EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY

A MESSAGE FOR QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!  There’s no day of the year where this saying applies more than Shrove Tuesday.  The world knows it as Mardi Gras—Fat Tuesday—when the excesses of Carnival reach their annual climax in the approach to the penitential season of Lent.  The very term Carnival comes from the two Latin words carnis and vale, meaning “Farewell to Meat,” originating at a time when all meat and even dairy products were part of the Lenten fast.  Mardi Gras was the last day to get rid of all the forbidden food items in the pantry, and what better way to do that than by eating it all!

Our delightful human nature needs very little excuse to party, and as Mardi Gras was in a certain sense encouraged by the Church’s Lenten regulations, it was natural that it should become a day of eating and drinking.  Even the popes acknowledged the carnival practice in Rome by regulating its observance, correcting its abuses, and providing entertainment for the people.  Pope Paul II, for example, introduced the annual horse races and carnival pageants for which the eternal City was famous.

The sadder part of our nature, however, ensured that it eventually degenerated into a day of debauchery, where the partying led to gluttony and drunkenness, as well as all the other sins of the flesh.  Pope St. Pius V went so far as to erect whipping posts in conspicuous places around Rome as a caution and warning to those whose lascivious behavior crossed the line.  The traditional Forty Hours of reparation for the excesses of the Carnival was instituted by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, and is still observed during the three days preceding Lent in many churches in Europe and America, especially where the carnival frolics are of long-standing tradition.

It will come as no surprise that your priest should encourage you to avoid going too far in your partying between now and Ash Wednesday.  By all means, enjoy yourselves, have your last fling before the dread stroke of midnight ushers in the solemnities of Ash Wednesday.  I’d go so far as to say it’s the Catholic thing to do, and helps us mark the difference between the penances of Lent and the comparative worldliness of the rest of the year.  But as in all circumstances, we must observe the rules of civilized human behavior that are based on the Ten Commandments and the will of God.  All in moderation, even as we let our hair down for the day!  Let’s not forget how easy it is for a time of good-natured and harmless enjoyment to turn into a wild orgy of eating, drinking and other excesses.

I would suggest also that, even as we observe the more harmless aspects of Carnival time, we keep in mind the reparation that is due to God for the excesses of others.  While we may not be able to have the Blessed Sacrament exposed in our chapel for the Forty Hours of Carnival, we can still say a prayer now and again for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of their souls.  Additionally, let’s remember that in medieval times, the faithful used to go to confession on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  From this practice, that day because known as “Shrove Tuesday” (the day on which people are shriven from sins).  What better way to prepare for Lent than by cleansing our souls and making them fitting tabernacles for all the graces we hope to receive during the coming holy season.