At the Doors of Holy Lent

The way in which the publican and the Pharisee converse with God indicates that there are two kinds of prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, which are acceptable or useless, depending on the manner in which they are offered. Supplication brings fruit when it is offered with faith and surrendering to God, with contrition and pain of heart, and, of course, when it is accompanied by the loathing of evil works. It is rendered useless, however, when it is offered perfunctorily, with indifference and a hardened heart, or when it is polluted by demonic despair and self-pity.

Why is it that ‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble’? From this parable we can draw the conclusion that it is impossible for man to find contact with the mercy of the Lord and unite with Him, unless he approaches Him as ‘poor and needy’, as ‘sick’, as condemned and deprived of salvation.

Considering himself an abomination and a nothing, man only seeks mercy from on high.
Amid his inconsolable mourning over the wretchedness of his soul, the dew of grace comes down of a sudden, and the joy of the Lord’s salvation blossoms in the deep heart. He who is proud is rightfully forsaken, not because God is strict and vengeful, but because he himself believes that he does not need the help of God. ‘The publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.’

The conclusion of this parable is that: ‘Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

If the man of faith is to attain purification, he must first be raptured by this vision, ignited with the fire brought by the humility of Christ and, as Elder Sophrony writes, ‘condemn himself to hell-fire with anger and detestation towards himself, since there is no other fire that can extinguish the working of the passions’.

This attitude is far from morbid. On the contrary, it leads to the freedom of the children of God. How can a man who sees himself as unworthy of Heaven and earth, and has condemned himself to the darkness of hell, accept any thought of judgment against another person? How will he even notice how others react? How will he ever be grieved by any negative behaviour or rejection from his fellow-men? Elder Sophrony writes that, ‘in order to escape persecutions, the ascetic must become a greater persecutor of himself than his enemies. Only then will he find rest.’

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

Man’s whole being is on loan from God. His creation in the image and likeness of God was given him as a talent that he must trade in order to return it with interest to the Giver of all good. Humility turns into gratitude, and gratitude into love, and since ‘God is love’, the humble soul enters the wondrous communion of the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the communion of all the saints.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

The path God takes towards the sinful man is a descent of indescribable humility. Whenever man finds a way to humble himself, he sets himself on this path, which is the Lord Himself, Who said ‘I am the way.’ The Almighty Jesus thus becomes man’s fellow traveller, personally teaching him humility and meekness, and imparting to him His peace and His very life. It is not important whether someone is at the beginning, the middle or the end of this path. The Lord is Alpha and Omega, ‘the first and the last’. The publican went down to his house justified because he found the way that leads to Heaven. ‘No man cometh unto the Father’, says the Lord, ‘but by me.’ The minor work required of man is to find the courage to humble himself before His Creator, so that God can raise him up to Heaven and make him a child of Paradise, a child of the Father of lights without beginning.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

Our struggle is not easy because we have inherited corruption and the law of sin is rooted in the members of our body. The purpose of this struggle is great, and it is experienced in the depth of the soul on the night of the Resurrection. It is the passage from darkness to Light, from death to life, from the temporary to the eternal, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, from earth to heaven. The love of the Father, Who sees us from afar and awaits us with open arms to welcome us into the eternal feast of His Kingdom, gives us zeal and boldness to surrender to inconsolable repentance.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

Depending on our choice, we become either servants of God guided by the light of the love of Christ, or slaves to the enemy with our mind held captive by an alien spirit.

We are free to do whatever we wish, but it is expedient for us to choose that which is in harmony with the will of God: ‘For His anger endureth but a moment and in His favour is life.’ Salvation consists in finding the will of God in our life and embracing it as the sole law of our being. There is only one will in the Kingdom of Heaven, the will of God, and the citizens of Paradise, angels and saints, serve that one will. All things may be lawful unto us, but today’s Parable of the Prodigal Son vividly depicts before our eyes the place to which ‘the wide gate and the broad way’ leads. We can do all things, but in some acts and thoughts there is life and life eternal, while in others eternal death. The choice is ours.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent

