Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6 : 1- 6, 16 - 18

The forty days of Lent is a time for personal retreat for the people of God. The number forty recalls Jesus' own 'retreat' of forty days in the wilderness before he begins his ministry. Forty is also significant in other Scriptures. Moses went up to the mountain to seek the face of God for forty days in prayer and fasting. The people of Israel were in the wilderness for forty years in preparation for their entry into the promised land. Elijah fasted for forty days as he journeyed to the mountain of God.

We are called during Lent to journey with the Lord in a special season of renewed prayer, fasting and acts of mercy, as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter, the Christian "Passover".

It is an annual journey of embracing spiritual disciplines that will strengthen our desire to follow the Lord more closely. It is a time of repentance as well, a time to look back over our spiritual lives and ask the Lord, to reveal the areas where we have strayed from a close friendship with him. It is a time when our hearts may be broken open and healed of hardness, in order that we might experience God's gift of resurrection life.

"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart...

Rend your heart, and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love....(Joel 2)