ASH WEDNESDAY

Order of Service

The Invocation

The Collect

The Old Testament Lesson

The Psalm

The Epistle

The Gospel

Exaudi Nos

Blessing of Ashes

Imposition of Ashes at the Altar Rail

Miserere mei, Deus, Pslam Li.

The Mass   Book of Common Prayer, Beginning Page 76

 

First Lesson: Iasiah 58:1-12 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 

Psalm 51 [1] Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
[3] For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.
[5] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
[6] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8] Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
[9] Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
[11] Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
[12] Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
[13] Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.
[14] Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
[15] O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
[16] For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.
[17] The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
[18] Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

[19] then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

 

FOR EPISTLE. Joel 2:12-17 12 TURN ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

 

GRADUAL. Ps. 57. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee. V. He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproof of him that would eat me up. Ps. 103. O Lord, deal not with us after our sins; nor reward us according to wickednesses. V. Ps. 79. Lord, remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon: for we are come to great misery. V. (Here genuflect.) Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy Name, O Lord: O deliver us and be merciful unto our sins, for thy Name’s sake.

 

GOSPEL. St. Matthew 6:16-21 16 AT that time; Jesus said unto his disciples: when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.