Christ loved us ‘unto the end’ and the power of His love destroyed the bonds of death. We see from our everyday life that human relationships break down from one day to the next, often for trivial reasons. Yet, whoever is attracted by the humble love of Christ and unites with Him, cries out with the Apostle Paul as one who has lost his wits: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ The martyrs, through their blood, and the ascetics, through their tears, give witness that this love is stronger than death. Their earthly vessel may have been dissolved, but ‘not an hair of their head did perish.’ No one could touch their hypostasis, nor destroy their ‘house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent (p. 190)

The Lord Jesus came Himself to earth to impart to us the word of truth, that word which can regenerate us and show us the way of return to Paradise. In His infinite condescension, He bridged the bottomless abyss through His Incarnation, uniting His divine Nature to human nature. His mercy was infinite, ‘and who shall declare His generation?’ He poured out the energy of His Person upon all creation. Nowhere in the created world is there a state or place that Christ has not sanctified with His presence. Through His coming, He filled the earth, the waters, the ethereal realms, even hell with the Light of His Divinity, so that no alien power of darkness may have dominion over those who desire to follow Him. Thus, He has given all those who love His presence the possibility to meet Him and unite with Him in any circumstance.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent (p. 35)

‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.’ The Lord’s first appearing was humble. He came secretly, unseen, in the form of a servant, concealing His glory under the veil of weak human flesh so as not to frighten man, nor impose on his free will. As many as had a pure heart and mind recognised Him, loved His first appearing, received Him with faith and were regenerated. Having ascended ‘where He was before’, He left His flesh as an inalienable inheritance to the Church, that flesh He bore when He was lifted up upon the Cross, descended into the tomb and rose again; He also left the word of the Heavenly Father, ‘words of eternal life’, and revealed unto the world His Name for the deliverance of those who shall call upon Him, as a strong and unshakeable anchor in the instability of this life.

The Lord has left ‘naught undone’ in order to offer eternity to man. He did not save the world with His omnipotence as the almighty Creator, but through the weakness of His love which is stronger than any human power. According to His word, God does not despise ‘a broken and a contrite heart’, but touches man’s painful heart and mercifully bends down over him.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent (p. 198-199)

Every day of our life ‘while it is called today’ is an honour and privilege wherein we receive the calling of God’s mercy to renew our life. There are, however, days and seasons more intensely stirred up by the grace of God.

Holy and Great Lent…leads to the Holy Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, provides a miniature of the kenotic life of Christ, but also of His irrevocable triumph. It is the foremost period of the year dedicated by the immaculate Church of Christ to the inner renewal of the heart. Instilled with the spirit of wisdom from on high, She instructs the faithful to find a ‘place of repentance’, giving them the support and inspiration to follow the path of return to the Paradise of delight, collaborating with God for the fulfilment of His commandments.

During the struggle of Great Lent, through the humble and secret work of repentance and voluntary ascetic labours, we prove that we have been created in the image of God and can become His dwelling-place. Through fasting, we receive a little taste of death, the body is humbled, prayer illumines the mind and vigilance cleanses the senses.

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent (p. 246-247) •

The Lord saves us freely not for our external acts of piety, such as fasting or prostrations, but for the forgiveness we grant from our heart to our fellow who has wounded or wronged us. We repeat this principle every time we pronounce the words from the Lord’s prayer: ‘and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’

If we harbour negative thoughts, malice or bitterness against one brother in our heart, all the ascetical labours of Great Lent will be in vain, and we will remain outside the sublime communion of grace of this period. The Lord commands us to forgive. The will of God, wherein an abundance of life is concealed, is thereby clearly expressed. What remains is for us to co-work with Him and contribute with our insignificant human factor. Striving to fulfil His commandment, we are assimilated into the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whence forgiveness and the joy of His salvation spring forth.

Knowing that without Him we can do nothing, we beseech Him to send us the grace of the Spirit that grants power to forgive all things so that nothing may hinder the forgiveness of the multitude of our own sins. Our many afflictions and blissful tears refashion us, so that we acquire a positive disposition towards all, because we are all people of like passions and ‘even as Christ forgave us, so also do we forgive one another, if any man has a quarrel against any.’

— Excerpt from: At the Doors of Holy Lent (p. 252-253)