Lenten meditations
The notion of Mardi Gras, the Fat Tuesday celebration that arrives on February 5 to herald Ash Wednesday, has always been curious to me. Starting the Lenten season with a hangover from eating, drinking and partying too much doesn’t seem like a fruitful way to begin the weeks that lead us to the Paschal season. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return, which is a good notion to carry with us all year.
Other than watching the brassy Carnival from a balcony in Havana once when I was little, I’ve never wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras. Sharing a King Cake with co-workers is as far as I’ve gone, and that’s because our boss always received one as a gift from a friend who had moved to Louisiana. The colorful pastry ring with sweet dough would arrive a few days before and we would gather in the break room on Mardi Gras to snack.
King Cakes are baked with a figure of a baby that signifies Jesus in some traditions. Whoever finds the baby is supposed to be crowned king or queen of Mardi Gras. Some years, it was funny when one of the guys had to wear the office tiara. One year, our secretary almost swallowed our Savior while she was noshing on the King Cake.
Many of us focus on doing without during the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to the glory of Easter. Excess is packed into Fat Tuesday in anticipation of self-mortification during Lent. (When our 12-year-old daughter was younger, she used to confuse Lent and Advent. One November, she asked if she was supposed to give up chewing gum for Christmas.)
A priest at our former parish once put Lent in perspective when he asked why we were so focused on taking away when we should adding. He suggested adding more kindness, more prayer, more spiritual readings and more forgiveness to Lent rather than taking away sweets or chips. Abstinence and fasting aren’t punishments, he said, but rather opportunities to think about those in our world who do without every day. It’s a practice I’ve adopted every Lent as I journey to the Cross.
Rather than beginning Lent hung over and begrudging the treats we’ll be doing without, it would do us more good to think about the many opportunities we’ll have to move closer to Christ by adding prayer to the season.
