Podcast: Ash Wednesday, Year A

Hi and welcome to The Modern Psalmist Podcast. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

Today we begin our lenten season with Ash Wednesday, and the first episode of Season 6 of this podcast. This is also the first season of the podcast that is presented in a video format.

During these 40 days of Lent, which includes prescribed fasting, prayer, and repentance, we are truly given an opportunity to turn our hearts more fully to the Lord.

My goal is to provide a new approach to praying more deeply with the psalms, antiphons, and other scriptures each Sunday. Each one of us is called to truly explore and meditate on the sacred scriptures so that be can become more like Christ, and realize the best version of ourselves.

Beginning with the entrance antiphon for today, taken from the book of Wisdom, chapter 11, verses 24, 25, & 27,
we are reminded that, despite our shortcomings, our Lord always welcomes us back into complete fellowship with him when we ask for mercy.

The psalm from today, from chapter 51, is the first psalm I ever composed music for – about 18 years ago. You could say that The Modern Psalmist began with this very psalm.

Biblical scholars attribute Psalm 51 to king David, purportedly composed right after he was rebuked by Nathan the prophet for murdering Bathsheba’s husband by having him abandoned on the front lines of battle, then taking Bathsheba for his wife.

The passion and grief in his repentance is very thoroughly expressed in the words of this famous psalm.

While the Entrance Antiphon and Responsorial Psalm center around repentance and returning to God, the Gospel Acclamation and Communion Antiphon direct our focus to how we should conduct ourselves after repentance: we need to be attentive to the Word of God.

The gospel acclamation for Ash Wednesday is taken from Psalm chapter 95, verse 8:

“If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.”

It’s one thing to listen for God’s voice, and it’s even greater actually to *hear* his voice. But then, we have to chose to obey what we hear.

Along the same lines of listening to and obeying the Word of God, our communion Antiphon, taken from Psalm 1:2-3, tells us:

“He who ponders the law of the Lord day and night
will yield fruit in due season.”

Just as Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days, we are charged to enter a similar season in our own lives as faithful Christians.

The United States Council of Catholic Bishops says that:

Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday.

So it’s appropriate that the gospel for today shares the temptations that Jesus faced and overcame after his own 40-day period of fasting in the desert. We are called as disciples of Christ to follow his example.

Therefore I chose a rather ancient song to feature today titled “Forty Days and Forty Nights” written by John Daye in 1584. I invite you to listen closely to the verses in the song as they so poetically communicate the message from today’s gospel, and in turn, encourage us to follow the example of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wert fasting in the wild
Forty days and forty nights
tempted and yet undefiled

Should not we thy sorrow share
and from earthly joys abstain
fasting with unceasing prayer
glad with thee to suffer pain

Then of Satan on us press
flesh or spirit to assail
victor in the wilderness
grant we may not faint or fail

So shall we have peace divine
holier gladness ours shall be
round us too shall angels shine
such as ministered to thee

That was “Forty Days and Forty Nights” for Ash Wednesday and the beginning of our lenten season. Links to all the song recordings and sheet music from this episode can be found in the show notes or on TheModernPsalmist.com.

Tune in next Sunday for the 1st Sunday of Lent. Also, if you feel this podcast is enriching to your Lenten journey, please share it with others who also can benefit from it.

Until next time, may God bless you abundantly!