DANCING WITH ANGELS

DANCING WITH ANGELS Fr Luke A Veronis “Make us worthy to dance with the armies of angels, O Christ our God!” Imagine that! Dancing with angels! Doesn’t that sound wonderful and exciting? Wouldn’t we all want to dance with angels if we had the opportunity? Well, in the hymnology of the church, we hear this beautiful phrase in today’s morning Matins service – “O Son of God and Giver of Life, we set our hope on You as we entreat You to make us worthy to dance with the armies of angels.”  This prayer and plea is placed in powerful juxtaposition with other hymns from Vespers last night and this morning’s Matins which describe Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. On this Sunday before we begin our Great Lenten journey tomorrow on Clean Monday, the Church remembers how Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise, yet also reminds us that there is a way for us, the children of Adam and Eve, to return back. Yes, humanity was cast out of the Garden of Eden, yet we have an invitation to return home and to dance with the angels! “For their disobedience,” one hymn declares, “Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden and banned from its delight, for they allowed themselves to be deceived. As they lament their nakedness, they cry out “Woe is me! We were seduced by deceit, robbed and removed from Divine Glory. Woe is me! Before, I was simply naked; but now, I am degraded. O Paradise, I no longer walk in the Garden of Delight with my Lord and Maker. Now, I return to the ground, out of which I was taken.” Another hymn vividly describes Adam’s anguish: “Woe is me! A serpent deprived me of intimate communion with God by eating from the tree. I am now estranged from the Paradise of delight. I cannot bear the disgrace! Once I was the king of all God’s creation on the earth; now, I have become a hostage because I followed foolish advice. Once I was vested with the Glory of immortality and now, I carry the stench of death as a mortal being.” Remember, Adam and Eve were friends with God, walking daily in the Garden of Paradise. They had intimate communion with their Creator! Then they forgot God; they disobeyed His commandments; and they turned away from the Source of Life. Paradise versus disgrace. Wonder versus foolishness. Life versus Death. What a dilemma that Adam and Eve brought upon all humanity. From the time of their disobedience and turning away from God, darkness, despair and death have entered the world. Yet, the hymns of today don’t only focus on Adam’s predicament of misery, but they also offer a path for all humanity to journey back into Paradise where we can dance with the angels. “Adam was evicted from Paradise after disobediently partaking of its luxury,” proclaims one hymn, “yet Moses encountered God after cleansing the eyes of his soul with fasting. Hence if we desire to become residents of Paradise, let us turn away from worldly delights, and imitate Moses by accepting the 40 day fast.” “The stadium of virtue is now open; those who wish to compete, are invited to enter therein, girded for the good contest of Great Lent, for those who compete according to the rules shall receive their laurels rightfully.” “The time has come to start our spiritual contest, our victory over demons, putting on the full armor of self-control… As Moses communed with the Creator and heard the Divine Voice, make us worthy, O Lord, through fasting to worship Your Passion and Holy Resurrection.” “Let us cheerfully begin the season of Lent and undergo the spiritual struggles. Let us purify and cleanse our souls and bodies. As we fast from foods, let us also abstain from giving in to any of the passions, and take delight in the virtues of the Spirit. May we persevere in them with love and be counted worthy to see the solemn Passion of Christ our God, and to celebrate holy Pascha with spiritual joy.” So, we have a choice. Do we want to remain exiled outside of the Garden of Delight and live in the shadow of death OR will we choose to joyfully journey back into Paradise and dance with the angels? This is what the Church asks us to reflect upon today on the Sunday before Great Lent. There are two ways – one of death and one of life. But how do we journey back toward life? By embracing the Great Lenten season and entering its spirit of self-denial in order to reach our goal of celebrating Pascha, our Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. We begin with FORGIVENESS. We must take a sincere look at our lives and ask ourselves what relationships are broken? The path back to life begins with love. In order to love God, however, we must love one another, including loving even those who have hurt us. Thus, the Church asks us today to reach out and reconcile with those with whom we have broken relationships. We forgive others because God has first forgiven us. We simply share the mercy God has given us and pass it on to others. Next, we continue on our journey back into Paradise by practicing the three great spiritual disciplines  of PRAYER, FASTING, and ALMSGIVING. This Season of Great Lent is a time we change our lifestyles and put more time into communing with God through our personal prayers as well as in our communal prayers. Here at the Church, we will have Great Compline every Monday night, Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesdays, Salutation Service to the Virgin Mary Friday evenings, Great Vespers Saturday, and of course the Divine Liturgy Sunday. Come and let us pray together, connecting with our Creator and tasting of Paradise through our intimate personal prayer life along with our communal worship. Of course, a central part of our Great Lenten disciplines is fasting. We deny ourselves particular foods not because these foods are bad, but as an offering up to God. We remove something in order to replace it with something else. We take away our focus on physical food so we can emphasize the spiritual food that will satisfy our souls. We learn physical discipline in order to apply it to our spiritual discipline by denying our passions and sinful addictions. The effort of fasting creates a spiritual atmosphere where we can encounter God in an intimate manner. Of course, our Prayer and Fasting means little if they aren’t combined with almsgiving, consciously sharing our blessing with others through generous giving and acts of mercy and love. Our Lenten journey cannot only be an inward turned effort of love to connect with God through our prayer and fasting, but also must be an outward turned action of love toward those created in the image and likeness of God through our almsgiving. Great Lent is a holy season, a special opportunity to reverse the consequences of Adam and Eve and return back to Paradise where we can dance with the angels. May all of us take seriously our Lenten Journey and understand the magnitude of this time of year. It begins with Forgiveness. It continues with Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. And it ends with us rejoicing in the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. A blessed Lenten Season to all of us!