One advantage of reading and praying the lectionary is that we unite with millions of Christians worldwide, offering our prayers to God together.
Today’s prayers focus on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030525.cfm.
Reading 1 – Joel 2:12-18
The same Hebrew word describes both turning away from and turning toward God. Turning to God is repentance, which the prophet urges us to do wholeheartedly.
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment. (Joel 2:12-13)
With God’s gracious and merciful nature, full of steadfast love and patience, why would we hesitate to return? He offers the possibility of forgiveness and restoration to those who seek Him.
Repentance is a deep, internal shift, not a surface-level expression. It demands a change in our behavior, heart, attitudes, and values. This comprehensive change allows us to turn to God and live according to His purpose.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
I’ve found great value in incorporating Psalm 51 into my daily prayer time. Praying through this remarkable psalm of confession and repentance allows the Holy Spirit to reveal deeper understandings.
I recommend making it a daily practice, not just a Lenten one, as you seek the Lord.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:1-2, 10-12)
The character of God, revealed to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7), was the foundation for both the prophet Joel’s and King David’s confessions. Recognizing God’s nature, we can confidently rely on His grace to fulfill our requests in this psalm.
This psalm reminds me daily of my need for a new heart and a willing spirit, one that follows God’s will, not my own.
Reading 2 – 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[f] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.
For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:19-21).
These verses are the inspiration for Martin Luther’s profound prayer:
“Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.”
Verse Before the Gospel – Psalm 95:8
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
Gospel – Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
The term ‘hypocrite’ refers to those who, like actors, project a false image of themselves.
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
But whenever 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” (Matthew 6:5-6).
Prayer, in contrast to the hypocrites, must be authentic, woven deeply into the fabric of our lives.
We find the most meaningful engagement with God in the quiet solitude of our prayer room, where we humbly ask for His mercy upon ourselves and the world.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby and I discuss the choice of a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24.
Real Voices 