Across the River
After a few changes in start times and some cancellations, Mardi Gras 2025 has come and gone. Civic authorities made the right decision to start the parades earlier in the day because there would have been no way to manage the parade and the people when the wind and the storms came through. We celebrate Mardi Gras as the grand finale’ before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. There are usually more people at church on Ash Wednesday than on Christmas and Easter. Ash Wednesday is also the day that we see the most non-Catholics at Mass. Everyone recognizes their own need to change something about themselves, their way of thinking, or their heart. Ashes are an outward reminder of our own mortality. Changing ourselves takes determination and effort. We celebrate our successes at Easter. As my grandmother would say, “Make a good Lent.” Lent of today is nothing like Lent of my grandparents’ time. Ash Wednesday was truly a day of fast and abstinence. They ate bread, a boiled egg, and a banana for breakfast and lunch, with hot crepes with syrup for supper. Crepes remain an Ash Wednesday evening treat in many households until today. I tend to cringe when I see restaurants advertising big meals on Ash Wednesday. I spent my Mardi Gras cleaning and preparing my house by dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. Now that my house is in order, I spend time cleaning and preparing my heart. The domestic work was easier and took a lot less time. Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 2 a.m. Be sure to set your clocks ahead an hour before bedtime.
