Reading I
Joel 2:12-18 and 2 Cor 5:20—6:2
See USCCB for the full text of this reading.
Mass Readings
Ash Wednesday
Weekday · Lent · Cycle A · Year II · Purple
Reading I
See USCCB for the full text of this reading.
Responsorial Psalm
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.
Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.
O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Gospel
Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.
Therefore when thou dost an alms-deed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.
That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face;
That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.
About These Readings
Scripture text from the Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision, 1899), which is in the public domain. The Mass readings appointed for today follow the Lectionary for Mass approved for the dioceses of the United States.
Psalm verses follow the Vulgate numbering in the Douay-Rheims, which may differ by one chapter and a few verses from the Hebrew numbering used by the modern Lectionary. The substance of each Psalm is the same.
Read today’s NAB readings at USCCB ↗