Crosses Made of Ash

So yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and tonight at IV (aka Intervarsity Christian Fellowship) Father Don spoke on what Lent really is. He gave a lot of history about the season of Lent, how certain traditions developed and the context through which such traditions can be applied today. While nothing earth-shattering or spectacular was revealed to me through his talk, I did think a lot about what Lent is to me.

Living on the campus of a Catholic school where, decidedly, not everyone is Catholic has been an interesting experience for me. I've made lots of wonderful friends from assorted backgrounds of faith, and life in general. But somehow, for some reason, I always feel like that part of me, the faith that is so central to who I am should be kept somewhere inside, somewhere that I can't go with everyone that I meet.

Walking across campus on Wednesday, knowing that I have a huge black cross on my forehead, was so exhilerating. Knowing, that for whatever it was worth, at least my identity as a Catholic was clear to those I met. Sure, no one could really know how deeply my faith takes root in my life from casually passing me in the Quad, but I know and that's what is really important. It made me wish that every day was Ash Wednesday, that I could walk around with an ashen cross on my forehead everyday, not in a prideful way, not to prove to everyone that I had gone to mass that day, but as some outward, physical symbol of what is so clear to me on the inside.

So that's my Lentan goal, besides trying to eliminate sugar from my diet, which is proving more difficult than anyone could imagine. :) To seek to live a life true to who I am and who God is in me...I think that's a journey I will be honored to travel.