SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY - Gospel (Luke 5:27-32) - The Word of God For Everyone FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Gospel
(Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)
“But take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
While Jesus was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of God For Everyone
Dear people of God,
Lent is a season of grace, the season when God bestows His saving grace upon humanity, a gift from God to humanity.
Ash Wednesday helps us remember how our ancestors in faith repented of their sins and returned to God in the days of old.
Now, every year, God grants that the rite of the imposition of ashes be repeated, so that we have the opportunity to look back at ourselves, to look at our true selves, to repent of our sins, and to return to God, and to be reconciled with Him.
Lent is also an opportunity, a wake-up call for those who are drifting away from God, knowing to return to Him.
Today's Word of God awakens everyone that when there is an opportunity to do good, an opportunity to return to God, do it with our whole, true self before God; do not show off to others to be exalted by the good deeds we do.
For Lent is a season of repentance, a time for people to have the opportunity to do good deeds, to atone for our sins, to ask God for forgiveness of our sins, and to give thanks to God.
It is not an opportunity to do good and charitable deeds for the sake of being praised and glorified by others while forgetting God.
That is also the plan of Satan, who is a hypocrite.
It subtly tempts humans to put ourselves above all else, thereby leading us to offend God, and our souls will be captured in Satan’s hands.
Therefore, God warns everyone that when doing good and virtuous deeds, not to show off for others to see, otherwise the reward bestowed by God will be forfeited.
For there will be only two choices: one is to choose God, the other is to choose the world.
- In choosing the world results in being glorified and receiving reward in this very life.
- In choosing God requires living sincerely as our true self before Him, doing everything to glorify His holy name.
Thus, God teaches that we must be humble and self-abasement before Him, becoming little and simple, and living charitably while maintaining constant intimate union with Him, asking for His forgiveness of sins and for Him to look upon our fragile and weak condition.
Lent is an opportunity for humanity to return to God. When God provides this opportunity, we must seize it.
For as long as we live on this earth, we still have a chance.
Today God reminds everyone to live according to His teachings, not to go astray, and not to fall into the hands of Satan.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
