the perfect time for lent

Winter/Spring is the perfect time for Lent. We have a blanket of snow dropped by a recent storm. Working outside cleaning snow off the roof, I felt my legs working hard, pumping blood up to my heart. My arms ached with effort, reminding me what a couch potato I’ve been! The light was dim and dimming and I worked on into coming darkness. I was alone and hungry and tired. All around me was icy crust and crusty snow and underneath the white was frozen mud. This was cold and dirty work, very good for the soul! My snowblower labored under the weight of the wet snow, pounding out a rhythm of effort for the whole neighborhood! This was stark and dreary work, like prayer or fasting or alms during Lent!

The Foundation

Abba John the Dwarf said, “A house is not built by beginning at the top and working down. You must begin with the foundations in order to reach the top.” They said to him, “What does this saying mean?” He said, “The foundation is our neighbor, whom we must win, and that is the place to begin. For all the commandments of Christ depend on this one.”

Orthodoxy Sunday

The first Sunday of Great Lent is called Orthodoxy Sunday. At Vespers Sunday evening our local churches got together in a small converted former Church of the Brethren. It had a fresh new feeling inside because the Iconostas was in the process of being built. The Priest’s wife had been painting Icons and the top row of the Iconostas was complete. The ceiling had been painted a sky blue. The candles were lit. Several priests and deacons were there including a priest from southern Indiana who was himself an iconographer. A small crowd of worshippers sang warmly and with devotion. A choir on the left side in the front led the way into song after song about the day’s theme: that it is right and good for a Christian to worship God through the veneration of Holy Images.

“Today the Church of Christ receives honorable adornment:
the holy icons of Christ our Savior, the Theotokos, and all the Saints.
The Church exults in their grace.
We lift them up with joy and gladness.
We glorify God, the Lover of man,//
Him Who patiently suffered for our sake.”

“Grace and truth have shone forth.
The predictions of old have been clearly fulfilled.
Behold, the Church adorns herself with the form of Christ incarnate!
The icons of the new creation transcend the adornments of the old.
As the Ark of the Covenant held the presence of God,
so now the icons reveal the presence of the One we adore.
By honoring them we will never go astray.
It is our glory to fall down and worship Christ in the flesh.
Come, O faithful, venerate His image and cry out://
‘O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance!’”

the relative value of books

Abba Theodore of Pherme had acquired three good books. He came to Abba Macarius and said to him, “I have three excellent books from which I derive profit; the brethren also make use of them and derive profit from them. Tell me what I ought to do: keep them for my use and that of the brethren, or sell them and give the money to the poor?” The old man answered him in this way, “Your actions are good; but it is best of all to possess nothing.” Hearing that, he went and sold his books and gave the money for them to the poor.

humility

Abba Isaiah said, “Nothing is so useful to the beginner as insults. The beginner who bears insults is like a tree that is watered every day.”

Pre-Lenten weeks

We’re only into the first week of Lent and already we have covered a lot of beautiful, poetical, theological hymnography related to the examination of our soul’s state of grace. These are the “Pre-Lenten Sundays.”

The first Sunday is the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. Here is from Canticle Five of Matins:
“Let us make haste to follow the Pharisee in his virtues and to emulate the Publican in his humility, and let us hate what is wrong in each of them: foolish pride and the defilement of transgressions.”

Then the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Here’s the Kontakion:
“I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father;
and among sinners I have scattered the riches which You gave me.
And now I cry to You as the Prodigal:
‘I have sinned before You, O merciful Father;
receive me a penitent,
and make me as one of Your hired servants!’”

Next comes Meatfare Sunday, after which we stop eating meat. On this day we remember the Last Judgment. Here is the Kontakion:
“When You, O God, shall come to earth with glory,
all things shall tremble,
and the river of fire shall flow before Your judgment seat;
the books shall be opened, and the hidden things disclosed;
then deliver me from the unquenchable fire,//
and make me worthy to stand at Your right hand, O Righteous Judge!”

Last Sunday was Forgiveness Sunday. This is also called Cheesefare Sunday because the is the last day we eat dairy foods. Here is the Kontakion:
“O Master, Teacher of wisdom,
Bestower of virtue,
Who teaches the thoughtless and protects the poor,
strengthen and enlighten my heart!
O Word of the Father,
let me not restrain my mouth from crying to You:
‘Have mercy on me, a transgressor,//
O merciful Lord!’”

What is faith?

It is important at the beginning of Great Lent to remind ourselves what faith in God really is. What is faith?  St. James answers this question by writing that the kind of faith that is not accompanied by works is a false faith and not a saving faith.  He asks, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”  To which he answers, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”  The Apostle John writes about this marriage of faith and works which exemplifies true faith and trust in God, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” (I John 3:10)  Since you cannot have faith without works (faith without works is dead, according to James) and faith is necessary for salvation then it follows that you cannot have salvation without works.  Jesus himself teaches this in the parable of the sheep and goats:  salvation and good works are inseparable.  St. Paul also teaches that  we must cooperate with God or our faith is in vain, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (I Cor. 15:10).  Salvation is a free gift, absolutely, but my faith is manifested by good works.  St. Paul’s faith in God’s grace was proven because he “laboured more abundantly than they all” thus his faith was not in vain.  So we see again that God’s grace and man’s faith and works are a seamless whole:  you cannot have any of them without all of them.  So, salvation is purely God’s gift to us but we must accept this gift by a true faith, not a false faith, such as a do-nothing faith.