"Having spent several years at Mardi Gras in New Orleans (in town on religious business, really and truly, with a bunch of priests, nuns and seminarians), I learned a wonderful lesson from attending the parades. (And we didn't go to anything raunchy.) It is all so pretty, and bright, and they throw what look like jewels and coins and the people shout and grab and knock one another over to get the biggest and the best. And you walk away exhilirated, weighted down with necklaces and gaudy objects, your pockets stuffed with doubloons. And in the morning, you see that it is all nothing, broken strings of plastic beads, tin coins that buy nothing, stale Moon Pies, cracked plastic cups...
An excellent preparation for Lent: a full blast exprience of the emptiness of the prizes our culture holds out to us and for which we will trample one another, screaming gimme, gimme, gimme!.
A sister friend says you can't have a good Lent if you don't have a good Mardi Gras. I finally understnad what she means.
And it is a lot of fun!"
You've guessed it (or at least I assumed you did): today's Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French) which can mean many things. To some who follow the Catholic tradition, today might be the last day to pig out on meat (or any other delectable foods, for that matter), also to some others today will be the last day to prepare (their heart and stomach) for the season of Lent.
I like Damien's illustration of how life really is to many - a pursuit of the material wealth which really means nothing on it own at the end of the day. Therefore Lent is not only a period of repentance and penance, but also an opportunity for us to experience how it is to live without 'our wants'; in other words with only 'our needs'. Of course what are 'wants' or 'needs' can be debated, but let's not go there now shall we? :)
Shucks! Does that mean I have to abstain from the net? :P
I like Damien's illustration of how life really is to many - a pursuit of the material wealth which really means nothing on it own at the end of the day. Therefore Lent is not only a period of repentance and penance, but also an opportunity for us to experience how it is to live without 'our wants'; in other words with only 'our needs'. Of course what are 'wants' or 'needs' can be debated, but let's not go there now shall we? :)
Shucks! Does that mean I have to abstain from the net? :P
1 comment:
What an appropriate timing for this reminder! We have to start cutting down, with the prices of things increasing. It so happened that I do have a pig out on Fat Tuesday 'cos we celebrated our toddler's birthday.
Post a Comment