Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6; 16-18
Lent has begun, and how it resembles New Year's Day! We have all made resolutions to sacrifice various things, just like the New Year's resolutions we make to hit the gym or some other noble goal we create. In a week or so these resolutions will be as ephemeral as the ashes on our forehead today. They will be forgotten, and we will have absolved ourselves from these obligations. Even our meager communal observances of fasting on two days and abstaining from meat on a few others will find loopholes. After all, if St. Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday then of course we should be exempt from abstinence on Friday...
If we can show such mercy to ourselves, could we not use Lent as a time of showing mercy to other people? "The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless. Give clothing to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own...If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon." (Isaiah 58: 6-7, 9-11)
Let this be our Lent.
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