Ash Wednesday – 14 February – Our Lenten Journey With The Angels and the Saints Begins – Joel 2:12-19, Matthew 6:16-21 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning;
rend your hearts, not your garments
and return to the Lord, your God.”
Joel 2:12-13
“Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth,
where rust and moth consume
and where thieves break in and steal
but lay up for yourselves,
treasures in Heaven …”
Matthew 6:19-20
Prayer, Fasting and Mercy
St Peter Chrysologus (c400-450)
Bishop of Ravenna
“Doctor of Homilies”
Father and Doctor of the Church
“There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one and they give life to each other.
Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no-one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them, or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.
When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself, that which you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.
Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy – show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you wish others to show mercy to you.
Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defence, a threefold united prayer in our favour.” – (An excerpt from his Sermon 43)
AnaStpaul 