The Great Lent

Fasting, for those who practice it with conscious conviction, is a public acknowledgment that the world is transient. We all know that this great fast is our path to Pascha, a journey to the feast, as Father Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, used to call it. However, Pascha cannot be attained without the cross, without death. Therefore, fasting is this deliberate acknowledgment that we embrace this path, this journey, as it is decreed: “death followed by resurrection”. This reveals that the journey, when accepted, is both exhausting and delightful at the same time. No one can assume that choosing this nurturing poverty, which is entailed by committing to the fast, is an easy matter. I am not separating between exhaustion and delight. This is the grace-embraced exhaustion of experiences. The awareness brought by experiencing that our earthly life is “like grass” (Psalm 102: 15) is enough for us. Do not let this experience pass without accepting it as the foundation of your conviction, and even as the foundation of a renewed life. Until Pascha, this is a path to great maturity.
March 18
Forgiveness
I have not heard as tiresome a justification in its repetition, like some saying that there are individuals who do not deserve forgiveness. I understand the difficulties that lead people to this justification. There are people who only desire the destruction of others. However, despite everything, we have the obligation towards every human being to set him free from crucifying him for his sins. Am I saying that we are called to embrace others, even those who cannot endure our very mention? Communion among people cannot be coerced. This is me, and this is you. The question is: who brings us together, both near and far? This is a question the answer of which lies within it. God is the purpose of life for those who believe in Him. Forgiveness is God's request. It presupposes that we believe that what God requests is in Him, meaning that it is achievable through the embrace of His grace, through the partnership of our will and His grace. Forgiveness is the explicit expression that we do not want to be like this world, but like God. This is the meaning of Jesus' words: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). Those deserving of God's forgiveness are those whom He sees resembling Himself!