For an evening, the Lord of Misrule reigns over Fat Tuesday--the peculiar custom to let sin run rampant so that grace may abound. New Orleans continues as the capital for the hurrah of the day--the excuse for riotous living before the discipline of lent. Somewhere along the way, the day got mixed up with pancakes for some reason. Why is it that before a season of sacrifice we justify the day of gluttony and things that ultimately glaze glum over spirits? We do the same thing with All Hallow's Eve and the night of ghosts, goblins and demons--before the high feast day of All Saints that celebrates the very best of what God creates in us. Like the two masks above--a roller coaster with the ups and downs of the human spirit.
Maybe we should recall the day before Lent begins that there is a thread of grace that runs through the best of times and the worst of times--the feast days and the days of discipline. As St. Paul finally learned--how to rejoice in all matters of things because of the thread of grace that ties it all together.
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