Lent: The Joyful Season

Ash Wednesday is a curious day. On this day, we focus on our mortality and our sinfulness and yet, this day is strangely consoling. This is a day and a season to face the truth about our lives, and the truth about God. The ash on our forehead, the reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return is an unmistakable reminder that we will all die. We live in a society that doesn't like to talk about death, and tries to deny it as much as possible. But we know the truth in our hearts-death is inevitable. As a friend of mine likes to say, no one gets out of here alive.

Christianity does not sugar coat this fact-and in fact purposely calls our attention to it on this day-rubs our faces in it you might say. Why? Because when we open our eyes to the fact that we will die someday, we tend to adjust our priorities and focus on what is most important. We stop sweating the small stuff. We are more thankful for our lives, more thankful for the people we love, and more likely to do the things we have always felt called to do, but for some reason, never have. We are more likely to reconcile with the people who have hurt us and those whom we have hurt, and to let go of our grievances. And we are more likely to focus on our relationship with God-the giver of all good gifts, from this mortal life to the life of the world to come. So there is a deep consolation in pondering our mortality-it helps us to value the precious gift of life, and the Giver of that gift.

Another truth that our faith puts in front of us this day is our sinfulness-putting ashes on your face is an ancient symbol of repentance and mourning over sin. There's a subtle humor in putting ashes on our foreheads and then going out in public, because we always read Matthew's gospel on Ash Wednesday and it tells us to do the opposite: to do our prayers, our repentance, our fasting in private because if we do it in public, it's not about God anymore, it's about looking good. So in the very act of putting the ashes on our foreheads we are convicting ourselves as hypocrites who care more about looking good than about God.

How is pondering our sinfulness consoling? It can lead us to spiritual perfectionism and also to guilt and despair which are not at all consoling. But I don't think God intends for us to drive ourselves on to perfection, or to be overwhelmed with guilt when we fall short. St. Ignatius says that God does not show us our sinfulness in order to shame us but in order to give us grace. The point of acknowledging our sinfulness is to face the truth that we are human beings-with limitations, weaknesses and faults. And facing that truth is what opens us up to embrace another truth-that God loves us deeply and unconditionally despite our limitations and weaknesses and faults. God has already forgiven us. God is like the father of the prodigal son, waiting to embrace us and celebrate over us. But the prodigal son had to exhaust his own resources and get to rock bottom before he realized that he needed his father's love and forgiveness. He had to come home. Acknowledging our sinfulness is coming home to the truth that we are limited human beings and we can't do it on our own. We need God's abiding love and grace.

But that gift of love and grace is freely available to us, just as the gift of new life is freely available. Each year, the season of Lent is an invitation to live more deeply in the reality of God's love. Each year, we have a fresh opportunity to see ourselves as we really are and to know at a deeper level that our true self is the one that God loves.

The classic Lenten disciplines are all about seeing ourselves as we are, and opening ourselves to God's unconditional love. Self-examination, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and meditating on Scripture are all ways of spending more time with God and growing in our ability to accept God's love. Through self-examination, we uncover the places in our spirits that need healing or forgiveness. Through fasting, we may experience a clearer mind and a deeper appreciation of the good gifts we are given each day. Almsgiving is a way of loving our neighbors, which is one of God's favorite ways of being loved. Meditating on Scripture and prayer are ways of opening our hearts to God's love which is infinitely greater than we could ask or imagine.

Whatever you do this Lent, remember that it is a season of consolation, and not of spiritual perfectionism, guilt or despair. It is a season to live in the truth and let the truth set us free. We will die, but we are destined for eternal life. We are sinners, but we are loved and forgiven. We are limited human beings but we are God's own children, forgiven, loved and free.