God Wants Your Heart for Lent

Ash Wednesday

First Reading: Joel 2:12-18

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, "Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?'"

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 12-13, 14 AND 17

R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2

Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:

In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples:
"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.

"When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."

NAB

The Lord is so good to us.

I can't help but cringe when I read that line from Joel about His slow anger, His rich kindness. Who among us has not seethed with resentment over a slight—real or imagined—by a coworker, a boyfriend, a spouse? Has not jerked the wheel in anger, fired off the irate email in a fit of passion, or slammed the screen door just to feel the satisfying shudder against the doorframe?

My impulse for action when I have been wronged is not to open my heart and let loose a torrent of mercy towards the offender. Perhaps a torrent of something, but not of mercy.

How does our God maintain His steadfast love for us, His fickle, fallible children? How does He not grow weary of hearing our supplications ring out, our heads dusted again with ashes, as another year creaks by on the great liturgical wheel?

Does He never tire of dispensing forgiveness? Inviting openness of heart and contrition of spirit?

Love is funny that way, in refusing to count the cost. I've never thought before of that being anything more than big-hearted generosity, God's refusal to keep tabs, and it is of course that: generosity. But perhaps it is also a technique the Lord wants to show us, a method whereby we can stay sane and keep our hearts open in a world filled with people who are going to hurt us over and over again. And whom we will hurt in return.

"Look at my heart." He beckons to us in this season of Lent. "It is broken for you. Soon, my body also. This is how I love you. See this love, partake of this love, and bestow it upon one another. Nothing less will do."

Ask the Lord how you can best make a sacrifice...// @jkuebbingClick to tweet

This Lent, don't give up chocolate. Don't set your alarm 15 minutes early. Not before asking Him what He wants from your heart. Ask Him how you can best make a sacrifice to become who He wants you to be. The fasting, prayer, and almsgiving of Lent are all for the sake of bring our whole selves, body and soul, closer to Him. Lent is about offering ourselves to God anew, asking Him to strip away the facade and, in His great mercy, to reveal to us those parts of ourselves that look the least like Him.

Jenny Uebbing is a freelance editor and a writer for Catholic News Agency, where she blogs about faith, sex, the culture and the Catholic Church. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband Dave and their growing family.