My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this first Ash Wednesday of my priestly life, I would like to share two incidents with you which offer us a way to purify our practice of this holy season of Lent into which we are proceeding.
In discussion with a priest, I indicated that I was thinking of giving up meat altogether this holy season. This seemed to enrage the priest who set upon me, indicating that he thought that these kinds of fasts were pointless, because after Lent, people went on a rampage gorging themselves on meat, or drink, or whatever they abstained from during Lent.
The second incident took place at a carnivalesque party I attended. Once again, the forthcoming season of Lent entered the conversation, and one man indicated that he did not believe in giving up anything during Lent. He rationalized that what we were supposed to do was to put in the money that we would have used to buy ourselves a drink, or other goodie, and at the end of Lent give that to charity. He then proceeded to joke that we could just as well put in the money and have the drink.
Both these scenarios, my dear brothers and sisters, horrified me, because I recognized in them the diabolical; the work of the devil. In our times the work of the devil has been primarily through urging us against external demonstrations of piety, of physical exertions of penitence and fasting. What is important is the mind, we are told. We have to convert our attitudes, we are told, and the physical actions do not really matter.
As with most things about the devil, there is some truth in the proposition. It is true that our intentions must be purified, but the little deviation that he effects eventually takes us miles away from the devout life, and the devil wins! Let us remind, ourselves, my dear brothers and sisters, through recourse to the Collect for the mass on Ash Wednesday, as to the purpose of our Lenten fasts and penitence.
Support us, Lord, as with this Lent fast
we begin our Christian warfare,
so that in doing battle against the spirit of evil
we may be armed with the weapon of self-denial.
Clearly, the season of Lent is a campaign of spiritual warfare, where supported by our Lord, we do battle with the devil, for the sake of our souls, and those of others, arming ourselves with weapons of self-denial. This is the purpose of our Lenten fasts, my dear brothers and sisters, and we can only exercise self-restraint if we physically abstain from pleasures of the flesh – no matter how innocent these pleasures may seem.
The diabolical urge to restrict Lenten exercises to the intellectual is in part the result of a misinterpretation of today’s Gospel. For decades now we have been urged to interpret the Gospel as Our Lord asking us to hide our prayer and fasting, and our pious acts and penitence. But this is NOT the intention of Our Lord. Let us re-read these verses and enter into the correct spirit that animates them:
Take care not to perform righteous
deeds
in order that people may see them; [italicized emphasis mine]
When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them. [italicized emphasis mine]
“in order that people may see them”, “so that others may see them”! These are the operative words of the Gospel! And similarly with the other lessons we see the same caution:
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
….
to win the praise of others.
In other words, do not act with the sole intention that others may see you. We are doing these acts not to gain the admiration and praise of people, but so that we may gain, as in the words of the Gospel today;
recompense from your heavenly Father.
The Fathers of the Church are also in agreement with this reading of the scriptures. No lesser an authority that the great St. John Chrysostum says “He [that is Our Lord] is not focusing simply on the outward act done but the inward intent.”
Our Lord warns that if we act with the intention to gain the admiration and praise of this world, then our reward will be the fleeting and temporary rewards of this world. Our attention during this holy season of Lent must be turned not towards this world, but to the world that is to come, the world towards which we are all headed in pilgrimage.
In defence of the public enactment of our piety and penance, the Church Fathers point to the command of our Lord (Mt 5: 16)
Let your light shine so that others may see your good works and may glorify your Father who is in heaven.
In other words, do your works of piety, penitence, and charity in full view of the world, but care little for what they say or do to you as a result. The only reason you are undertaking these acts, is to gain reward in heaven, and to draw more people to our God.
As St. Paul counsels us in the second reading:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
God has made us the heralds of His Gospel and wishes that we teach others how to live pious Christian lives. Our job, my dear brothers and sisters, is to convert the world to the faith, and we can do this only if we lead visibly pious lives. Lives that are not a sham, but genuinely pious! This is the task that we must set for ourselves this Lent. Grow in piety through actions that are not restricted to our mind, but carried out in full view of everyone, regardless of what they say.
May Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, His Holy Angels and Saints support us in your spiritual warfare this holy season.
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the Cathedral parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria on 18 Feb 2026.)
(Image reference: Mary Hands Over the Infant Jesus to the Archangel Gabriel so that She can Beat a Demon, The Taymouth Hours, 14th Cent., Yates Thompson Collection of the British Library.)
