Welcome to the Jesuit Institute. Friends, our ministry at the Jesuit Institute
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our ministry, too, is limited. First, we want to thank those who have continued
to support us, for your support and your generosity. We cannot do what we do without you. You have assisted us in negotiating the challenging
financial time that we have been through. We are also asking that you consider if you
have not, making a regular donation to our ministry. We have a varied ministry. We offer the weekly online mass but we also
try to reach out to people who do not have resources to offer training retreats and other
ministries. By 2027 we want to reach as many people as
possible helping them to pray, to engage in critical conversations, play an active role
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address that appears on your screen if you wish to help. Thank you for being partners with us in ministry
when you help us we can reach out to and help others. I am truly grateful. Thank you and God bless. Welcome to St. Ignatius Chapel. Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday. Our celebrant today is Jesuit Fr. Russell Pollitt SJ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. [Amen.] The Lord be with you. [And with your spirit.] Welcome as we come together to mark the beginning
of the sacred season of Lent on this Ash Wednesday, wherever you are, you are very welcome. Let’s pray. Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy
fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual
evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who
lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. [Amen.] A reading from the Book of the prophet Joel. “Even now,” says the Lord, “return to
me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your
hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy, and repent of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent,
and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord,
your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly: gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders;
gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the
bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the
priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make
not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where
is their God?’” Then the Lord became jealous for his land,
and had pity on his people. The word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God.] Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned. [Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.] Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
merciful love. According to your great compassion, blot out
my transgressions. Wash me completely of my iniquity and cleanse
me of my sin. [Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.] My transgressions, truly I know them. My sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned. What is evil in your sight I have done. [Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.] Create a pure heart for me, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, take
not your Holy Spirit from me. [Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.] Restore in me the joy of your salvation, sustain
in me a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim
your praise. [Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.] A reading from the second letter of Saint
Paul to the Corinthians. Brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors for
Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled
to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew
no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we entreat
you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have
listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold,
now is the day of salvation. The word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God.] Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory. Today, harden not your hearts, but listen
to the voice of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory. The Lord be with you. [And with your spirit] The reading from the holy Gospel according
to Matthew. [Glory to you, O Lord.] At that time: Jesus said to his disciples,
“Beware of practising your piety before people in order to be seen by them; for then
you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpets
before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised
by others. Truly, I say to you, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left
hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the
hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners,
that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut
the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret
will reward you. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like
the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have had their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash
your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret;
and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” The Gospel of the Lord. [Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ.] Perhaps I’m giving my age away a little
bit, but when I was growing up the word “discipline” had quite a negative connotation. Cause it either meant you were going to be
hauled in front of the headmaster for something, or you would be grounded, or if you were lucky
enough the belt would come off and you would get what was referred to as a “hiding”. I know these days we don’t do things like
that, but it did happen to some of us. And so a certain fear kind of arose every
time we heard the word “discipline”, something you knew was not as it should have been, and
in one way or another there was going to be trouble. And I was looking at the word “discipline”
the other day and I came across its etymology, or as we say the origin of the word, and its
root is surely not the connotation that I have with the word, because the root of the
word “discipline” is “knowing” or “instruction” or “disciple”. Maybe they thought by beating us they would
help us to know or to be good disciples or whatever. And then the word “Lent” has its etymology,
its origin, in the word “springtime”, and so a springtime for discipleship, a springtime
for instruction, a springtime for knowledge, when we bring these two words together. The prophet Joel and Jesus whom we heard today
in the Scriptures, both explain how we might use this springtime to grow in knowledge,
to be instructed, and therefore by the end of Lent to become more faithful disciples
of Jesus. Because isn’t that ultimately the purpose
