FEBRUARY 28 Mon Weekday1 Pt 1:3-9/Mk 10:17-27 

MARCH 1 Tue Weekday 1 Pt 1:10-16/Mk 10:28-31

1 Tue The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden, Her 5:1-9/ Lk222:39-46

2 Wed Ash Wednesday Jl 2:12-18/2 Cor 5:20—6:2/Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 

3 Thu after Ash Wednesday [USA: Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin]

Dt 30:15-20/Lk 9:22-25 

4 Fri after Ash Wednesday [Saint Casimir] Is 58:1-9a/Mt 9:14-15 

5 Sat after Ash Wednesday Is 58:9b-14/Lk 5:27-32

6 SUN FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT Dt 26:4-10/Rom 10:8-13/Lk 4:1-13 

The final daily readings from Mark’s gospel, Monday and Tuesday, introduce the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Monday the rich young man ( Mk 10:17-27) hesitates before the invitation of Jesus. He represents  humanity hesitant before God’s gracious invitation.

The Passionist calendar, Tuesday, offer a memorial of the Prayer of Jesus in the Garden. St. Paul of the Cross understood the need to pray in order to  enter into the mysteries of God.

The readings and rites of Ash Wednesday offer basic directions for entering the Lenten season–prayer, fasting and almsgiving. How will ashes be administered this year?

The 1st Sunday of Lent recalls the Temptation of Jesus, this year from the Gospel of Luke. This year the pandemic seems in decline, but war isn’t. The world is still in a desert.

During Lent saints’ feast days are few, so as not to overshadow the readings and events of the season. Most feasts of the saints celebrated are optional memorials in the liturgical calendar of the USA.