An agenda for Lent

 Every year I am amused by the wave of Lenten ash crosses that cover the pages of social media. No sooner do people have the cross daubed on their foreheads by an enthusiastic priest than they are doing a selfie and pinning themselves up digitally for all to see. The race is on to find the biggest, boldest definition of the cross, and of course to wear it proudly for as long as it stays put. To all intents and purposes, the motive is a simple one: in this world that wants to make religion private, this is the one day in the year that our religion invites us to carry a public sign of our dedication to the cross. And this amuses me only because it seems to run directly contrary to what Jesus says in the very gospel that is used for Ash Wednesday: don't parade your good deeds before men.   

I think the key to the mistake we are possibly making here is that such a display of the cross is a reactionary one. In other words, it is a sign not of boldness so much as of simmering insecurity about our position. We have to struggle against the world of course, but we must do so in the confidence of Jesus' love; not through a kind of deliberate ostentation. 

The reason for this is found in the gospel again: the danger of deliberate, self-conscious ostentation is that our hearts are too easily drawn towards the vanity of the thing. We risk becoming hypocrites who want to be praised or admired. What we might assume is an act of edification risks pulling us towards self aggrandisement. See how bold be are? We are not afraid!

But if we have to act big, the truth is that we aren't big. We must embrace and use the signs and sacramentals of our Faith - the ashen crosses or other signs - but we do not need to fuss about them like so many do on social media. In fact, the opposite is the case. Jesus tells us specifically: wash your face, slap on your make up (well, he says oil!) and get on with your day.  In this we are not hiding; rather we are placing ourselves before the gaze of the only One who matters: the Father in heaven.

This gospel tells us everything about what Jesus prizes in us: purity of heart and intention before everything. Let us stand in our hearts before our Father; let us seek to please only Him; let us allow ourselves to be, if necessary, the hidden leaven. And then if anyone bites us, let them find that in fact we are the salt of the earth!

Prayer, fasting and alms-giving: these are the remedies for our sins that the Church gives us now. But everything with a cheerful face and heart. All the rest is vanity.