Category Archives: Lent

Listening at the end of Lent

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About now I begin to think I really should hold my tongue and start listening harder. Here are some things I’m hearing:

1.  Do not show forth a useless fast.

2.  Can’t you see that the world is on fire, burning! Temptation is everywhere. The devil has set such a fire that even all firefighters in the world could not put it out. It is a spiritual fire. Nothing but prayer is left for us now, prayer that God may take pity on us! You see, when a fire spreads and the firefighters can do nothing about it, people turn to God and pray for a heavy rain. The same happens with the spiritual fire started by the devil; only prayer is needed so that God may help us.

Wherever you may turn, one thing is clear: things are falling apart! It’s not, for example, that we have a house and a window or something else that needs fixing and we can take care of it; it is the entire house that is in shambles––and worse yet, the entire village. We are spinning out of control. Only God can step in and make a difference. He’s got to roll up His sleeves, take a screwdriver and with a slap here and a caress there fix the mess. The world is harboring a blistering wound, full of puss, that needs to be opened and treated; but it’s too soon to open it now. Evil must come to term as it did in Jericho, a long time ago.
––Elder Paisios in With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man

3. A word about how we relate to the saints.

4. “There’s no taking snakes with sugar-tongs.”  -Proverb

5. From yesterday’s Orthodox matins service:

O wise Lazarus, prepare now for thy burial; for tomorrow thou shalt die and leave this life. Look at the tomb in which thou shalt dwell. But Christ will bring thee back to life again, raising thee on the fourth day.

Be glad, O Bethany: for Christ shall come to thee, performing in thee a great and fearful miracle. Binding death with fetters, as God of all He will raise up Lazarus, who was dead and now magnifies the Creator.

Come, let us make ready to meet the Lord, bringing to Him palms of virtue. So shall we receive Him in our souls as in the city of Jerusalem, worshiping Him and singing His praises.

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How to Get Light instead of Fog.

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St. Isaac of Syria

Thanks to Christ is in our Midst for this posting appropriate to the beginning of Lent. To me it is a helpful elaboration on C.S. Lewis’s statement that “Virtue — even attempted virtue — brings light; indulgence brings fog.”

…If you cannot be still within your heart, then at least make still your tongue. If you cannot give right ordering to your thoughts, at least give right ordering to your senses. If you cannot be solitary in your mind, at least be solitary in body. If you cannot labor with your body, at least be afflicted in mind. If you cannot keep your vigil standing, keep vigil sitting on your pallet, or lying down. If you cannot fast for two days at a time, at least fast till evening. And if you cannot fast until evening, then at least keep yourself from satiety.

If you are not holy in your heart, at least be holy in body. If you do not mourn in your heart, at least cover your face with mourning. If you cannot be merciful, at least speak as though you are a sinner. If you are not a peacemaker, at least do not be a troublemaker. If you cannot be assiduous, at least consider yourself lazy. If you are not victorious, do not exalt yourself over the vanquished. If you cannot close the mouth of a man who disparages his companion, at least refrain from joining him in this.

Know that if fire goes forth from you and consumes other men, God will demand from your hands the souls which your fire has burned. And if you yourself do not put forth the fire, but are in agreement with him who does, and are pleased by it, in the judgment you will be reckoned as his accomplice. If you love gentleness, be peaceful, if you are deemed worthy of peace, you will rejoice at all time. Seek understanding, not gold. Clothe yourself with humility, not fine linen. Gain peace, not a kingdom.

~St. Isaac of Syria

Quote of the Week – Regret

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Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it is only good for wallowing in.
–Katherine Mansfield

 

This contrast of building vs. wallowing is a good one for me to keep in mind as we approach Lent. Today is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. This young man probably didn’t exactly grunt around in the mud with the swine even if he did covet their food, but I wonder if he wasted a lot of time feeling miserable before he said, “I will arise and go unto my father.”

Glory to God, we can get up every time we fall and by the power of the Holy Spirit go to our Father in prayer, saying as did the Prodigal, “I am not worthy to be treated as your son.” And we can expect to be embraced, and to be built up in Christ.

Addendum: By the Linked-Within feature I discovered that I did in fact write about the Sunday of the Prodigal Son before, and even used the same icon. It’s sort of a sequel to this part, discussing what happened after he left the pigsty.