“Do not hide your face from me.”

 

A LENTEN PILGRIMAGE - DAY-2

Rev. Fr. K M George 

Yesterday  I went to see the well-known artist-sculptor Kanai Kunjuraman and view his emerging new work the Mother-Letter in front of the Kottayam Public Library. He has been working hard in the scorching sun with his team of workers for a year now to finish the gigantic sculpture. We usually meet once a week.

Lately, he appeared to be brooding and meditative. Obviously he was worried about the final outcome as he was giving special care to touch the face of the Mother-Letter.

 This afternoon when I shared with him my sincere opinion that the Mother's face was coming out more and more alive with dignity and grace, his own face was brightened up with a discreet smile. One doesn't need to be an art critic to tell the beauty of a face.

A major orientation of the Lenten fasting is to seek the face of God. True, it is a metaphor, but a beautiful and meaningful metaphor. There is much in the image of the face. Adam and Eve were hiding from the face of God once they sinned. Yet God sought after them, and invited them to come out.

Now is the time to unveil our faces in a flood of tears before the face of God. Remember the heart-rending prayer of the Psalmist:

“Do not hide your face from me.”

Psalm 27: 9

Almost all human beings are born under the loving gaze of a maternal face. Even children born blind would sense what a mother's face is. Let us not imagine the face of a severe taskmaster or an unkind judge who watches us with the intention of finding fault with us or punishing us. Unfortunately, much of our religion consists in the fear of being judged and penalised.

The face of God Jesus revealed to us is just the opposite. Look at the face of the father figure in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. He had been looking out to the gate for years with deep yearning and compassion to see if his deviant son ever returns. 

Look at the anxiety-ridden face of the shepherd who is desperately searching for his lost sheep, just one among a hundred. Look at the mother hen who hurriedly gathers the chicks under her protective wings when the predator eagle appears in the far corner of the sky above.

Let us believe in Jesus who shows us the tender face of God, in the promises of life and salvation that He has given us. Let us walk this pilgrimage gazing at the Face in tears and hope.

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