
1 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 Tbsp soft butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Stir in 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour and knead until the dough loses its stickiness.
Let the dough rise in a covered greased bowl until it is doubled in bulk (this is called "proofing" the dough). Punch down and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope and form it into a pretzel shape. Place the pretzels on a greased baking sheet and let them rise until almost doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 475°F.
In a large non aluminum kettle, prepare a boiling solution of
4 cups water
5 tsp baking soda
With a slotted spoon, carefully lower the pretzels into the water and boil about 1 minute or until they float to the top. Return them to the greased sheet. Sprinkle them with coarse salt. (Sea salt or Kosher salt.) Bake the pretzels until they are nicely browned, about 10-12 minutes. Pretzels are best when eaten while still warm, but they may be stored in an air tight container for up to a week, or frozen. (Makes twelve 6-inch pretzels)
Special prayers and devotions
Lent is an appropriate time to begin to establish some family prayer traditions -- beginning with our attending Church on Ash Wednesday, to receive the cross of ashes on our foreheads.
The family can say the following prayer for Ash Wednesday:
Heavenly Father, Let us enter the season of Lent in the spirit of joy giving ourselves to spiritual strife, cleansing our soul and body, controlling our passions, as we limit our food, living on the virtues of the Holy Spirit;
Let us persevere in our longing for Christ so as to be worthy to behold His most solemn Passion and the most holy Passover, rejoicing the while with spiritual joy. Amen
Whenever possible we can go to daily Mass during Lent, and pray more often -- alone or with family members.
Make a point of taking school-age (and older) children to Eucharistic Adoration. (If your parish does not have Eucharist Adoration, consider asking your pastor about the possiblity of starting it -- and volunteer to help organize it.)
The Alleluia is not recited or sung during Lent. On Ash Wednesday, children could make an Alleluia card or banner to be "buried" during Lent and displayed prominently during the Easter season. This could be made of gold paper and decorated with ribbons or flowers, as elaborately as they like. The Alleluia would reappear on Easter morning with their Easter baskets.
Initiate a practice of saying the Angelus at family meals. You can print copies of the Angelus from this web site, or order enough "holy cards" copies from WFF for your whole family (with our compliments -- just tell us how many you need. Call 314-863-8385 or e-mail us.)
An ancient prayer that reminds us of the multifaceted nature of penance is the following, said by the Eastern Church during the Lenten fast. Your family might say this together after the evening meal, or before bedtime:
O Lord and Ruler of Life,
take from me the spirit of idleness, despair, cupidity, and empty talking.
Yea, O Lord grant that I may see my own sins and not judge my brother.
For thou art blessed forever and ever. Amen.
[Note: If you use this prayer with children, you might have to explain that "cupidity" is greed for wealth or power, not some little winged being from a Valentine!]
Read passages in Scripture that help to explain the meaning of fasting and of penance in our lives. Here are two suggested readings:
Joel 2:12-14a
Therefore, saith the Lord, turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him.
Matthew 6:16-21
When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fasteth, anoint thine head and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but to thy Father, in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
For study and reflection
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Lent is a particularly appropriate time for families (as well as individuals!) to develop a Lenten reading program (reading can replace some of the television shows we've given up for Lent.) Also, reading aloud from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church or from a Catholic classic every evening for half an hour can be a way of fostering family conversation about the Catholic faith. This can bear so much good fruit that it is worth the effort to organize it. (We suggest picking one evening a week for this -- say Wednesdays.)
Maria von Trapp suggests that "every year we should divide our reading into three parts: something for the mind, something for the heart, something for the soul" [p. 104]. (We cannot regard mind, heart and soul as really separate, of course.)
The Holy Scripture fills all these categories. For example, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Book of Wisdom and the Old Testament books of Law and History might be "for the mind"; Psalms, Job, and Song of Songs, "for the heart"; and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel other Old Testament prophets and the entire New Testament "for the soul". Following are a few other suggestions for each category, and other suggestions are in the bibliography section at the end of the Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter:
Something for the mind
- Spend time with the Catechism of the Catholic Church (link on Vatican web site). It would be a very good thing if every family member who has been confirmed hadtheir own personal copy. But sections can be printed out for study.
- Read a Catholic classic such as G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, Francois Mauriac's Holy Thursday, Pascal's Pensees, Hans Urs von Balthasar's Prayer, Henri de Lubac's Motherhood of the Church, or a work of Edith Stein, Paul Claudel, Cardinal Newman.
- Study Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter, Familiaris Consortio on the Christian family; or any of his writings, especially Original Unity of Man and Woman, Blessed are the Pure in Heart, or Reflections on Humanæ Vitæ.
Something for the heart
- Learn more about a courageous Christian of the past -- there are many good new biographies, for exampe, Saint Isaac Jogues, Saint Joan of Arc, Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Teresa of Avila, or the patron saints of family members. Many pages on the Liturgical Calendar on this site can be useful for readings of the day, background, and suggestions for family observance.
- Listen to music and study art works that are part of our rich Catholic heritage (see the suggested list of music available on recordings in the bibliography section of Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter.)
Something for the soul
- Recite the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), or memorize a devotion or classic Catholic prayer, perhaps one of those found in the Prayers and Devotions section of this web site.
- Read works of great spiritual writers of the past such as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis, The Way of Perfection, by Saint Teresa of Avila.
- Study contemporary spiritual writings, such as Pope John Paul II's meditation, The Light of Christ, quoted above, Sign of Contradiction, or The Way of Christ.
- Say the Rosary - If possible, together as a family at least once a week. If there are young children, Lent is a good time to begin to teach them to say the "Hail Mary" as part of their bedtime prayers, along with the "Our Father".
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then "imposed" on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day, but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily, and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental, but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies.
