Year B
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
Homily Notes for Ash Wednesday, 14 February 2024
The three readings for the Ash Wednesday Mass supply much material to guide us and encourage us as we enter this season of Lent.
First Reading - Joel 2:12-18
A call to repentance, a call for more than an external return to God - "Let your hearts be broken not your garments torn." It is a call for change in your life and in my life. And this call to conversion is matched and surpassed by God, "for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent." Finally, this call is not just addressed to the individual but to the whole community.
Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Paul, as ambassador for Christ and God's fellow worker, appeals to us in Christ's name, "Be reconciled to God" and "Do not neglect the grace of God that you have received." Above all, Paul urges us to embrace "this favourable time", this time of God's grace.
Gospel- Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
In his teaching about almsgiving, prayer and fasting, Jesus emphasises, that however much we may help others, the focus of our Lenten activity is our relationship with our Heavenly Father - "Your Father who sees all that us done in secret will reward you."
As individuals and as a community, as sinners, we are called to repent in this grace-filled season of Lent and to be renewed in faith, in hope, and in love. "Repent, and believe in the Gospel."
“On Ash Wednesday,…observed everywhere as a fast day [in the Roman Rite],ashes are distributed.” (GIRM, Universal Norms, 29). This is a vestige of the ancient Roman practice of “expelling” penitents at the beginning of Lent. Ashes may be distributed within or outside of Mass (see note at end of Mass texts in the Roman Missal for Ash Wednesday).
“…ashes…are made from the olive branches or branches of other trees that were blessed the previous year.” (RM rubric for AW). Although not explicit here, this must be a reference to those “branches” from last year’s Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (RM rubric 2 for Palm Sunday).
How will you source your ashes this year? Commercial suppliers offer sachets but beware, some say “Do not mix with water”, which makes them unusable since the Rite requires just that: “He sprinkles the branches with holy water.”
There are two options for blessing: one blesses the people, the other blesses the ashes. Which will you use?
Imposition of ashes. Note the Rite simply says, “Then the priest places ashes on the head of all present who come to him.” It does not say forehead or mention a cross. Perhaps the practice of a cross on the forehead is a cross-over (no pun intended) from the Rite of Confirmation (?). In any case, sprinkling ashes on the crown of the head is the preferred option in many parts of the world, including the Vatican, and makes more sense of the rubric. Perhaps we might give people the choice?
Prayer Over the People: In the RM texts for AW, the full rubrics are not given. See the introduction to “Prayers Over the People” on page 722 of the CTS edition of the RM for what is expected.
These hymns have been picked from several sources:
Come back to me (CFE122, L842, LHON207)
Blest are the pure in heart (CFE88, L08, LHON174, TCH208)
Bless the Lord my soul (CFE81 L813, LHON862)
Lord Jesus, think on me (CFE384, L204, LHON448 TCH53)
Bless the Lord my soul (Taize)(CFE81, L813, LHON862)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
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.
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.
