Before the Fast

The period of the preparation for Lent, which will be completed next Sunday, with its well-known titles, is a continuum. Before the fast and even as an introduction to it, the Church prompts us to establish ourselves on four virtues, without which we cannot secure righteousness; namely: humility, repentance, the love of the poor, and forgiveness. This helps us to magnify our awareness that fasting is not a diet, but rather a life with God Who wants to take us to His Pascha. Man always needs to invigorate himself. The indolent heart rusts. Sloth is death. The fast is an opportunity for renewal, a revolt against every indolence and sloth… I told this to a friend of mine. He surprised me with a "different reading". He said that he believes that the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican, that is, the first Sunday in the preparation period, which exhorts us to humility, is the basis for the remaining Sundays until Pascha. He literally said: “humility is our path to the other virtues. This is what Jesus meant by saying: “for whoever has (that is the humble one), to him more will be given” (Matthew 13:12). The Spirit is generous.