Have Yourself an Ugly Little Lent
“Dust” by Clarissa Cervantes
Have yourself and Ugly Little Lent
By Vicky Wolak Freeman
Today’s second reading contains my all-time favorite Bible verse: 2 Corinthians 5:20.
We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
I love the word “ambassador.” I love that I have the opportunity to introduce others to Jesus by the way I show up in the world and for other people. However, I’ve often thought that being an ambassador for Christ meant I had to be perfect—or at least appear that way. Who would want to follow a God with broken, flawed, unglamorous followers, am I right?
Toward the end of 2025, I was feeling spiritually burned out. My prayer life felt like a bunch of tasks on my to-do list rather than a thriving relationship with God. I started and then stopped multiple novenas. I was so wrapped up in looking like I had it all together on the outside that I didn’t attend to the inner chaos of my soul. In short, I was being the hypocrite that Jesus warns against in today’s Gospel.
I saw God as a harsh, demanding boss who expected me to get my act together on my own and give Him a perfect, polished progress report—or else I’d be fired. I thought if I fulfilled all of the “requirements” of my role as a Catholic—Mass, Confession, 10 novenas at once, involved in several Bible weekly study groups, ability to spew holy-sounding nonsense—He would leave me alone. He wouldn’t have to see all the areas I wasn’t performing well in, all the pieces of my heart that were broken and clouded by sin, all the ways I still didn’t fully trust Him.
Lent is a distinctly ugly season. In many places throughout the world, it falls during winter, when nature is brown, dry, and dull. We start the season by getting dirty ashes smudged on our foreheads for all to see. We choose fasting practices that cut out anything extra getting in the way of our relationship with God. We cover art and crucifixes during Holy Week. And on Good Friday, we’re forced to confront the brutal, gory reality of Christ’s suffering, torture, and execution.
For us artists, who have a vocation to create beauty, this ugliness can feel like deprivation. But what if instead, it’s a gift?
Lent is an opportunity to lean into the ugliness of our lives, not hide it under holy-sounding penances or Ash Wednesday selfies. If the first few weeks of 2026 have shown us anything, it’s that the world is ugly. Evil and injustice don’t take a break because they don’t match our aesthetic, and ignoring them leaves innocent lives at risk.
We can’t effectively confront the ugliness and evil of the world if we don’t first tend to the ugliness in our own souls. When the Lord knocks on our hearts this Lent, let us ask for the humility to open the door and let His love help us clean the house.
“Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God.”—Joel 2:13
Vicky Wolak Freeman is a writer and copy editor based in Atlanta and the communications manager of the Catholic Artist Connection. You can find out more about her here.
Clarissa Cervantes is a poet, photographer, physical therapist and researcher. Clarissa strives to create beautiful and meaningful Catholic images and articles to inspire and uplift readers.
Jessica Gerhardt (she/her) is a singer-songwriter, worship musician, visual artist, and theology teacher at Immaculate Heart HS, home of the "Rebel Hearts" in Los Angeles. Follow her work at www.jessicagerhardt.com or at @jgerhardtmusic.