of this sacred season? That we want as best we can to journey with
Jesus to his cross and his resurrection, so that we too can live our lives with the same
fidelity and commitment as he lived himself. We want to be like the Lord, that is the aim
of the Christian life, to become like Jesus himself in all dimensions of our lives. I want to suggest to you on this Ash Wednesday
that there are two invitations from the Scripture. The first one from that prophet Joel: “Return
to me,” Joel says, “with all your heart.” And then he goes about telling the people
how that will happen, that they should journey back to God because they have gone wayward. And so maybe that’s the first simple invitation
for us as we begin this time of Lent, to ask ourselves two questions. Which direction am I moving in? Am I moving towards the Lord or am I moving
away from the Lord? And we need to look at all the dimensions
of our lives, in our relationships, in our work life, in our leisure. Do we do things that help us to move towards
the Lord, or are we moving further and further away from the Lord? And then the invitation is simple: return
to me with all your heart. Not with part of your heart, but with all
your heart. The second invitation comes from that Gospel,
Jesus invites us in the Gospel to focus on three things. He talks about almsgiving, he talks about
prayer, and fasting. And notice the order that Jesus presents those
three disciplines: almsgiving, and prayer, and fasting. And maybe sometimes we think prayer and fasting
is more important than reaching out to others in almsgiving. I wonder if the Lord is saying something to
us simply in the order in which he offers these disciplines. And so maybe this Lent we are called to go
back to those disciplines, we’re invited to see how those disciplines work in our own
lives. Maybe we don’t like these disciplines and
yet this time of Lent is inviting us to try them again, not for ourselves, but so that
we can grow in the Lord. Almsgiving, that practice of giving, traditionally
defined as perhaps giving food or money to the poor. But it’s really about developing an awareness
that we have things that other people don’t have. The gifts that we have vs the lack, or poverty
of others. But of course our awareness is simply not
enough, that’s only the first step. We are then invited to do something with that
awareness. And our willingness to be generous, to give
from our surplus is what the Lord is asking of us, because our generosity should mirror
God’s generosity to us. Surely in our own context, in this country
it is not hard to practice this discipline of giving to others who lack. There are many people who are poor and who
need from our surplus what we can give them. The second is prayer, the practice, so to
speak, of intimacy with God. The central way that God uses to change us. As William Blake so eloquently writes, “Our
task in life is to bear God’s ‘beams of love.’” We can only bear those beams of love, when
we know that beam of love in our own lives. In prayer we begin to know and think God’s
thoughts. We desire what God desires, love what God
loves, and will what God wills. God meets us where we are and moves us to
deeper things. And so pray is not simply just about talking
to God about what we need. That’s kind of what we do at the beginning,
but as we grow and mature, our talking to God becomes listening to God, and listening
to God is what changes us. It’s what gives us the mind of God that
somehow we tune in to the Lord, somehow our hearts begin to beat with the same heartbeat
of God, and so we are in tune with what God wants. And then we are invited to fasting, the practice
of abstaining from food. But notice this fasting is a specific fasting,
it’s fasting for spiritual purposes, it’s distinct from health which is for physical
and not spiritual purposes. Indeed, we all want to fast to get thin but
this kind of fasting is because we want to focus on God. And fasting slowly begins to reveal to us
what controls us because so often we cover up what is going on inside of us with food
and other good external things. Maybe even we pretend that they are not there. Fasting allows what is in us to begin to surface. Fasting reveals something to us about ourselves. It reminds us too that we are really only
sustained by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Fasting helps us to keep balance that the
nonessentials don’t take precedence in our lives. It frees us. It opens us. And so in this time of Lent, we’re invited
into a space of fasting, and perhaps a broad space of fasting. Maybe we have to fast from people to find
some solitude. Maybe we have to fast from media to slowly
empty our minds. Or maybe one of today’s biggest addictions,
we are called to fast from social media so that we free ourselves in this time of Lent
to be with God. Maybe we need to fast from our consumer culture. Maybe we simply need to fast from the amount
that we take in each day. How will you return to the Lord this Lent? What will you do so that this springtime can
truly deepen your discipleship? We solemnly mark the beginning of this time
of Lent by marking ourselves with ashes, ashes that were brought from the palms of last year’s
Palm Sunday celebration. And so wherever you are I’m going to invite
you now to simply, as I pray, stretch out your own hands over the ashes before you. We will pray that the Lord bless these ashes
and then sign yourself if you are alone, or with others in a room sign one another with
the ash that we have blessed, marking the solemn beginning of this season of Lent. And so dear brothers and sisters, let us humbly
ask God our Father that he be pleased to bless with abundance these ashes which we will put
on our heads as signs of our penitence. O God, who are moved by acts of humility and
respond with forgiveness to works of penance, lend your merciful ear to our prayers, and
in your kindness, pour out the grace of your blessing upon these ashes, and your servants
who will receive them, so that as they follow the Lenten observances, they may be worthy
to come with minds made pure to celebrate the Paschal mystery of your Son. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. [Amen.] Repent and believe the Good News. I’m going to invite you now to take a moment,
we are going to be silent, and perhaps right at the beginning of this Lent ask the Lord
for the grace that you need. What are you going to commit yourself to in
these days of Lent? Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for through your goodness we have this bread to offer: fruit of the earth, and work of
our human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. [Blessed be God for ever.] Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for through your goodness we have this wine to offer: fruit of the vine, and work of our
