Well today is Fat Tuesday, growing up Baptist I have never known the history of Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Lent, all of which belong to the Catholic faith. My boyfriend has grown up Catholic and is very passionate about his faith, as am I, (we talked about it on the first date!) I have wanted to attend church together but to be honest, I was pretty hesitant at first about going to mass, being in a different church, with no one I know and not being familiar with any of the practices, prayers or beliefs, was very intimidating and out of my comfort zone. I decided to give it a try last year and have really loved it! I love that we go together as a couple, and I am able to ask him questions about what’s going on or what things mean and I really have grown to love the Catholic faith and all its traditions.
Since I have really enjoyed learning all about Catholicism, I thought I should educate myself about Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday and Lent.
Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of street sweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.
very interesting!
and here’s what I found out about Lent:
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.
I love that! I think that Lent is such a wonderful tradition and practice of the Catholic faith, I mean Jesus died for me, the least I can do is give up something for 40 days! I have been thinking about what I want to sacrifice and my immediate thoughts turned to one of my favorite things, coffee. Yikes.
Totally bummed, I couldn’t find a good excuse why coffee wouldn’t be the perfect thing to sacrifice for lent until I stumbled upon an article titled 5 health reasons to NOT quit coffee..
I read it about 3 times to make sure it wasn’t a joke before the reality sank in… it would be detrimental to my health to quit coffee and God would never want that… so out goes that silly idea. AMEN.
So I was stumped on what to sacrifice… but decided to choose sodas! I know it will be tough but God sacrificed the greatest sacrifice of all so I should be able to put down the sodas for 40 days! Wish me luck…
How are you going to show faithfulness and repentance to God during this Lenten season?
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