Dearly Beloved,
Great Lent is upon us once again. Our annual journey to the empty tomb of Christ has begun. This year, because of the late date for Pascha, the season may be more difficult. Spring is upon us and our minds will turn to plenty of other activities; our fellow Christians will have celebrated Easter even as we are still just entering the Great Fast. While we cannot expect society to understand our dedication to our ascetic disciplines, or to understand why we celebrate Pascha so late this year, this should not deter us from making every effort to observe the Fast, to attend the divine services, to partake in the educational offerings of our parishes, and to devote more personal time to prayer and to philanthropy.
This year I encourage you to accept the discipline of Lent with the depth of faith that they are intended to foster. We often treat the ascetic disciplines of Great Lent as if they were religious New Year’s resolutions, saying, “This year I will fast more strictly or attend more church services.” Like January 1st, we observe the resolution with great enthusiasm for a few days, but then we fall back into the usual routines. This is because piety alone is not enough for spiritual fulfillment, but rather, piety combined with good works. A hymn for the first week of Great Lent offers us the approach that we should have: “Let us begin, O people, the pure fast that is our soul’s salvation. Let us serve the Lord with fear; let us anoint our heads with the oil of alms giving and let us wash our faces in the waters of purity; let us not use vain repetitions in our prayers but as we have been taught, so let us cry: Our Father, who art in heaven, forgive us our trespasses in Your love for mankind.” (Apostichon, Tuesday Matins).
Notice how the hymn connects our spiritual life with our daily life. Ascetic disciplines are to be connected to our daily lives and to the world around us. When we reflect on our lives, when we look to the dysfunctions in our families and in our society, we cannot expect that lighting a few more candles or abstaining from certain foods on their own make a difference. The hymn calls us to combine inward piety with outward actions directed toward our neighbor.
Our religious practices are meant to lead us to better relationships with God, with ourselves, with our community, and with the world around us. The two must go together. Our Lenten goal should be to light a candle for our families and then work to reconcile any broken relationships in them. Our Lenten goal should be to participate in the Sacrament of Confession and then work to bring health and wholeness to our lives. Our Lenten goal should be to offer a prayer for the sick and the suffering in our communities and then volunteer our time to visit them. Our Lenten goal should be to abstain from certain foods and then offer a charitable gift to a homeless shelter or food pantry for those who live in poverty.
This combination of inward piety and outward acts has always been a struggle. Society encourages us to avoid what is hard; instead we continually send messages that everything can be easy. This can affect even our religious lives. Inward pious actions are often easier. Working to heal relationships, to care for the outcast, to give generously to charity is always harder. Combining them is the hardest of all. Yet, when we struggle – and askesis means struggle – we open ourselves to meeting Christ, in our prayer, in our service to our neighbor. And this is the purpose of Great Lent, a Holy Season that is upon us: meeting Christ, journeying with Him to Jerusalem, listening to His teachings, sitting at the table in the Upper Room, seeing Him betrayed, rejected, buffeted, crucified and buried; and finally witnessing for ourselves the empty tomb and the joy of His Resurrection.
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, may His Mercy and Grace guide you to experience a most fruitful and meaningful Great Lent!
With Love in Christ,
+ G E R A S I M O S
Metropolitan of San Francisco