The music video begins with these words: “There’s a little black spot on your head today. I guess it must mean today is Ash Wednesday. And we enter a time when we will give things up. For some it’s so easy but for me it’s tough.”
The title of the video is “This Time of Forty Days” and it is a funny take on Ash Wednesday in particular and on Lent in general. Its upbeat melody is borrowed from The Police’s “King of Pain”. According to its uploader, the video aims “to inject some much needed joy into the Lenten season.”
Although it is about almsgiving, prayer and fasting, you do not have to look desolate and cheerless to observe Lent. The three traditional practices of Lent are acts of love, not just some obligations to fulfil. As Jesus said the Gospels, “whenever you fast, do not look dismal,… (but) put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:16-18).
Yeah, interesting little black spot on my head too! Thank You father Stephen!