February 12
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Feast shown for the year 2027; movable feasts can vary from year to year.
The Friday after Ash Wednesday is one of the earliest steps on the Church’s Lenten journey. Following the solemn beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, this day continues the call to repentance, prayer, and fasting, inviting Christians to interior conversion and a renewed commitment to the Gospel. During this season, the Church recalls Jesus's time of fasting in the desert and invites the faithful to imitate his example through acts of penance and charity. The readings and prayers for this day often focus on turning away from sin and responding generously to God’s invitation to mercy. Historically, during early centuries, Lent developed as a period of intense spiritual preparation, especially for those to be baptized at Easter but also as a time of renewal for all the faithful.
The Friday after Ash Wednesday echoes the penitential spirit of Lent, emphasizing works of mercy and self-denial. Fasting and abstinence are traditional practices on Lenten Fridays, reminding Catholics of their dependence on God and solidarity with the poor. The Church does not celebrate a particular saint or martyr today, but rather dedicates this day to collective conversion of heart and spiritual discipline. Through Scriptures, prayer, and communal observance, the Church encourages all to embark upon the Lenten journey with sincerity, acknowledging our need for God's grace.
Permanent link
Ask a question about today’s feast
Questions about Friday after Ash Wednesday (Novus Ordo Missae)
Liturgical texts of February 12, 2027
The liturgical day
Mass readings
ReadingIs 58, 1-9a
Thus speaks the Lord God:
Cry out at the top of your voice! Do not hold back!
Let your voice ring out like a horn!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Day after day they seek me out,
they want to know my ways.
As if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the law of their God,
they ask me for just judgments,
they want God to be near:
“When we fast,
why do you not see it?
When we do penance,
why do you not notice?”
Yes, but on the day you fast,
you look after your own business,
and you are harsh with those who work for you.
Your fasting leads to quarrels and disputes,
to striking with wicked fists.
It is not by fasting as you do today
that your voice will be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I desire?
A day when a person humbles himself?
Is it to bow his head like a reed,
to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
The fast that pleases me, is it not this:
to break unjust chains,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
to shatter every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to shelter the poor homeless,
to clothe the one you see naked,
to not turn away from your own kin?
Then your light will burst forth like the dawn,
and your strength will return quickly.
Justice will walk ahead of you,
and the glory of the Lord will follow behind.
Then, when you call, the Lord will answer;
when you cry out, he will say, “Here I am.”
– The word of the Lord.
Psalm50 (51), 3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your love,
In your great mercy, wipe away my sin.
Wash me clean from all my guilt,
purify me from my offense.
Yes, I know my sin;
my fault is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight, I have done.
If I offer a sacrifice, you do not want it,
you take no delight in holocausts.
The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit;
you do not reject, O my God, a broken and contrite heart.
GospelMt 9, 14-15
At that time,
the disciples of John the Baptist approached Jesus
and said:
“Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them:
“Can the wedding guests mourn
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them;
then they will fast.”
– Let us acclaim the word of God.
Liturgical texts: © AELF — aelf.org