As I am writing to you Dear Ones this message, our state is basically “locked-down”, and people are mandated to stay home and shelter in place. Non-essential businesses are temporarily closed, the streets are nearly empty of cars and people; and many, if not all, events have been canceled. The theaters are shut down, March Madness is canceled, and toilet paper is in short supply. Yesterday (Monday), as I drove through downtown, it seemed like a Sunday instead. Actually, it’s been two weeks of Sundays, so it seems. Our normal rhythm of life has been majorly impacted and a new, but temporary, “normal” is emerging. We are asked to make changes and do things that perhaps we don’t agree with, for the common good. We are mandated to change our entire style of life in the midst of a situation that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Sounds a lot like Great Lent to me! When the services, hymns, canons, and prescriptions of Great Lent were originally composed, we lived in a relatively small, mainly rural community within one organically Orthodox world; the very rhythm of one’s life was shaped by the Church. Great Lent was “visible” then in the culture. During Lent, the whole society accepted a certain rhythm of life, certain rules, which kept reminding the individual members of that society of the Lenten season.
In Russia, for example, one could not forget Lent if only because of a special Lenten church bell ringing; theaters were closed; and in more ancient times, the courts suspended their activities. By themselves, all those externals were obviously unable to force people into repentance or toward a more active religious life. But they created a certain atmosphere-a kind of Lenten climate-in which personal effort was made easier. Being weak, we need external reminders, symbols, signs. We are no longer living in an Orthodox society and no Lenten “climate” can, therefore, be created on a social level. Or can it? In the Orthodox worldview, the home and the family constitute the first and most important area of the Christian life, of application of Christian principles to daily existence. It is the home and family that shapes our fundamental worldview, that orients us for daily life.
How Lent is kept at home with our family, therefore, is of great importance. If Lent is an opportunity to recover our faith, it is also an opportunity to recover our true selves and true life. It is by abstaining from food that we rediscover its sweetness and learn again how to receive it from God with joy and thanksgiving. It is by “slowing down” and cutting back on our socializing, that we rediscover the ultimate value of human relationships. It is by taking Lent seriously by participating in the Lenten services, fasting and praying, practicing silence and stillness, giving alms, etc., that we can attain to truly keeping Lent. It might sound strange, but there seems to be a silver lining to this global pandemic we are facing-we are having the Lent we should have. May the reminder of it be blessed!
Father Jerry
In Russia, for example, one could not forget Lent if only because of a special Lenten church bell ringing; theaters were closed; and in more ancient times, the courts suspended their activities. By themselves, all those externals were obviously unable to force people into repentance or toward a more active religious life. But they created a certain atmosphere-a kind of Lenten climate-in which personal effort was made easier. Being weak, we need external reminders, symbols, signs. We are no longer living in an Orthodox society and no Lenten “climate” can, therefore, be created on a social level. Or can it? In the Orthodox worldview, the home and the family constitute the first and most important area of the Christian life, of application of Christian principles to daily existence. It is the home and family that shapes our fundamental worldview, that orients us for daily life.
How Lent is kept at home with our family, therefore, is of great importance. If Lent is an opportunity to recover our faith, it is also an opportunity to recover our true selves and true life. It is by abstaining from food that we rediscover its sweetness and learn again how to receive it from God with joy and thanksgiving. It is by “slowing down” and cutting back on our socializing, that we rediscover the ultimate value of human relationships. It is by taking Lent seriously by participating in the Lenten services, fasting and praying, practicing silence and stillness, giving alms, etc., that we can attain to truly keeping Lent. It might sound strange, but there seems to be a silver lining to this global pandemic we are facing-we are having the Lent we should have. May the reminder of it be blessed!
Father Jerry
RSS Feed