It's entertaining, in ordinary times (not to be confused with "Ordinary Time") to listen to the Ash Wednesday Gospel, where Our Lord talks about not letting your fasting appear before men, and then get a big ole' prominent cross smeared on one's forehead.
Then again, the first and second readings are about public professions of faith. The first reading, Joel 2:12-18, talks about repentance and a fast, but one that is to be proclaimed to "the multitude" by trumpets; the second reading (from 2 Corinthians) is about Christians being "ambassadors for Christ."
So which is it? Are we to be public about our religious practices, as the readings suggest, or private, as Jesus's words might seem to imply?
The obvious answer is that it depends. What Jesus warns against is making one's religious practices a point of pride, a way of suggesting to those who witness them that one is, in fact, better than they. If you're getting your ashes to look good to your coworkers, Catholic or otherwise, you run afoul of his admonition. The same goes for any religious version of virtue signaling (and indeed, for virtue signaling itself!).
In fact, to use a religious practice as a way of showing off one's virtue is precisely not the right way to be an ambassador for Christ. Fasting, almsgiving, and praying so everyone can see how observant you are is ... not Christlike.
Yet neither is it Christlike to act as if Christ has no part in our lives. If his relationship with us really is the most important part of our lives, we'd expect it to show to others: both in terms of our being a kind person, and in terms of our having about us from time to time the physical paraphernalia of religion. One would expect a Christian to, for instance, sometimes read from a Bible or other religious book; expect them to take some time off around Easter and Christmas to worship; one would expect a Catholic to make it to daily Mass sometimes, or have a rosary or crucifix in their pockets or at their place of work, or, well, have ashes on their forehead on Ash Wednesday. Not because these things prove our holiness, but because part of being an ambassador for Christ means not hiding the fact that you belong to him.
Blog linkup: https://rosie-ablogformymom.blogspot.com/2021/02/just-because-volume-5.html#more
3 comments:
This is why the "ashtag" selfies always make me so uncomfortable! Such a weird trend, and apparently a few apps made "ash filters" so people can take pictures of themselves with "ashes" if theirs aren't visible. It's such a fine line between penitence and cringeworthy-ness...
Coming here from Rosie's linkup! I was JUST talking about this with my coworker this morning. Due to Covid, most of our local churches imposed ashes on the top of the head yesterday instead of on the forehead and I liked it so much better. But I do also appreciate discovering that various acquaintances/coworkers are Catholic when that topic hasn't come up in conversation before. I think you're so right that it all comes down to our intention and motivation.
Rosie, ashtag selfies??? I must not spend enough time on social media. ;-) But yes, it's easy to see the motivation slipping when one starts doing that sort of thing ...
Kate, I hear you! I was always self-conscious going to work with ashes on my forehead in previous years. On the other hand--all my coworkers knew I was Christian, and most knew I was Catholic; and it was always nice to find the other "hidden Catholics" walking to and from work! I do miss that. I wonder if, for instance, orthodox Jews have an advantage over Catholics in this regard: it's much easier for them to recognize each other "in the wild".
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