Wednesday, March 5: Ash Wednesday

WORSHIP: NOON & 7 PM

Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20B-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

"You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart." Psalm 51:6

In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola directs those preparing for confession of sin to

1. acknowledge a grace in your life and give thanks to God;
2. examine and name your brokenness;
3. ask God to heal your brokenness;
4. imagine what form a sign of that healing might take; imagine living that way;
5. give thanks to God for the present grace.

We are entering into forty days of preparation toward renewed life, the Easter promise of a new dawn, the spring promise of new growth, of truth in our inward being. "Truth happens to the prepared mind,” wrote Bernard Lonergan. Germination of seed is more likely to happen in prepared soil.

And so we make the sign of the cross – with ash – to prepare ourselves to enter the land God has promised, flowing with milk and honey: a right spirit. A land where truth and wisdom reside in the secret heart.

Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Amen.

• VEIL CROSSES WITH DEEP PURPLE CLOTH OR UNBLEACHED MUSLIN, A FAST FOR THE EYES.