The Saturday of Ember Week in Lent
Posted on February 28, 2026 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:12-19 (NKJV)
26:12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. 18 Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”
Devotion
A broken and contrite heart God does not despise. The Lord loves the penitent. What makes a person truly penitent is not just confessing one’s sins. This is only one part of repentance. True penitence is in choosing the Lord as one’s God. As we say in our Catechism, repentance embraces two parts: one, that we confess our sins, and two, that we cling in faith to God. Contrition—sorrow over our sins—and faith equals repentance. Therefore, a broken and contrite heart is not despised by God, for this is a heart that trusts in Him by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Those who choose God as their Lord also obey His commandments. Out of love for their Lord they are careful to observe His Law with all their heart and with all their soul. One cannot claim to love Him and ignore or reject His Law. One cannot claim to have chosen Him as their God if they hate what He has commanded them to do. Therefore, we who cling to Him in faith are careful to do all that He commands us to do.
When we fail in keeping His commandments, then we humbly confess our sins and look to Him who has redeemed us from sin and death by His perfect obedience to the Law. We look to Him who paid the penalty of our transgressions by hanging upon the cursed tree of the cross. We cling in faith to the Lord Jesus, for in Him is redemption.
Collect: O God, Who seest that of ourselves we have no strength: Keep us both outwardly and inwardly, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Invocavit Sunday
O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
