AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Easter is a week away, ending 40 days of repentance and fasting for Christians known as Lent. In New Orleans, the contrast from Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday to Ash Wednesday and weeks of reflection is particularly stark, as member station WWNO's Rosemary Westwood reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ROSEMARY WESTWOOD, BYLINE: New Orleans is overrun with parties and parades during Mardi Gras season, and Marie-Isabelle Pautz (ph) was out there, having conversations with strangers and embracing the joy.
MARIE-ISABELLE PAUTZ: During Mardi Gras, I'd see people, like - we were, like, you know, in these walking parades, like, dressed up to the nines.
WESTWOOD: Then, on Ash Wednesday, the city dropped into an eerie quiet. That day, Pautz sent a text to her friends.
PAUTZ: I was like, may the breadth of your Mardi Gras, the wideness and expansiveness of your Mardi Gras be matched by the depths of your Lent.
WESTWOOD: The Reverend Ajani Gibson is the pastor of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in New Orleans. He says the Lent journey of self-reflection is especially needed now.
AJANI GIBSON: A time like Lent is more and more necessary in a world that is in constant motion, that we are forced to stay still, even if it's for a short period of time. Because when you think about it, 40 days is not that long in the grand scheme of things.
WESTWOOD: Ever since he was a child, Gibson would give up sweets for Lent. But this year, he's trying something different.
GIBSON: I've given up social media, but I'm also giving up alcohol for Lent, which is very hard in New Orleans and, to be honest, very hard for a priest (laughter).
WESTWOOD: While Christians who observe Lent often experience a slowing down, it's the opposite for a priest.
GIBSON: There's so much happening during Lent for me. There are extra confessions, Stations of the Cross. You have fish fries. You have extra preaching, so Lenten missions, Lenten revivals.
WESTWOOD: So Gibson is trying to find extended time to sit in prayer.
GIBSON: In order for me to be fully present, I myself have to retreat to the mountain, if you will, to sit with the Lord and pray.
WESTWOOD: Pautz likes to say that her first language is Catholicism. But lately, she's been going to services at a United Methodist Church. She sees Lent as a time to reflect on what she can do to help alleviate the suffering she sees around her, including among immigrants and victims of war.
PAUTZ: And so I feel like my heart brought these questions and these intentions and these hopes to Lent, and that Lent is slowly unraveling them and giving me little tiny lessons each day.
WESTWOOD: Gibson says he hopes Lent's lessons lead to lasting spiritual change for himself and for his church.
GIBSON: My hope is to have a renewed sense that God's mercy is actually real, that it's not just an intellectual concept but something that I've experienced in my own life in a real way. And I can definitely say that I have. But to come out of Lent with a greater sense of belief that I'm doing this for a reason. I'm doing this for a purpose, doing this as a part of my relationship with a real God.
WESTWOOD: He says the feasting of Mardi Gras only makes sense against the fasting of Lent. Both are needed to be fully present and grounded in the world.
For NPR News, I'm Rosemary Westwood in New Orleans.
(SOUNDBITE OF EZRA COLLECTIVE'S "LIVE STRONG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
