You're listening to the I Pray with the Gospel Sunday Reflection on the St. Jose Maria Institute podcast.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear

me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord,

my guardian angel, intercede for me. Ash Wednesday, a reading from the Gospel of Matthew

Chapter 6. Jesus said to his disciples, beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them,

for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. Thus when you pray, you must not

look like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street

corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received 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. Today we start Lent, a time of preparation

for Easter. The word Lent comes from the old English

word, which means springtime. It reminds us of spring cleaning and the new life evident in nature

this time of year. Lent is a special time of grace for us when we can do some spring cleaning

in our lives and enjoy new life as a result.

Sometimes people ask, what are you doing for lent? And they expect an answer like, I'm giving up

chocolate. There's only one thing that we should all strive to give up this lent. Sin. Lent is like a

stool that has three legs, prayer, sacrifice, and charity. If one of the legs is missing,

Lent cannot stand. So our Lenton resolutions should be in these three areas. Maybe we do not need to

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