"Hey, you have dirt on your forehead"

It's that day again. The day that I will inevitably hear "Hey, you have dirt on your forehead" the day I am referring to is **Ash Wednesday. To a Catholic growing up in New Orleans, Ash Wednesday meant **Mardi Gras was over and it was now time to reflect and give-up something that you felt was a sacrifice. Something important to you-and no, you don't give-up showering or brushing your teeth-or you shouldn't for that matter. Many people give-up chocolate, soda, sweets, alcohol, smoking, coffee and other vices for the entire Lenten Season. The day also means going to church to get ashes on our foreheads and abstaining from meat. From now until Easter no meat on Friday's...Hello Fish Fry Friday's and Seafood Boils!!!! This is when I miss New Orleans and my childhood the most. You can go to church on Friday during Lent for **The Stations of The Cross and stay for the Fish Fry. Now, I'm not talking about some lemon pepper fish or calabash style...nope, I'm talking about thin crispy cajun fried catfish! On Good Friday we all headed to my Grandparents for a huge seafood boil. Boiled shrimp, crawfish, crabs, corn, potato's and yes, more fried catfish. It wasn't just the amazing food that made this gathering great, it was the family. I wish I had a recording of the laughter that surrounded that table. We are a family who loves to laugh and I miss my grandpa's the most.

So, for the next 40 days I am giving up beef. I think the Chik-fil-a cows are really going to appreciate me :O)

God gave up his only son, Jesus gave his life, what are you going to give-up?

If you see me tomorrow, you don't need to tell me....I already know I have dirt on my forehead.

Until next time,
xoxo

-Excerpts taken from www.americancatholic.org

**Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home. Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins. Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh."

**Since Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, it naturally is also beginning to recover a baptismal focus. One hint of this is the second formula that is offered for the imposition of ashes: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Though it doesn't explicitly mention Baptism, it recalls our baptismal promises to reject sin and profess our faith. It is a clear call to conversion, to that movement away from sin and toward Christ that we have to embrace over and over again through our lives.

**The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic custom of Lent that commemorates the passion of Jesus on Good Friday.