Ash Wednesday Meditation
It’s a common, ordinary thing in society and social life to worry at least sometimes about our reputation. None of us want to be the object of gossip. Nobody relishes being talked about or mocked.
That's one reason we have the expression “to put on a brave face” or “to put a good face on it.” Sometimes it happens to all of us: we pretend we’re feeling ok, when, in reality, on the inside, maybe we’re hurt, angry, lonely, ashamed, confused, or just feeling low in ways we can't quite articulate. In those moments, because we’re afraid of what other people might think, or maybe because life is just going too fast, we sometimes wear a mask.
Wearing a mask can even become a habit, to the point where we forget who we are without the mask, and to whom we ultimately belong.
The good news about Lent is that God is not a gossip. God will never laugh at us. Whatever it is we fear from the crowd or peer pressure, God is not like that. God has time to go deep. We don’t have to perform or wear a mask for God.
On the contrary, we can be real with God. Today’s reading, Joel 2:12-18, explains the reason. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.
This mercy isn’t indifference, as if God doesn’t care what we do, as if there are no standards of right and wrong.
God’s mercy is more like patience and love mingled together. God’s mercy is more like: “I see what you’re doing. I see the real you. I, the Lord God, I know you on the inside, the hidden you – and I love you anyway."
God has the time and patience to let his mercy work on us. His patient kindness can be searing, because it invites us to get real. There is no hiding from God. His mercy disarms our excuses.
God's presence and mercy despite our sin is a spiritual power. When we pray and talk honestly with God, we become free, honest about what we’re like when the mask is off, free to face parts of ourselves that we might otherwise be tempted to deny or rationalize away. That's when real forgiveness and spiritual growth can occur.
The ashes we’re about to receive on our foreheads are symbols of repentance. The ashes say no more games, no more masks, no more rationalizations. That ashes are a way of admitting: we’ve become tangled up in sin and pride. The ashes say: Lord, I want to face the real me, I want to make a new start, I want to change gears, and become who you are calling me to become. I'm going to give the next 40 days to breaking bad habits that keep me from you, and starting virtuous habits that make me docile and available for you.
We can praise, thank, and love God for his mercy, which makes this Lenten journey possible.
Ash Wednesday by Charles de Groux, 1866
