Our Great Lenten Journey Begins

  • Let us enter the Fast with joy, O faithful.
  • Let us not be sad.
  • Let us cleanse our faces with waters of dispassion, blessing and exalting Christ forever.
  • Let us begin the Fast with joy.
  • Let us give ourselves to spiritual efforts.
  • Let us cleanse our souls.
  • Let us cleanse our flesh.

Let us fast from passions as we fast from foods, taking pleasure in the good works of the Spirit and accomplishing them in love that we may be made worthy to see the Passion of Christ our God and His Holy Pascha, rejoicing with spiritual joy.”  ~Hymn at Forgiveness Sunday Vespers

My Dear Spiritual ‘Ohana,

This month, as we approach and enter into the Spring Season, we begin our annual, intentional and spiritually renewing journey into Great Lent.  It begins with Clean Monday, on March 15th.

The hymn, just sited, expresses with great clarity the ultimate purpose of this special season, which is an opportunity for us each to embark on a journey to personally experience the true joy which is one that is rooted in our intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are reminded that this relationship is essential for us as human beings if we want to live a truly joyful and fulfilling life.  Our goal, in Great Lent and life in general, is ultimately “communion with God.”  However, this way of life is not forced on us, but one that requires our free will to re-calibrate our focus and attention with great intensity, hard work, and effort.  The journey is up to us to undertake or not to even bother with it, if we so will!

As we willfully go through our journey of Great Lent, there are benefits, as well as pitfalls we can experience.  Considering some of the dynamics such as fasting and an increased number of services, we can benefit from the true spirit of fasting when we fast from food and rich delicacies with the purpose of recognizing our instinctive hunger for God’s Presence (we are made in His Image and Likeness) and learn to be in control of our passions and desires rather than the passions and desires to

be in control of us.  The increased number of services are ongoing opportunities to commune with God by communicating with Him through increased corporate prayers, in conjunction with our personal prayers.  As we build relationships with our family and friends, it is essential we continuously build upon our relationship with God.

Now for the pitfalls.  When it comes to fasting:  We can easily see fasting as a set of rules for what we can or cannot eat or drink (legalistic).  We can think of fasting as giving up things we like (makes us sad).  We can also disregard fasting as non-essential (not important), so we don’t even do it.  We can use fasting as a way to compare ourselves with others, by judging another person for his/her lack thereof of fasting (judgmental).  When it comes to prayer services, we can see them as mere rituals or we can see our Sunday attendance as sufficient/our “good deed” for the week, instead of “living the liturgy after the Liturgy.”  I challenge you to read the content of the hymns and see how they speak to you, personally!

With us observing Great Lent, year after year, it is an opportunity for us to renew our relationship with the Lord.  This is where the joy comes in which cannot even measure up to any worldly pursuit of happiness.  Our intimate relationship with Him is truly fulfilling.  It is not about going through meaningless repetition, year after year, but rather our opportunity for renewing our relationship with God, continuously.

I have an excellent book, I recommend to all of you, that helps us truly practice our faith as we journey during Great Lent.  It is The Lenten Spring by Fr. Thomas Hopko.  It is simply written, yet profound.  If you have never seen or heard of it, I believe it is transformative and life-changing!

I leave you with a beneficial quote from St. Seraphim of Sarov:  “Fasting, prayer, alms, and every other good Christian deed is good in itself, but the purpose of the Christian life consists not only in the fulfillment of one or another of them. The true purpose of our Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. But fasting, prayer, alms and every good deed done for the sake of Christ is a means to the attainment of the Holy Spirit. Note that only good deeds done for the sake of Christ bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Everything else that is not done for the sake of Christ, even if it is good, does not bring us a reward in the life to come, not does it bring the grace of God in this life. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ said, ‘Whoever gathereth not with me scattereth’ (Matt. 12:30).”

Have a Blessed Great Lent!

With Love in Christ,

+Fr. Alexander