I was in the lovey department store Simons today, and was glad to see that they had put aside the winter items (some at exorbitant sales prices) and replaced them with the cheery patterns of spring.
But a young girl reminded me of the real occasion.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Catholic calendar. The girl (in her twenties) had the charcoal cross on her forehead to signify this liturgical date.
She must have gone to mass to have that cross marked on her forehead by a priest. And in the morning too. I saw her around noon so she could have been on her lunch break. At first I thought she was a salesgirl.
"Good girl!" I said to her, and spoke with her (and her friend) for a couple of minutes before I went on my way (she is part Portuguese and part Polish).
It was a powerful and beautiful thing to see, the simple, crudely drawn cross on a young girl's forehead in the middle of a crowded mall.
It is with small steps like this, innocent, genuine, humble, and unaggressive, that we regain Christ's presence in this world.
This image was all the more powerful because of the jarring multicultural world that Mississauga has become. And in fact, only a few minutes after I left the store, a couple of men came behind me, walking very close behind me, talking loudly and unperturbed in Hindi.
I stopped and let them pass before I resumed my itinerary.