THE TEMPTATIONS
A while ago, a young girl – a non-Christian student of mine - came to me excitedly and stretched her hand to say, “Sir, a very happy Ash-Wednesday!” “Wish you the same, dear,” I said stretching my hand, too. “Sir, but…” another non-Christian young-girl wanted to remind us that such ‘happy’ greetings are not supposed to be exchanged on a solemn day like an Ash Wednesday. “Wish you a Holy Ash-Wednesday would have been appropriate,” perhaps, she wanted to remind us this. Why can’t a ‘Holy day’ be a ‘Happy day’? It is tough to resist the temptations of the world we live in…! Yes, it is a solemn day for us, the Christians… Lent – the forty-day period of prayer, penance and fasting - starts today… We are supposed to look within us - contemplate, repent… and strive to be worthy of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ ‘for us’. So, on this day – ‘Ash Wednesday’ – as the priest places a sigh of cross on our foreheads with holy ...