Category Archives: Lent

Songs of Ascent

church, Lent, poetry
lazarus_miracle_icon_sinai_12th_century
Lazarus is raised

I’ve been trying through a few calendar cycles to write something about our Orthodox Lenten services on Wednesday evenings, and I almost gave up. But I have to say that they are the most soul-nourishing and sweet times, and maybe my favorite part of Lent. It took me several years to become familiar enough with the format to be able to settle down and receive this great blessing the Church has given us to facilitate repentance.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good….” This refrain is repeated many times to the quieter tones of these midweek services that are designed to sustain our souls and bodies with spiritual food as we make our journey to Pascha.

And the Songs of Ascent! These Psalms (120-134) have always been my favorites, from the Jesus People days when we sang so many of them to folk tunes. The words lodged themselves in my heart accompanied by visions of the Hebrews walking for days to the Holy City on pilgrimage to one of the major Jewish feasts. They are read in their entirety every weekday at Vespers during about the first half of Lent, and I can think about how I am on my way, too, to the feast of feasts, The Resurrection of Christ, Pascha. Now we are only a week away from Lazarus Saturday, and a different section of the book of Psalms is set for Vespers, but I will still meditate on this one from last week:

O Lord, My heart is not exalted,

Neither are my eyes raised up;

Neither am I carried along in great things,

Nor in things too marvelous for me.

If I were not humble-minded,

But exalted my soul,

Like a child weaned from his mother,

So you would reward my soul.

Let Israel hope in the Lord

From this present time and unto the ages.

Psalm 131

The satisfaction of pride.

Lent, poetry, ,

This poem would have been perfect for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, but I don’t want to wait another year to post it. Anyway, something on pride is very fitting for Lent.

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Forget about the other six, says Pride.
They’re only using you.
Admittedly, Lust is a looker,
but you can do better.

And why do they keep bringing us
to this cheesy dive?
The food’s so bad that even Gluttony
can’t finish his meal.

Notice how Avarice
keeps refilling his glass
whenever he thinks we’re not looking,
while Envy eyes your plate.

Hell, we’re not even done, and Anger
is already arguing about the bill.
I’m the only one who
ever leaves a decent tip.

Let them all go, the losers!
It’s a relief to see Sloth’s
fat ass go out the door.
But stick around. I have a story

that not everyone appreciates—
about the special satisfaction
of staying on board as the last
grubby lifeboat pushes away.

— Dana Gioia

Published in First Things Aug/Sept 2010

Challenge the great Liar.

church, Lent, quotes,

Often I don’t have the words or confidence to write about Orthodox spirituality, so today I am just going to quote Fr. Schmemann, whose books have helped me so much.

 …fasting is the only means by which man recovers his true spiritual nature. It is not a theoretical but truly a practical challenge to the great Liar who managed to convince us that we depend on bread alone and built all human knowledge, science, and existence on that lie. Fasting is a denunciation of that lie and also proof that it is a lie….
….
Let us understand …that what the Church wants us to do during Lent is to seek the enrichment of our spiritual and intellectual inner world, to read and to meditate upon those things which are most likely to help us recover that inner world and its joy. Of that joy, of the true vocation of man, the one that is fulfilled inside and not outside, the ‘modern world’ gives us no taste today; yet without it, without the understanding of Lent as a journey into the depth of our humanity, Lent loses its meaning.

from Great Lent by Father Alexander Schmemann

I want to become a stronger swimmer.

church, Lent, quotes
A view from our front yard

As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensation of the world to come.

                       ~St. Isaac the Syrian

I’ve definitely had that underwater feeling lately — so I was relieved to take part in a lenten service at church today, one designed to clear the head of transitory concerns. During Communion in the time of Lent, we sing lovely meditative hymns to the words, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Because that world St. Isaac speaks of comes to us in the Eucharist. We breathe the pure and sweet air of the Holy Spirit, a taste of the world to come and tonic to strengthen us for the labors of this world.

Mr. Glad and I have all sorts of busyness on our plates these days, and much of it is of a proper and happy kind, helping and loving people. But there is the other sort, as when one’s computer crashes and requires hours of trouble transporting, repairing, restoring. For me that’s the sensation of drudgery.

There’s the fence that falls down and needs replacing, which means hours of talking to the neighbor and the lumber store, and more hours actually tearing out the old and putting in the new. This kind of work often blends into another: The old bodies of us humans wear out and need more frequent maintenance, trips to the chiropractor or pharmacy.

It’s helpful that the melody of the “taste and see” hymns stick in my mind pretty well, so I can remember and come up for a gulp of that Air of Life, Sweet Jesus. I may not be walking on water, but I’m not drowning.