First Reading - Joel 2:12-18
Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Gospel - Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
In the first reading, the prophet Joel speaks to a people who have experienced loss and crisis. Yet the message is filled with hope. Even now, says the Lord, return to me. The emphasis falls on the word now. Conversion is not postponed to a better moment or a more convenient time. It begins in the present. The tearing of garments, once a sign of mourning, is no longer enough; what God seeks is the tearing open of the heart. True repentance is not about external display but about allowing God to touch what is wounded, hardened, or distant within us.
Paul continues this appeal in the second reading with striking urgency. Be reconciled to God. The time is favorable; the day of salvation is now. Reconciliation is not only about forgiveness of past sins but about restoring relationship. God has already taken the initiative through Christ. Lent becomes the moment when we respond, when we allow grace to reshape our priorities and our way of living.
In the Gospel, Jesus addresses the danger that threatens all religious practice: the desire to be seen. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are good and necessary, but they lose their meaning when they become performances. Jesus redirects attention from public recognition to the hidden place where God sees. The Father who sees in secret is not interested in outward show but in authenticity. The value of these practices lies in how they open the heart to God and to others.
Dear friends, this is why Lent invites silence, simplicity, and honesty. Fasting teaches us that we do not live by satisfaction alone. Almsgiving loosens our attachment to what we possess and opens us to the needs of others. Prayer brings us back to the source of life. None of these are ends in themselves; they are paths that lead us back to God.
The message of today is not one of guilt but of opportunity. God does not wait for perfection before calling us back. He calls us as we are, with our weaknesses and distractions, and offers mercy. Lent is a journey from surface to depth, from routine to relationship, from self-reliance to trust.
If we enter this season with sincerity, even small changes can become moments of grace. A quieter prayer, a hidden act of kindness, a sincere effort to forgive — these are the places where hearts are renewed. And when the heart returns to God, everything else slowly finds its proper place.
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