Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022

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.”

These words of the Lord Jesus are used by the Church each year to open the holy and ancient season of Lent.  They are taken from the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew’s Gospel, a three chapter compendium of how the follower of Jesus is to act, to think, and to pray.  In it we find the Lord’s rules for how believers are to behave with one another and with unbelievers; how they are to act with and within the world; how to pray; and how the commandments the Lord gives them fulfill the commandments in the Jewish Law.  The Sermon is capped by the Lord’s revelation that those who follow his commandments will be saved while those who do not will be lost.  

Three practices, or, “righteous deeds”, taught by the Lord in the Sermon are particularly urged by the Church on her members during this season: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.  The Jews had long performed these deeds, and they are commanded by the Law at various times of the year.  The Lord Jesus takes for granted that his followers at the time and in the future carry these out regularly: he says “when” you give alms, pray, and fast, not “if”.  Along with the worship of God — at that time, in the Temple — these are the foundational activities of the believer.  The Lord, however, is not satisfied with merely commanding these but he also tells how they are to be done versus how they are not to be done.  This shows his care for us.  If almsgiving, prayer, and fasting were to be done to benefit Almighty God or another person, it would not matter how they were done.  A hungry widow or orphan does not care what is in the heart of the person who gives them money with which to buy food.  But how we do these things affects us.  If we perform them out of love for God and neighbor, they become virtuous acts which win us further graces so that we become more and more like Christ, so that we might share his life in heaven.

When we perform these three actions in the state of grace and in the way the Lord teaches us, we perform signs of what he himself has done to save us.  In our giving alms, we show something of the alms giving of Jesus Christ, who gave up his life in heaven to dwell among us poor creatures; who worked tirelessly during his earthly life to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick; who feeds us with his Body and Blood; and who paid the price for for our sins on the Cross.  In our prayers, we show something of him who “with a great cry and tears” (Hebrews 5, 7) offered up prayers and supplications for our salvation to the Father.  In our fasting, we show something of his fasting as he moved continuously on the road to preach the Gospel and in the long hours between the Last Supper on Thursday evening and his Death on Friday afternoon.  There is also “fasting” in his leaving the joy of heaven to live a hard life with us.

As we begin Lent let us strive to live as our Lord lived, practicing those righteous deeds which he perfected in his life and calls us to perform in ours.  By dying to self in this way during Lent we prepare ourselves for sharing in his Resurrection at Easter.