Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

February 22, 2023

Year A

Commentary

Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.

The Word

Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.

Liturgy notes

Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.

Music

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Commentary

By Fr Jeremy Corley

Today we begin our Lenten journey to Holy Week, when we will celebrate the Lord’s saving death and resurrection. In remembrance of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, we keep these forty days holy. Today’s gospel speaks of the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Lent is a season to pause and take stock of our lives before God.

In our first reading, the prophet Joel calls the people of Israel together at a time of national crisis, praying: ‘Spare your people, Lord!’. During Lent we echo this prayer as we intercede for those in need, both here and overseas.

In the second reading, St Paul appeals to us to be reconciled to God, because now is the favourable time. If it is a while since we made our last confession, this Lent is a good time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In the gospel, Jesus invites us to do our good works in secret. Jesus’ call contrasts with the focus in today’s world on marketing, to make known our good points to everyone.

These three practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

During Ramadan, many Muslims make great efforts to pray regularly and to fast during daylight hours. Have we Catholics lost the art of keeping Lent holy?

Our prayer could be helped by reading Part Four of the Catechism, available on the Vatican website (beginning at CCC 2568).

A simple prayer we can all use is to recite prayerfully the holy name: ‘Jesus!’ (CCC 2666).

Fasting can give us time for prayer and free up resources for charitable giving. It can also have the ecological benefit of reducing our consumption, while giving us a brief experience of the suffering of the poor. 

Fasting can begin with simplifying our diet. 

According to Tobit 12:8: ‘Prayer with fasting is good, but better than both is almsgiving with righteousness.’ This Lent, can we contribute to charity (e.g., Cafod)?

Perhaps Lent is a time for simplicity rather than solemnity.

Liturgy notes

By Canon Alan Griffiths

On this first day of Lent, the Collect sums up Lent, asking: 

  • that we may begin with holy fasting 
  • this campaign of Christian service..

In this season in particular Christians are called to do battle against spiritual evil, using the weapons of self-restraint. The strong military images here should be understood as emphasising the serious nature of Christian asceticism. 

Those ‘weapons’ are outlined in the Gospel of the Mass: prayer, fasting and works of charity. However, unlike normal weapons of war, Jesus says that these should not be brandished about, but exercised in secret. 

The Prayer over the Offerings unites the offering of the Mass with the ‘works of penance and charity’ which the Gospel lays down. They are our sacrificial commitment. The Prayer also opens the perspective of Lent towards Easter. Lent is a cleansing process to prepare for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.

The Homily might include reference to the second reading in the Office of Readings for Thursday after Ash Wednesday. This is one of St. Leo the Great’s Lenten sermons and nicely make the two points about Lent looking toward Easter, and fasting being not just from food but from our bad habits. 

Ashes are blessed after the Homily. Two alternative blessing prayers are given, and two formulas for the imposition of ashes, the traditional ‘Remember that you are dust’ and ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel.’

For every day of Lent, after the Postcommunion Prayer, a further ‘prayer over the people’ is given for optional use before the blessing.

Music recommendations

Any questions?

Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.

Discover the Mass

Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.