The best kept secrets of Lent

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For 25 February 2009, Ash Wednesday, based on Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Jesus said: “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever 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.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.


Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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About Margaret Ormond, O.P.

Margaret Ormond, OP is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Mary of the Springs which she entered in 1962. She comes from Brooklyn, New York and spent most of her ministerial life in Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois, where she worked in education, formation, preaching with Parable and leadership. In 1998 she became the first International Coordinator of Dominican Sisters International (DSI). She just completed nine years in this ministry and hopes to continue some form of missionary work in East Africa.