"Remember man...

...that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return"

If there was to be any day to remind us Catholics of our mortality it is "Ash Wednesday".

My favourite Gospel reading was read yesterday, it conjures many images in my head (having seen the Passion of the Christ) of people, dressed like Caiaphas standing on the street corners, proclaiming the Old Covenant to the people. It seems to me a funny image, but I might be alone on this one.

Our Lords message in yesterdays Gospel was pretty straight forward; humility. We should be humble before the Lord for it does not matter what other people think of us. All that matters is what the; Father who sees all that is done in secret, sees us doing.

Our Lord tells us not to have sad faces when we fast, but to show no sign of the lack of strength brought on by ones fasting, to carry on as normal for the Father sees everything, and it is only his opinion that matters.

So we must come humbly before the Father not boasting about what we are doing. We must take up the message of yesterdays Gospel; humility, not just in Lent, but throughout the whole year, for the rest of our lives.

We must come humbly before the one who, "so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

In Domino