Ash Wednesday (Novus Ordo, Year A )
…Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God…
Reading 1:Joel 2:12-18
Yet even now—oracle of the LORD—
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God,
For he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting in punishment.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
Reading 2: 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
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Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026 (Tridentine Latin Mass)
.. thou hast mercy upon all… and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance.
Blessings of the Ashes: Psalm68:17
Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Introit: Wisdom 11: 24-25, 27
But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance. For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any thing hating it. But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest souls.
Epistle: Joel 2:12-19
Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning. 2:13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. 2:14. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? 2:15. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, …
Gradual: Psalm 56:2, 4
56:2. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away. 56:4. He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,
Gospel:Matthew 6:16-21
6:16. And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. 6:17. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face; 6:18. That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee. 6:19. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal. 6:20. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. 6:21. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. …
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