Dáil Sketch/Frank McNally: Ash Wednesday is a sombre occasion in the religious calendar: a time for fasting, prayer and reflections on mortality.
But somehow the day always seems to cheer Joe Higgins up. For the rest of the year, the Socialist TD is like an Old Testament prophet preaching in the wilderness about the Government's need to repent.
So for him, the sight of Bertie Ahern coming into the Dáil with ashes on his forehead must be heartening.
The Taoiseach's ashes are a general source of wonderment. Very few TDs observe the ritual anymore, but of those who do, Mr Ahern's forehead always seem to have the blackest and longest-lasting mark. Cosmetic companies would probably like to know the secret.
But amid the scores of unblemished brows around him, it's as if the Taoiseach is taking all the many sins of the Dáil onto himself.
Indeed when, in keeping with tradition, Mr Higgins asked him where his "sackcloth" was, Mr Ahern joked that his suit might be made of such material.
"It's fairly expensive sackcloth," suggested Joe.
"It doesn't look as good as yours," countered Bertie, clearly remembering the day's theme of self-abasement.
"Appearances can be deceptive," responded Joe, on whom the theme appeared - unlike Bertie's ashes - to be rubbing off.
Smudged foreheads were particularly scarce on the opposition benches. But at least, metaphorically, Sinn Féin ensured that the Taoiseach was not the only one with a black mark against him.
It was the second day of debate on the Fine Gael motion urging an end to IRA criminality. And not content with the Sinn Féiners' decision to stop interpreting IRA statements, Enda Kenny recommended they give up something else for Lent: advertising T-shirts on their website for "IRA - the undefeated army".
This was the cue for angry exchanges during which Caoimhghín Ó Caolain complained that his party had been allocated only five minutes in the FG debate, and Mr Kenny countered that this was in proportion to Sinn Féin's "mandate".
The five-minute men are fiercely proud of their mandate, which Gerry Adams always reaches for at times of crisis.
So the Fine Gael leader's "my mandate is bigger than yours" taunt seemed calculated to play on their insecurities.