The exultant fronds of Palm Sunday have been reduced to ashes. The Church reminds us of our own mortality and bids us to reorient our lives. There is a certain drama about the Lenten season; churches are stripped bare, and the liturgy is shrouded in purple. Fasting and penitential practice assume an unaccustomed visibility, even if we ourselves manage to sidestep any suggestion of personal involvement.
Yet, the meaning of Lent is deeper than any of the practices it entails. Jesus reminds us that prayer and fasting and almsgiving—although praiseworthy in themselves—can easily be subverted into an exercise in public relations. Something else needs to be going on, something more profound than virtue signaling. Is there a deeper significance to these practices that renders them valuable?
Perhaps the reading from St. Paul offers a clue. Good deeds can serve to indicate a willingness to recalibrate our relationship with God. They seek to repair the damage we have done ourselves and reach out for reconciliation with God. By accepting the grace to deny selfishness and give to God and to others, we are assigning priority to our relationship with God. We are expressing our desire to turn away from sin and live in accordance with the Gospel.
Lent prompts us to recognize the urgency of personal renewal. We need to have a change of heart: to take up the battle against spiritual evils with the weapons on self-restraint. And now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation.
