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Reflections on Fasting, Prayer & Almsgiving
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Readings for Daily Masses in the Season of Lent
The word “Lent” comes from an old German word for springtime. While the hallmarks of the season are fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, we take up these disciplines with the goal of growing in our relationship with God. Unlike the other liturgical seasons of the year, the lectionary mostly skips around the Bible in Lent, rather than working its way through a particular set of books.
In Lectionary Year 2022, Lent begins on the morning of Ash Wednesday, March 2, and ends at sunset on Holy Thursday, April 14. We have a separate lectionary guide for the Sunday Readings of the Lenten Season.
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Ash Wednesday and the Beginning Days of Lent
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Preparing for the Season
While not a holy day of obligation, Ash Wednesday is one of the best-attended liturgies of the church year. The ashes we receive on our foreheads recognize something perhaps not acknowledged elsewhere in our culture: we are sinners in need of repentance, both as individuals and as a community. The remaining days of this beginning half-week of Lent encourage us to be deliberate in our choices, both in the Lenten disciplines we take up this year, and in every decision we make for the rest of our lives.
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1st, 2nd & 3rd Full Weeks of Lent
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Invitation to Scrutiny & Ongoing Conversion
All scripture selections in these weeks are related to fasting, prayer, almsgiving, the idea of a sacred time set apart, and acknowledgment of our continual need for repentance. The gospel passages are from various parts of Matthew and Luke, except for Friday of Week 3, which comes from Mark. We are invited to scrutinize how well we fulfill Jesus' call to discipleship. We are also reassured that no matter how far we have strayed, conversion is always possible, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
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4th & 5th Weeks of Lent
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Switching Over to John's Gospel
Because the gospel passages are mostly selected from the other three gospels for the rest of the year, the Gospel of John is selected for most days in the last three weeks of Lent and in the seven weeks of the Easter season.
Weeks 4 and 5 of Lent feature gospel passages from the first 12 chapters of John, in which Jesus clashes with religious leaders. We sense darkness closing in as Jesus approaches his "hour" of glory.
The first readings and psalm responses grow noticeably longer.
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St. Joseph (Matthew 1:18 - 24) and
the child Jesus - Nazareth, Israel
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Excursus: Two Feasts
Of the observances within the calendar of saints that can occur within the season of Lent (such as St. Patrick's Day on March 17), most are reduced to memorials, so as not to disrupt the character of Lent. There are two notable celebrations that are exceptions: the Feast of St. Joseph (March 19) and the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25). If these feasts occur during the last week of Lent or the first week of Easter, they are moved to weekdays in the second week of Easter.
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The Annunciation (Luke 1:26 - 38)
- Nazareth, Israel
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Holy Week (6th Week of Lent) Through Thursday Afternoon
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The Last Days of Jesus, the Suffering Servant
As on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, our first readings on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are taken from the “Songs of the Suffering Servant” in Second Isaiah. Our gospel passages, from John and Matthew, detail the events in the days leading up to the Last Supper.
The only Mass celebrated during the day on Holy Thursday is the diocesan Chrism Mass, at which the bishop blesses the holy oils for the year and the priests renew their vows. In large dioceses where it may take people several hours to commute back from the cathedral to their home parish, the Chrism Mass may be celebrated earlier in Lent. (In the Diocese of Austin, we typically celebrate the Chrism Mass on the Tuesday of Holy Week.)
At sundown on Holy Thursday, we transition into the Paschal Triduum, the shortest and holiest season of the year.
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The response to the first reading during the weekdays of Lent is usually from the Book of Psalms, except for the Wednesday and Saturday of Week 5 (when it is Daniel 3:52 - 56 and Jeremiah 31:10 - 13, respectively).
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