My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we are entering a new Liturgical Season, one of penance and sacrifices. Together, we have gathered here to celebrate “Ash Wednesday,” the first of forty days of the Lenten Season that precedes Easter.

Today, on Ash Wednesday we start preparation for the joy of Easter that approaches.

Today we call upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus, asking Him for His blessings, forgiveness and best preparation during Lent for Easter.

During Lent, through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are going to prepare ourselves to celebrate the death and glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior.

My dear brothers and sisters

As we heard during today’s First Reading from the Book of Joel, the Lord God calls upon us to return to Him with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning. To practice sincere repentance, the Lord God tells us to change our hearts. We are called to examine our most inner self, those evil ways that we have to let go, once and for always.

During today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we heard St. Paul appealing to us on behalf of Jesus to be reconciled to God. God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. He who was without sin took our place and was treated as a sinner, so we might become righteous in the eyes of God. Now is the time for us to show our appreciation to the Lord God by walking in His righteousness so we may inherit the salvation that we have asked of Him and which He is granting to us through His infinite love and mercy.

How do we walk in righteousness?

Jesus answered that question during today’s Reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

It is not by continuing in our worldly ways. It is by embracing a spiritual mind so we may mature in Christ by the grace of God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus warns us against hypocrisy, our piety must manifest private time between the Lord God and ourselves. We must walk with Christ in our lives every minute of the day, from the time we rise in the morning until the time we go to bed at night.

My friends

The church asks us today, at the beginning of Lent to renew our own lives in the great spiritual works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and listen to the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel. Today we try to begin and we receive the ashes as a sign that we are willing to undertake the gospel way of life. When we receive the ashes we hear again the first words of Jesus in Mathew’s gospel: Repent and be faithful to the gospel. So let us begin our lent.

In today’s Gospel Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a contrast given to us today between the person who takes the word of God into his heart and soul and acts on it and the person who simply speaks the word of God but does not live it.

Those who take the word of God into their heart and soul and walk in the way of the Lord, they will receive God’s blessings and will inherit His Heavenly Kingdom. Those who only speak the word of God but do not live it; will not inherit God’s Kingdom. God’s warning is as clear as black and white, there are no grey areas.

Today’s First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy reminds us that today is the day to make a final decision.

I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known.

Today, we must decide if we will walk with God according to His Commandments or against God, contrary to His Commandments. This means that we must be living models of the Christian faith, practicing what we learn from Jesus’ preaching in the Gospel. In Christ, there is one life, one way and one truth.

The Letter to the Romans, from which comes our second reading, puts its focus on faith: we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. We could ask a question very similar to one that Jesus poses elsewhere: who has faith? The one who does the works of faith or the one who only speaks about it?

The Gospel of Matthew today is about belief and faith. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’” The Gospel tells us that doing great work is not enough. Even doing great work in the name of the Lord is not enough. We must believe from our hearts and souls.

So today we are invited to become followers of Christ in a totally committed way, both believing and doing. Doing, by itself, is not good enough. Believing without acting on the belief is not belief. Let us believe as well as practice faith by our actions and deeds in our every day life!

My dear sisters and brothers,

All the readings for today’s Sunday are about trusting our Heavenly Father. Trust in the Lord! That is the strong message of the readings that we have heard today.

In God’s few words from the Book of Isaiah we learn of His Fatherhood. “I will not forget you” says the Lord God.

We have a heavenly Father. Not only is He our Creator, but He also wants to be our Father. While we struggle here on earth, awaiting the day when we will be united with the Heavenly Father, we are told in different words that God is watching over us. He has not forgotten us. If we think that He has forgotten us, it is all in our minds.

The second Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians concerns the ministry of the Apostles. We heard the author say, “Brothers and sisters: ‘Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.’”

In today’s Gospel Jesus said, to His disciples “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Disciples, followers of Christ, cannot have a divided loyalty.

Changing the subject, Jesus said in today’s Gospel, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Today, Jesus reminds us who follow Him that we are more important than flowers, than the grass, than swallows. His promise to us is that He will take care of us even more than He does of the plants and birds. This teaching of Jesus reminds us that we are called to a distinct way of life, not a worldly way but a spiritual way. We are called to trust in God who knows what we need and to believe that God will give it to us. Blessed is he who places his trust in the Lord Jesus!

We are called can pray for a deeper commitment to God for ourselves and for others. This week my brothers and sisters in Christ let us pray for each other, that we may receive the gift of faith that is necessary to trust in our Heavenly Father so we may not worry about tomorrow.

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today we celebrate 7th Sunday of Ordinary time.

If we remember last passages from the gospels, they concern Jesus` evocation to be a good person, a good disciple. He never said to us it will be easy but He said it is possible. He invites us to make a choice.

To be His disciple required follow Him and realize in our life His teaching.

Jesus invites us to follow Him in a very radical kind of way. Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus invites us to be holy as God is holy. The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

An invitation from the Lord needs to be taken seriously. We humans often take our time responding to God, even when we have the best of will. For example St Francis of Assisi and many Saints respond to God in right way made their lives holy and has taken it seriously. Most of us say yes to God and then take our time giving our whole self. We give in bit by bit. Perhaps that is why Jesus in today’s Gospel presents His teaching so simply. He does not want us to misunderstand what it means to follow Him.

We must be willing to give up everything.
We are called to be holy and called to be perfect.
When we pray to God every day –- we follow Him.
When we help our neighbors –- we are His disciples.
And when we work honestly –- we also are heavenly Father’s children. Because, because Jesus says to us:” Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust”.

Holiness is simply living for God in every aspect of our lives.

My dear brothers and sisters

The First Letter to the Corinthians, from which we get today’s second reading, is really clear that all that is good in us comes from the Lord. It is really clear if we are to be wise, it can only be as God is wise.

Let us give thanks to God today that we have been given the gift of faith. Let us ask that our faith may be lively and draw us deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God. Let us become radical in our living and gentle in our loving.