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Cheese
Fare Sunday, February 22. 2004 Tomorrow
is Clean Monday, (Kathari Deftera), the 40 day period of Fasting, Good works and
Prayer. Our Holy Orthodox Church once again, presents to us the chart, which
shows us the route for our upward climb to reach the spiritual summit. To be
able to make this ascent, we would firstly make the decision to become masters
over ourselves. This can be accomplished by self-discipline, sacrifice, and the
exercising of our spiritual selves, which would become strong enough to break
the shackles, which keep us grounded to our selfish desires. You
heard that saving admonition from today's Epistle Reading, when I
think that we all understand the works of darkness, as coming under one title:
"Sin". Sins, the little ones and the grave ones are the works of
darkness, which have the power to destroy us in this life, and surely preclude
us, from becoming co-inheritors with Christ in the Once
again, we are called during this 40 day period of Fasting, to commence our
spiritual struggle. This period is not a mere time span, during which we are
called to abstain from certain foods. In
the spirit of Orthodox worship, fasting is not a mere matter of diet, as so many
unfortunately think. Fasting is significant as a moral discipline, as well as a
physical one. True Fasting, is to be converted in our heart and in our will!
Fasting requires courage, sincerity,--- a true appraisal of self,--- humility,
and surely repentance, in emulation of the Prodigal son; who in repentance and
remorse, returned home from his sinful life, and falling into his father's
outstretched arms he says: "Father, I have sinned against
Heaven, and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one
of your servants." That
is what is meant by conversion. A complete turn around, and the re-making of our
life, -- and no less, the persistence to right all the wrongs, which we have
committed. Only then can we say that we are really free. The
great Fathers of the undivided Church described Fasting, as belonging to the
total person. Body and soul. St. John the Chrysostom said that the Fast should
be kept not by the mouth alone; but also by the eyes, the ears, the feet, the
hands and all the members of the body. The eyes must abstain from impure sights;
the ears from malicious gossip; and the hands for acts of injustice. St.
Basil the Great said that it is useless to fast from food, when we indulge in
cruel criticism and slander. To quote him, he said: You
do not eat meat, yet you devour your brother!" The
purpose of Fasting is to bring us to the point of appreciating the full force of
the Lord's statement: "Without
Me, you can do nothing." (John
15:5) Through Fasting, we become aware of our dependence on God. Fasting
also brings us greater mental clarity and wakefulness. While involving genuine
self-denial, fasting does not seek to do violence to our body, but rather to
restore it to health and equilibrium. Fasting
liberates our body from the burden of excesses, and makes it a willing partner
in the task of prayer; it makes it alert and responsive to the voice of the
Spirit. So
many Christians today have lost a true vision of man, as an integral unity of
the visible and the invisible; the body and soul; they neglect the positive role
played by the body in the spiritual life, forgetting While
I realize that we live in a totally different society from that when the rules
of Fasting were formulated, still we have to believe that the true values are
eternal, and the examples of many people down through the ages, have proved that
everything is possible to the believer, as the Lord taught. We
must not tend to justify, as does happen so often,--- we must not tend to
justify our weaknesses and shortcomings, saying, that it is difficult to effect
that, which would have been easier in times past. Rather than do this, we must
gird ourselves to meet the challenges, because as History
has proven times over that spiritual forces were always able to overcome
material forces. Today, in any advertisement, Newspaper, T.V. Radio, we are
deluged with offers to exercise our bodies and be trim. And there is nothing
wrong with this. But
exercising our bodies, is only one half of our being. What about exercising
spiritually. Reading the Bible, Praying, Reading books that will edify our
spirit, listening to programs that are spiritual uplifting. This is the great
need of the day. Unfortunately there is almost a total neglect, although these
exercises could very directly benefit our whole society, if all people reverted
to them. What
we need is commitment. Lent offers us unlimited opportunities, and it holds
true, that the thought of Fasting, if taken seriously, will most assuredly keep
us on track for true spiritual development. Just
listen to one of the hymns of Cheese-Fare Sunday to recognize the true spirit of
fasting. "Let
us begin the season of fasting with rejoicing; giving ourselves to spiritual
strife --purifying the soul and body-- fasting from passions, as we fast from
foods -- faring on the virtues of the Spirit, which, if we continue to long for,
we shall be worthy to behold the most solemn Passion of Christ, and the Holy
Pascha rejoicing with spiritual joy." This
one hymn is a mini sermonette and truly covers the field regarding the essence
of fasting. Let
us then make a clean start tomorrow with Clean Monday. Let us convert our inner
being, which carries with it every guarantee of granting us fulfillment and true
happiness. Amen. |
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