Yes, we mark our heads with ashes...

Yes, we mark our heads with ashes—public shows of piety are not in themselves evil. But we must guard our motivations and do most of our spiritual work in private, because the privacy of those acts reveals (if only to us) our dependence on God.

The private acts Jesus calls for include acts of mercy toward the needy… Ash Wednesday, then, reminds us of one of the things it is easy to forget during the course of our journey with God: the stepped on people of the world… Lent is not merely about extended reflections on our own mortality. It’s a chance to open our lives and hearts to the…