human hands, it will become for us our spiritual drink. [Blessed be God for ever.] Pray, sisters and brothers, that my sacrifice
and yours, may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father [May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your
hands for the praise and glory of God’s name, for our good and the good of all God's
holy Church.] As we solemnly offer the annual sacrifice
for the beginning of Lent, we entreat you, O Lord, that through works of penance and
charity, we may turn away from harmful pleasures, and cleansed from our sins, may become worthy
to celebrate the Passion of your Son, who lives and reigns, for ever and ever. [Amen] The Lord be with you. [And with your spirit.] Lift up your hearts. [We lift them up to the Lord.] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. [It is right and just.] It is truly right and just, our duty and our
salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal
God, through Christ our Lord. For by your gracious gift each year your faithful
await the sacred paschal feasts with the joy of minds made pure, so that, more eagerly
intent on prayer and on the works of charity, and participating in the mysteries by which
they have been reborn, they may be led to the fullness of grace that you bestow on your
sons and daughters. And so, with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones
and Dominions, and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of your
glory, as without end we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy [Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord. Hosanna in the highest.] You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of
all holiness. Make holy therefore, these gifts we pray by
sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, that they may become for us the Body
and Blood of you Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. At the time he was betrayed, and entered willingly
into his Passion, he took bread and giving thanks, he broke the bread and gave it to
his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR
THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he
took the cup, and once more giving thanks he gave the cup to his disciples saying:
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CUP OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD
OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR ALL FOR THE
FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. The mystery of faith. We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess
your resurrection, until you come again. Therefore as we celebrate the memorial of
his death and resurrection, we offer you Lord the bread of life and the cup of salvation. Giving thanks that you have held us worthy
to be in your presence and minister to you. Humbly we pray that partaking of the Body
and Blood of Christ we may gathered into one by your Holy Spirit. Remember, Lord, your Church spread throughout
the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity together with Francis our Pope, Buti
our Bishop, and all the clergy, and all who minister to your people. Remember also our brothers and sisters who
have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy. Welcome them into the light of your face. Have mercy on us all we pray that with the
blessed virgin Mary, mother of God, with Saint Joseph, her spouse, with your blessed apostles
and all the saints, who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be coheirs to eternal
life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ. Through him, and with him, and in him, O God,
almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, for
ever and ever. [Amen.] Let’s pray together now as the Lord himself
taught us: Our Father, [who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive
us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.] Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil,
and graciously grant peace in our days. That by the help of your mercy, we may be
always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming
of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. [For the kingdom, the power and the glory
are yours now and for ever.] Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your Apostles:
Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your
Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will, who live
and reign for ever and ever. [Amen.] The peace of the Lord be with you always. [And with your spirit.] And we pray:
Lamb of God, [you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the
world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the
world, grant us peace.] Behold, Jesus, the Lamb of God, behold him
who takes away the sin of the world, how blessed are we who are called to share in the supper
of the Lamb. [Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter
under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.] May the Body and Blood of Christ bring us
to life everlasting. [Amen.] Although you cannot receive physical communion
with us now, we invite you into a moment of spiritual communion. The great medieval theologian, St. Thomas
Aquinas, defined spiritual communion as: “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy
Sacrament”, and “a loving embrace as though we had already received him.” His words are echoed by the great mystic,
and fellow doctor of the church, St. Teresa of Avila, who wrote: “When you do not receive
Communion, and do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion which is a most
beneficial practice. By it, the love of God will be greatly impressed
on you.” At this moment we invite you to focus on Christ,
and your longing for union with him. Express your desire to feel his grace coursing
through you, giving you strength and courage, particularly in these difficult times. In your desiring union you are united with
us, and to Christ. In this moment we experience the reality that is already here. Let us pray. May the sacrament we have received sustain
us, O Lord, that our Lenten fast may be pleasing to you and be for us a healing remedy. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. [Amen.] The Lord be with you. [And with your spirit.] Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing. Pour out a spirit of compunction, O God, on
those who bow before your majesty, and by your mercy may they merit the rewards you
promise to those who do penance, through Christ, our Lord. [Amen.] May the blessing of the almighty God, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit come down upon you, and remain with you now, and
always. [Amen.] Go now in the peace of Christ. [Thanks be to God.]
