Lent 2023 First Reading

Lent is here!

Already!

And I am not ready, again. But here we are, it is Ash Wednesday, and ready or not, let’s dive in…

This Lenten season I am going to strive to reflect on the first reading of the day from the missal. I have no formal training and no pedigree behind my reflections. If you would rather not, I won’t be offended and I won’t know…If you would like to leave a thought or two of your own, that would be most welcome!

The first reading today is from the prophet Joel. He is writing around 400 years before the time of Jesus. According to my trusty study Bible, the people of God had just experienced a terrible invasion of locusts. The prophet Joel thought it was a sign from God, that the day of the Lord was near, so he proclaimed a fast.

These are the words of Joel that strike me today, “rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.”

Rend my heart, tear it open, and search there for thoughts, practices, habits that need to be removed. They are cluttering up the place, and it is noisy. There is no room for the Lord to dwell, I can not hear his voice.

This Lent I am hoping to learn to listen better. As I rend my heart, I know I will hear Jesus speaking to me, through the many voices he sends my way.

As I was entering mass today, I ran into one of my elderly neighbors. I greeted her and her face was beaming as she walked up the stairs to our church. “We are really getting started with the season!” Like Joel, she says to me, with her joy on entering into Lent, “Return to the Lord your God!”