Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, c.1860 by Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885), © Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

I was surprised at first when I received today's artwork from ChristianArt. The painting is of a clown sitting in what I took to be a prison cell.  I thought of "Vesti la Giubba", the famous aria from opera "I Pagliacci", where the clown has to go on with the show despite his broken heart. In fact the opera was not written until 1892, 30 years or so after the pictuure was painted by German Carl Spitzweg around 1860.  But the painting is entitled "Ash Wednesday", so my next though was of the Carnival, and in particular the "Carnevale" in Venice where people dress up in costumes and masks, and where one of the traditional characters is the Pierrot, the clown. This festival takes place in the days before Lent begins, when you had to use up the food that would not be eaten in that season. By extension, a good time in general was, and is, had by all before the austerity of Lent. The word carnival comes from the Latin for "farewell to meat" = vale carne.

Now the picture started to make more sense. The carival is over, as the Seekers sang back in the 60s. Our clown has had his fun and now finds himself alone in a quiet place. I originally thought he was in prison, but not necessarily so. However, everything is indeed bare, and he bows his head as he starts to reflect after all the activity of the carnival. Time to reflect, to see how things are going in our lives when we look beyond the surface stuff - under the clown's garb, the priest's garb, or anyone's garb or outer appearance.

In Mass this morning I reflected on the opening words of the first reading, from the prophet Joel:

   Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –come back to me with all your heart

Today, as Lent begins, the Lord calls us back in the central areas of our Christian life - our relationships with Hm, with our neighbour and with ourselves, as indicated by the Gospel's drawing our attention to prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Yes we are to enjoy life, live to the full, but we must also admit that we often wander off the road, down alleys, get stuck at roundabouts etc. We need time and space to hear that call "Come back to me". We need to create an opportunity to stop, to reflect, to adjust. That doesn't need to be a bare cell like the clown, but it does mean letting go of the distractions and superficialities in the way that the cell represents.