Ash Wednesday

Today marks Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.

Lent is traditionally a time of prayer, fasting and alms-giving.  We often think of it as a time to ‘give up’ something – some pastime, entertainment, or treat.Our society tends to look on these as ‘giving up’ in a negative sense.

The point of all of this is, actually, to self examine ourselves without all the ‘extras’ and to see where our priorities really are in our relationship with God and with others.  It is an opportunity to, if necessary, realign our lives, orienting them towards God – and we do this by embracing that pilgrim path in imitation of Jesus.

In fact, the Christian who practices these three postures is choosing something – a greater good. It is an annual example of what we as Christians are called to do in our lives; to give up those things that can become an obstruction to our relationship with God.

It may be that, rather than chocolate, we derive some pleasure from speaking sharply to a particular person; perhaps we have a certain place that we ‘hang out’ that, when we do, always results in us overindulging in something that ends in hurt, guilt or anger.  These too are little ‘pleasures’ that draw us further away from God and others – these are the things that we need to ‘give up’.

My prayer and wish for you is that this Lent proves to be fruitful and meaningful, both for you and those nearest to you.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!