Mardi Gras and Memento Mori

Sister Margaret Kerry, FSP, notes that both Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday remind us that we are called to be a living Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, but first comes Mardi Gras. Both remind us that we are called to be a living Gospel of Jesus Christ. Good news, it is not our efforts that allow this to happen: it is the role of the Holy Spirit! Theologian David Tracy’s answer is something to revel about:

The final reality with which we must all deal is neither our own pathetic attempts at self-salvation, nor the horror of life in all its masks, nor even the frightening reality of sin in our constant attempts to delude ourselves and others; rather that final reality is the hard, unyielding reality of the Pure unbounded Love disclosed to us in God’s revelation of who God is and who we are commended and empowered to be in Christ Jesus. (David Tracy, On Naming the Present)

I grew up in New Orleans where Mardi Gras is a “national” holiday. Walker Percy’s novel, The Moviegoer, unfolds during Mardi Gras. Throughout his book all the human foibles that David Tracy lists, attempts at self-salvation, life’s horror and masks, the reality of sin, and our delusions, are dealt with by the main character, Binx. Binx finds that putting on masks at Mardi Gras is a clever way to hide our true self. Lent is about taking off our masks. At midnight after all the parades New Orleans police make a sweep through the French Quarter and tell everyone, “Go inside or go home.” It is time to unmask.

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This season we unmask our false self to face reality: “You are dust and until dust you shall return.” It seems a rather harsh to cut back to reality after such a great party. However masks point to our human reality. We are not going to deny that masks feel protective. We only remove them in the safety of Christ’s presence. Jesus, seeing beneath our mask, lovingly telling us of our original beauty.

Christ, ... in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation. It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God. (CCC 1701)

Mardi Gras feasting makes way for Lenten fasting. We consider the importance of feasting when we are reminded of the gift of the liturgy, the mystery of the Eucharistic, God’s Word in scripture, and the sacraments. When we fast, Jesus tells his followers not to look gloomy—remember Mardi Gras!

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When we fast, Jesus tells his followers not to look gloomy—remember Mardi Gras! #CatholicMom

The importance of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving during Lent remind us that we have an abundance to be thankful for—the Gras in Mardi Gras. We may fast from social media or from attitudes that do not radiate Christian joy. We walk with others who do not have the necessities of life. According to our possibilities we give alms. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving open our hearts to transformation in Christ.

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