The Institute for Christian Formation
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Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Christmas Weekday
We celebrated Epiphany (the fourth major feast of the Christmas Season) this past Sunday, January 5. Our celebration of Epiphany has been transferred to being celebrated on a Sunday, rather than on its traditional date of January 6th, the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Epiphany is also the beginning of the Carnival Season. Carnival is not a liturgical season on the Church’s Calendar. But is does have many connections with our faith. The word carnival literally means "farewell to the flesh". The carnival season lasts from Epiphany through Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. This year, Shrove Tuesday is March 4, 2014.
Carnival in our northern hemisphere occurs during the dark, cold wintertime. So it is a natural time to gather inside with family and friends to tell stories and have parties. Keep the carnival season well in your own home - your Domestic Church. Gather together with your family and friends and neighbors to tell wonderful traditional fairy tales, and to tell your own stories, as well. Have festive meals. Celebrate with a traditional King's Cake. Keep the wonderful Feast Days of Winter Ordinal Time.
A children’s book which has good information about the history and traditions of carnival is Carnival, written by Alice K. Flanagan; illustrated by Roberta Collier-Morales (ISBN 0756504783). Another children’s book which is a nice story is The Little Jester by Helena Olofsson (ISBN 91-29-65499-8). This book tells the story of a
Masks are also a part of the carnival season. Some of these masks can be quite elaborate. Did you know that masks have a spiritual dimension? When we wear a mask, or put on a costume, we do so to disguise ourselves. We don’t want others to recognize us. Sometimes we literally dress up in costumes and wear masks, perhaps for fun at Halloween or Mardi Gras. At other times, it
can be an invisible mask we wear - perhaps we “put on” a smile and a cheerful expression even though we are really sad. But one thing is for certain - we can never disguise our true selves from God! God sees us and loves us exactly as we are. And God always calls us to grow in our love of God and to become more and more Christ-like. When we wear costumes or masks for Mardi Gras, these can be the symbols of our “hidden selves” - that within us that needs to change so that we can grow more and more into Christ’s life.
We wear our “invisible” masks out of fear. In our Gospel for today, Mark 6:45-52, the disciples are in a boat and are getting tossed about in the waves. When Jesus came walking towards them, they thought he was a ghost, and they were terrified. Jesus got in the boat with them and calmed the wind. What are our fears? What invisible masks do we wear to try to hide these fears? Invite Jesus to calm the winds that are blowing in your life. Trusting in Jesus, do not fear, but rather rejoice and celebrate this Christmas Season and all the days of Carnival!
little jester, a monastery, and a weeping icon of Mary. The message of welcoming is also a good one for the issue of migration, which is so important and pressing in our current culture.
