Tuesday 1st March

Your Rx for Lent

While many Christians focus on feasting today—ahead of tomorrow’s fasting—it’s also a good time to survey a smorgasbord of penitential spiritual practices, perfect for the upcoming Lenten season. Saint John Chrysostom identifies five in one of his homilies: “I have shown you five paths of repentance: acknowledgement of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us, prayer, almsgiving, and humility.” Sounding more like a doctor than one of the doctors of the church, he concludes: “Now that we have learned how to heal our wounds, let us apply the cures.” How will you fill your prescription?

Today's readings: 1 Peter 1:10-16; Mark 10:28-31

“Do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance.”

Wednesday 2nd March

ASH WEDNESDAY; DAY OF FAST AND ABSTINENCE

Add another step to your Lenten journey

Ash Wednesday is full of rituals and traditions of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. But it includes an extra step. As Pope Francis puts it, it is a time “to find concrete ways to overcome our indifference.” So in addition to your regular Lenten practices, try to care more deeply about the suffering and disaffected in your community. Volunteer at your parish, a local charity, or for a social cause. Or simply go for a walk and reflect on how Jesus is present in those you encounter along the way.

Today's readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2; Matthew 6:1- 6, 16-18

“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Thursday 3rd March

Thursday After Ash Wednesday; Memorial Of Katharine Drexel, Religious Founder

Exceed expectations 

Katharine Drexel was a wealthy heiress in late 19th-century Philadelphia. She rocked that world one day: "Miss Drexel Enters a Catholic Convent—Gives Up Seven Million,” the Philadelphia Public Ledger announced when she decided not to simply become a nun but to found her own religious order. Head of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, she used her family fortune to found the nation’s only Catholic university for African Americans (Xavier University in New Orleans), schools for Native Americans, and more. Are you, too, being called by God to do something unexpected?

Today's readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25

“What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Friday 4th March

Friday After Ash Wednesday;

A Cleansing Fast 

A couple years ago, two young white women decided that they needed to more closely align their spiritual practices of Lent with their commitment to being anti-racist. They chose, as they wrote in Sojourners magazine, to try fasting from media that lacked a diversity of voices and to spend Lent engaged with books, films, and podcasts written or directed by women of color. Their goal was to take a step toward repentance, which is one of the hallmarks of Lent. To repent is to turn away from sin, including the sin of racism. What Lenten practice of prayer, fasting, or almsgiving might you contribute toward being more intercultural and helping end racism?

Today's readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15

“This, rather, is the fasting that I wish.”

Saturday 5th March

Saturday After Ash Wednesday

Tax Forgiveness 

Tax collectors in Jesus’ time were particularly despised. The Roman occupiers auctioned off the right to collect taxes to the highest bidders, who then aggressively collected taxes from their neighbors in order to turn a profit on their “investment.” When Jesus calls Levi the tax collector to follow him and attends a celebration with Levi’s tax-collecting cohorts, the shock among the Jewish leaders is evident. But Levi became Matthew, the evangelist, and wrote a vivid account of the Good News. Jesus sees beyond the worst in us and brings out the best. Follow his lead.

Today's readings: Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32

“Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, ‘Follow me.’”