A Battlefield for the Light

Lent is described in tradition as a battlefield for spiritual warfares. It serves as a ground to expose darkness and repent of it. It is both a battlefield and a weapon. The darkness that besieges us in our days, is summoned by Lent to its tribunal for scrutiny. Weariness, sloth, anger, and doubt through which the Tempter wants to turn our entire life into falsehood...Lent seeks to expose them with its light. For those who are striving, this is a ground to await the victory that transforms everything, carrying with it tranquility, love of service, peace, and certainty... Those who do not perceive, these days, that they are in a war whose goal this is, let them check whether their eyes are set on Pascha! Abstaining from certain foods is the form of fasting. Its essence lies in our passing from darkness to light. Do not engage in warfare without weapons. Fasting is a weapon. Then there is prayer, the reading of the Word and what helps to understand it, and the love of brethren, young and old... This is our enduring struggle that allows us to hope that our entire life be a battlefield for the light.