lent

¹⁶And when you fast, do not choose to become gloomy, like the hypocrites. For they alter their faces, so that their fasting may be apparent to men. Amen I say to you, that they have received their reward. ¹⁷But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting will not be apparent to men, but to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

¹“Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven. ²Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you. ⁵And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, in order to be tempted by the devil. ²And when he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. ³And approaching, the tempter said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” ⁴And in response he said, “It has been written: ‘Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” ⁵Then the devil took him up, into the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶and said to him: “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it has been written: ‘For he has given charge of you to his angels, and they shall take you into their hands, lest perhaps you may hurt your foot against a stone.’ ”

¹²Now, therefore, the Lord says: “Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning.” ¹³And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and convert to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and merciful, patient and full of compassion, and steadfast despite ill will.

⁶And so, be humbled under the powerful hand of God, so that he may exalt you in the time of visitation.

⁶Is not this, instead, the kind of fast that I have chosen? Release the constraints of impiety; relieve the burdens that oppress; freely forgive those who are broken; and break apart every burden. ⁷Break your bread with the hungry, and lead the destitute and the homeless into your house. When you see someone naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh.

¹Now the Spirit has clearly said that, in the end times, some persons will depart from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils, ²speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their consciences seared, ³prohibiting marriage, abstaining from foods, which God has created to be accepted with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have understood the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving; ⁵for it has been sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer.

¹⁶Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths. ¹⁷For these are a shadow of the future, but the body is of Christ.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

¹⁵and saying: “For the time has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

²⁵I am. I am the very One who wipes away your iniquities for my own sake. And I will not remember your sins.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken. For dust you are, and unto dust you shall return.”

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has regenerated us into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead:

⁹And he distinguished nothing between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

³No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all perish similarly.

³And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to ask and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

¹Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus knew that the hour was approaching when he would pass from this world to the Father. And since he had always loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. ²And when the meal had taken place, when the devil had now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, ³knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he came from God and was going to God, ⁴he rose up from the meal, and he set aside his vestments, and when he had received a towel, he wrapped it around himself. ⁵Next he put water into a shallow bowl, and he began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel with which he was wrapped. ⁶And then he came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to him, “Lord, would you wash my feet?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them: “How can the sons of the groom mourn, while the groom is still with them? But the days will arrive when the groom will be taken away from them. And then they shall fast.

²¹But if the impious man does penance for all his sins which he has committed, and if he keeps all my precepts, and accomplishes judgment and justice, then he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.