March 5, 2025

Ash Wednesday

Lectionary 219

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

"Your Father, who sees all that is done in secret will reward you."

Meditation

When something is beyond our grasp, we throw our arms in the air and exclaim, "God only knows." This is our motto as we begin our Lenten season. Whatever we choose to do to express our need for repentance, only God should know. The gospel reminds us of the three most significant acts of repentance: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Like the three legs of a tripod, all three are needed to stand as Christians.

Lent is a time to examine our lives in light of these three practices. Can we say God gets equal time to our television viewing and wasted moments? Can we convert some of our time into God's time through prayer? Fasting can be a constant reminder in our bodies that we are God's creatures and not independent beings. Almsgiving reminds us of what we have received from God, and in this way, we return some of our blessings to God.

At La Salette, Mary shows us that God knows everything as she recounts the incident in the field of Coin to young Maximin. There is nothing under the sun that God does not know. Mary invites us to prayer and penance.