40 Days with the Man in the Mirror
Call To Action's 2023 Lenten Calendar is a collaboration between the Anti-Racism Team (ART) and Indigenous Solidarity Collective. This calendar provides more than 40 days of prayer and study to guide our discernment of racial justice and lead us into solidarity with Indigenous communities. For each Sunday and holy day during Lent, we'll publish a reflection from an ART or Indigenous Solidarity Collective member. Following the reflection, we’ll feature a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada as well as discussion questions for your own meditation.
Ash Wednesday: February 22, 2023
“The Devil then took Jesus up a very high mountain and displayed all the dominions of the world in their magnificence, promising, ‘All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me.’ At this, Jesus said to the Devil, ‘Away with you, Satan! Scripture says, ‘You will worship the Most High God; God alone will you adore.’”
According to the Gospel of Matthew, immediately following Jesus’ baptism, “the Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted on him.” The heavens opened and a voice proclaimed: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
The Gospel then recounts how Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for 40 days of solitude and fasting. It’s a time of temptation: Jesus is visited by voices and visions that try to distract him from his divine call. The Devil, who is an embodied illusion, attempts to confuse and gaslight Jesus. To dispel these false illusions, Jesus must first confront, challenge, and reject them. Only then can Jesus fulfill his call.
An examination of conscience is a powerful, spiritual practice that enriches our Lenten experience. During an examination of conscience, we spend 40 days in our own desert experience where we confront, question, and reject our own inner demons. We acknowledge that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We answer God’s call to be the perfection God created and in whom God is pleased.
In the acclaimed Michael Jackson song “Man in the Mirror,” composers and lyricists Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett share a very personal examination of conscience. The singer is examining their reflection in a mirror.
During Lent, we may pick up our own mirrors and ask: When I look at my own "Man in the Mirror,” what illusions do I acknowledge? What do I see?
When we discern deeply about what we have done, what we regret, how to atone, and how to reconcile, we often fault others for our actions and accept that as a solution. Keeping this in mind, Call To Action’s Anti-Racism Team invites you to take time during Lent to consider how systemic racism permeates your life and spirituality. Like the Devil in the desert, systemic racism presents illusions and myths. Supremacy is disguised as fairness and equity; races and ethnicities are mythologized. These mythologies are internalized by both the dominant and nondominant racial and ethnic groups. Lent is a time to strengthen our conscience; it is not the time to rush to a solution.
I encourage you to linger in the desert this Lent with your own “Man in the Mirror.”
Suggestions for Almsgiving
As part of your Lenten practice, please consider donating to one or more of the following organizations:
Discussion Questions
Who or what do you see when you examine your reflection in the mirror?
Have you ever done an examination of conscience? What do you ask yourself? What do you need to do to keep your sacred temple perfect and whole? Here is one example of an examination of conscience from the U.S.C.C.B., based on Catholic social justice teaching. You can also create your own!
About the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Between 2007 and 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada recorded the testimonies of more than 6,000 First Nations people across Canada either directly or indirectly affected by the residential school system. In June 2015, the commission released a final report with 94 calls to action directed at the Canadian government. The final 52 calls to action focus on reconciliatory policy implementation for the dismantling of systemic racism against Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Call to Action 43 - 44
Reconciliation Canadian Governments and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
43. We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.
44. We call upon the Government of Canada to develop a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
