Knowing the commands of Christ, let this be our way of life:
let us feed the hungry,
let us give the thirsty drink,
let us clothe the naked,
let us welcome strangers,
let us visit those in prison and the sick.
Then the judge of all will say even to us:
Come, you blessed of my Father,
Inherit the realm I prepared for you!
Byzantine Vespers
After Ash Wednesday, a new reading/reflection will be added for each Sunday of Lent. Return to this page throughout Lent to pray with us.
Lord of the winds, I cry to thee.
I that am dust,
and blown about by every gust
I fly to thee.
Lord of the waters, unto thee I call.
I am that weed upon the waters borne,
And by the waters torn,
Tossed by the waters, at thy feet I fall.
Mary Coleridge
The Oxford Book of Christian Verse, Nineteenth Century
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
(find the readings online at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021424.cfm)
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Look with your loving care, we ask you, Lord,
on the fast we have begun.
May the discipline we keep with our body
be exercised with sincerity of mind.
Missal of Pius V
There is a really deep well inside me.
And in it dwells God.
Sometimes I am there too.
But more often stones and grit block the well,
and God is buried beneath.
Then God must be dug out again.
Etty Hillesum
Mk 1:12-15
(find the readings online at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm)
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O Lord, throughout these forty days
You prayed and kept the fast;
Inspire repentance for our sins,
And free us from our past.
Be with us though this season, Lord,
And all our earthly days,
That when the final Easter dawns,
We join in heavenly praise.
Gilbert E. Doan
Let us fast in such a way that we lavish our lunches upon the poor, so that we may not store up in our purses what we intended to eat, but rather in the stomachs of the poor.
Caesarius of Arles
Mark 9:2-10
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm
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Let our days of fasting please you, Lord,
and so may they erase the memory of our sins,
make us worthy of your favor and
bring healing that lasts forever.
Missal of Pius V
United in truth, show the Lord’s own gentleness in your dealings with one another and look down on no one. If you can do good, do not put it off, because almsgiving frees you from death.
Polycarp of Smyrna
Second Century
John 2:13-25
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm
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Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves,
to be saved only in the examination of our own conduct,
to consider our fellow creatures with kindness,
and to judge of all they say and do
with the charity which we would desire from them ourselves.
Jane Austen
Eighteenth Century
God plays upon the harp of the Spirit,
Sounding the strings strongest in love:
And to this mystical music
Humanity is beckoned to sing.
Mechthild of Helfta
Thirteen Century
John 3:14-21
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm
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O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy:
Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways,
and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith
to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ, your Son.
Book of Common Prayer
Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17-17
John 12:20-33
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm
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Lord God, you offer to us this “acceptable time”
to recover a sense of what life means
and to be reconciled to you and to our neighbor.
Grant that we may walk together, day by day,
in the footsteps of Christ
toward the paschal feast of joy.
Italian Sacramentary
Almsgiving is the mother of love, of that love which is characteristic of Christianity,which is greater than all miracles, by which the disciples of Christ are manifested.
John Chrysostom
Fourth Century
John 12:12-16
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm
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Lord our God,
Holy is your name!
Incline our hearts to your commandments,
and give us the wisdom of the cross,
so that, freed from sin,
which imprisons us in our own self-centeredness,
we may be open to the gift of your Spirit,
and so become living temples of your love.
Italian Sacramentary