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Mardi Gras at Catholic Noles: Joy Before the Journey
By Joao Napoleao Nogueira
Seven king cakes ordered, six trays of jambalaya rice eaten, and a load of poor
snacks and drinks destroyed; these were but some of the meals prepared for the students’ Mardi Gras celebration. Titled as Fat Tuesday, never had there been a more fitting name for the occasion; students were able to eat to their hearts’ content, and laughter could be heard all around.
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Henry Amador, a Biological Sciences major and a member of the student administrative body of the Catholic Student Union, shares his thoughts, “I had a really good time at the Mardi Gras party, not just because the king cake was amazing, but also because I got to have some God filed conversations with people who live Christ-centered lives.”
Decorations of yellow, purple, and green hung from the ceiling and filled the inner and outer walls of the house. Games and activities were also set up for the attendants of the party. Apart from the students, focus campus missionaries and priests joined the students to liven up the celebration even more. Nonetheless, all remained reverent and with their minds turned to the season of sacrifice. A time when we ourselves step into the dessert along side our Lord Jesus Christ, and where our heart becomes evermore close to His.
Stephanie Shipley, a FOCUS missionary situated here in Florida State University, shared, “The Mardi Gras party was a wonderful occasion for the community to come together and celebrate the end of ordinary time as we look forward to Lent. To me, preparing for Lent is anticipating the profound graces of repentance and conversion that God desires to give and ready my heart to receive those graces throughout this most Holy season of the Catholic Church.”
A night of fun and hanging out with friends took place. All smiled and gathered up around their friends; however, festivities spread all throughout each students’ hearts, so did the desire for a time of penance and fasting.
