Readings:
Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
(These passages are offered for those who want to do some further reading. Excerpts from some of these readings are given in the text for each day.)

‘Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness and ready to relent.‘
Joel 2:13

‘For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.‘
2 Corinthians 5:21

‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice… And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them… When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting.‘
Matthew 6:1,5,16

“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,’ wrote Dr Johnson. In the early days of Christianity, ashes were placed on the heads of penitents on this Wednesday, when they began to prepare for return to the Church on Maundy Thursday. The ceremony was later offered to all Christians, the imposition of ashes being accompanied with, ‘Remember, thou art dust and into dust thou shalt return,’ words and symbol which, if we let them in, can also wonderfully concentrate the mind.

As a university chaplain, I placed the ashes on the foreheads of hundreds of healthy-looking students, most of them grinning at this quaint ceremony. They were right to smile. ‘Dust to dust’ is not the whole truth, but it is a useful part of it to remember when we find ourselves preoccupied about our looks, health, success, wealth and status. Remembering that we are from dust, and dust-destined, can free us from much useless anxiety and give us space to see the funny side of ourselves and of others.

But what is the point of this brief interlude between states of dust? ‘Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ… to live through love in his presence’ (Ephesians 1:4). Life in the body is a stage on our journey, but so important and so precious that God himself, in Jesus, joined us on the journey, died and is risen again ‘so that in him we might become the goodness of God’ as Paul says. How are we to become the goodness of God? By letting God be God to us and through us, so ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you… Be compassionate as your Father is compassio-nate’ (Luke 6:27, 36).

When we look at our lives and our preoccupations individually, as Church and as nation, in the light of these words, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you’, then we can begin to understand Joel’s cry, ‘Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to Yahweh your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion.’

As we have seen, this turning back to God is through prayer, fasting and almsdeeds. In today’s gospel Jesus tells us to do all three quietly and without ostentation. ‘Put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting’ (Matthew 6:17).

In your own prayer today, focus your attention on the moments of your life for which you are grateful. Thank God for them, talk to him about them, and beg to learn to treat others as God has treated us. Pray to know God’s tenderness and compassion in those moments, too, for which you do not feel at all grateful at the time.

Prayer
O God, Father and Mother of all, from whom we come, to whom we go, enlighten our minds and hearts, so that recognizing your goodness in our own lives, we may become your goodness. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.