Among the abundance of contemporary reality TV shows, the sub-genre of make-over programmes evidently enjoy a particular popularity.
These shows may concern home renovations or changes in personal appearances, extending even to the plastic surgery vogue that has given rise to the drama series Nip/Tuck. The wildly popular Queer Eye for the Straight Guy series, perhaps the summit of the wave of make-over shows, has combined both genres, minus the plastic surgery.
Exploitative and manipulative these programmes certainly are. Ironically, they also deliver a commendable message: that people can effect positive change, if only they choose to take action. A revamped home or a new look can indeed make a difference.
As the saying goes, however, beauty is only skin deep.
Catholics, and Christians of other denominations, are blessed to have an annual season when they can Nip/Tuck the soul and give their spiritual life a thorough make-over. Lent is a time when we are called specifically to discard that which may make our inner lives disorderly and drab, and to acquire a shiny “new self”. Instead of a physical conversion in 40 minutes (plus advertising), Lent is a time for a spiritual conversion in 40 days (plus Sundays).
During these 40 days we are invited to join Jesus in the wilderness, where he faced down the devil. Likewise we are asked to grapple with the devil with life’s temptations and all that which compromises our ability to be good Christians. Unlike Jesus, we need to return to the desert every year.
The Lenten sacrifice should be seen not as a deprivation but as a gift; an opportunity to purify ourselves, so that on Easter the Church’s great celebration we emerge with an invigorated radiance, at least spiritually, to greet the risen Christ.
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