BEGIN PREPARING FOR GREAT LENT

BEGIN PREPARING FOR GREAT LENT Fr. Luke Veronis Today we begin our three week preparation FOR GREAT LENT, which begins this year on Clean Monday, February 27th. The Gospel reading of the “Publican and Pharisee” is always read three weeks before Lent begins, and reminds us of what is essential for us in our spiritual lives to truly get ready for our journey through Lent and leading up to Pascha/Easter! Jesus tells the story of how a Pharisee (a religious leader) who was satisfied with himself, and a tax collector (a sinful thief) went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee regularly went to the temple to pray. He fasted twice a week. He gave 10% of his possessions to God. He read the Scriptures and tried to follow the law of God. And he avoided obvious sins. His failure, though, was that he was very proud of himself. He also looked down upon other people, especially the sinful tax collector who was in the temple with him. The tax collector, on the other hand, entered the temple in a humble manner. He stood in the back of the temple, not daring to draw close up front. He fell on his face and realized that he had done many bad things, and that he was a sinner. Thus, he simply fell on his knees and cried a very simple prayer - “Lord have mercy on me.” Although the Pharisee had done many good things in his life, he ruined the good by being proud and self-assured. He fell into a serious sin of pride and of judging others, especially the tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand, did not live a virtuous life. Yet, his sincere humility and repentance saved him. He approached God with tears, crying out for our Lord’s mercy and grace. And God gave him His grace and forgiveness! Great Lent is the central time of the year that all Christians are called to honestly take a good look at ourselves, and to focus on own spiritual lives. Let us sincerely look ourselves and our relationship with God. First of all, we need to truly know ourselves. So many people fool themselves into thinking they are something they aren’t. I meet too many people who say to me, “I’m a spiritual person. I have God in my heart.” Yet, in reality, they do very little to nourish their faith and to grow in their relationship with God. In fact, more often than not, these people don’t truly know the status of their own spiritual lives. When we don’t come to Church and learn to compare ourselves only to Jesus and His saints, and no one else, then we don’t have a good standard upon which to judge ourselves and see who we truly our. We only can know ourselves when we first come to know God, the one who created us in His image. A second important step in our spiritual growth is learning to repent and change our ways after we come to know ourselves. No one should fool themselves into thinking that they are “good.” We all fall far short of the potential God gives us. We all “miss the mark” (this is what the Greek word “amartia” for sin actually means) in living a truly Christ-centered, holy life. Thus, we all need to humbly confess our short-comings and repent. To repent means to “change our ways” back towards the ways of God. Knowing yourself, confessing our sins, and then repenting. This was the path which the tax collector took, and it led him back into union with God. Jesus said this man was justified when he left the temple. The Pharisee fooled himself with his pride and self-righteousness. With no humility and repentance, Jesus said this man left the temple unjustified before God.