I was watching the festivities in New Orleans on the morning news and was intrigued by the hooplah that surrounds Fat Tuesday celebrations in New Orleans. I wondered how many of the celebrants knew the meaning and facts behind what they were doing.
Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season which begins with Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. (Ashes were used in ancient times, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults.) Lent is the 40 day period, according to the Bible, that Jesus was separated into the desert to fast and pray (during which He was tempted by satan).
Thus, we are called upon to contemplate during Lent our repentance and what that really means in our lives and the lives of others. As Lent ushers in the Easter season, let us all remember that Christianity is based on one single solitary thing....an event. An event that had never occurred before and one that has impacted the world profoundly and eternally unto this day and forever more. That event was not His death, but His RESURRECTION. It repaired and restored what had gone wrong in Eden, so long before. Your repentance and giving up anything for Lent is your acceptance of what happened as the life blood by which you have been saved!
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