By Guy Lee
On Ash Wednesday, my good friend happily texted me a selfie of a miniature black cross on her forehead.
We often exchange “remarks” and jokes, so I was tempted to confess to her, with some clever comment, why my forehead has always been clean on the first Lenten day. But my wife had already texted to thank her for sharing her happiness with us.
During the weekend I thought often about the motivation behind my reluctance to participate in Ash Wednesday.
Was my life-long abstinence a mark of vanity? Or something else?
I understand that the purpose of the liturgical calendar, especially the Advent and Christmas to Lent and Easter sequence, is to emphasize and remind us that our Faith is a living journey and a continuous work-in-progress.
Was I an impatient reader (or character) who didn’t want to follow all the complications and just jump to see the ending?
Or was I a reader (or character) who didn’t want to bother with all the details, painful and otherwise, because I already knew the happy ending and felt comforted by the Good News of Jesus’ life?
Do we need more reminders of our mortality or our immortality? Death after life is a self-evident truth needing only the testimony of our eyes; but life after death is a revealed truth with biblical testimony needing a leap of faith.
Which is more important or reassuring, Ash Wednesday as a dark sign of our mortality or Easter Sunday as a bright sign of our immortality?
Do you remember the joke that begins “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
Do you want to see a ghost? … The bad news is that it will scare you to death. The good news is that it will show you ARE immortal.
A faithful Hawaii Catholic Herald reader, my good friend will see the results of her unintentional “good trouble” and text me.
But I won’t need to hit REPLY.
So, thanks for this story idea and your understanding.
Guy Lee is a parishioner at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa
