Fragments for Friday

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 Dear Parish Faithful,

Great Lent will begin on Monday, March 3; but actually for the parish it will begin as we serve the Forgiveness Vespers on Sunday following the Liturgy. This is a very "special" service that inaugurates the lenten fast. The theme, together with the beginning of Great Lent, is that of forgiveness. And that is clearly at the heart of the service, which is the Rite of Forgiveness, which actually comes at the very end. 

What happens is this: Everyone comes and stands before everyone else at the service - beginning with me as the parish priest and our other clergy. We make a full bow at the waist before each other, accompanied by the words: "Forgive me." The response is then: "God forgives," and then we move on to the next person. We will not exchange the "kiss of peace," and it not the place to chat with each other. We continue to move along in this fashion to the next person, who has taken a position in the line after his/her exchange with the last person in the line, until we have gone through to the very last person. The point is to fulfill the Gospel command to forgive one another, as God has forgiven us. The Gospel reading for Sunday's Liturgy will be Matt. 6:14-21. 

Everyone who is there - from members of the Church to catechumens and inquirers - is invited to stay. And that, of course, is a matter of choice. It is a free decision.

On Monday - Thursday of the First Week of Lent, there will be a unique lenten service, described in the following manner by Fr. Thomas Hopko:

"At the Compline services of the first week of lent the Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is read. This is a long series of penitential verses based on Biblical themes, to each of which the people respond: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me (with a bow at the waist). This canon is repeated at Matins on Thursday of the fifth week."

Preparing for Great Lent, Part 3

Dear Parish Faithful,

Great Lent: A Season To Embrace or To Endure?

See also in this Preparing for Great Lent series:

• Part 1: A Lenten Reading List
• Part 2: The Great Canon, and A Summary of Lent
• Part 4: Confession and Repentance

With the beginning of Great Lent this coming Monday, we will face the challenge of embracing the fast with a sense of expectation and spiritual "eagerness;" or of simply enduring the long six weeks with a minimal amount of lifestyle changes. In fact, we could ask ourselves: Are we going to be (or try to be) "lenten maximalists" or "lenten minimalists?" The former at least opens the door to the possibility of spiritual renewal, but the latter will leave us enclosed in the status quo. Attitude is a key factor in all of this. As Jesus taught: "But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face... " (Matt. 6:17).

Great Lent offers the possibility of emotional, psychological, and spiritual healing as we make the effort to restore/recover our relationship with God and with our neighbors. Here is the opportunity to recover our true humanity as we draw closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our "neighbors," by the way, are right in our own homes, as we begin with our immediate family; extend that to our parish family; and then beyond to the human family of our everyday world and encounters. This is why we use the term the "Lenten Spring" as we thaw out our cold hearts with the warmth of the Grace of God by allowing that grace to enter into our hearts in order to transform us. Great Lent affords us the opportunity of liberating ourselves from the spiritually ossifying effects of frozen patterns of living, and even of "bad habits," so that we can recover the Gospel-oriented life that Christ promises us. This can be an initially painful process, as all change - even for the better - takes us out of our comfort zones. But as the saying has it: "No pain - no gain."

Therefore, I encourage everyone to "redeem the time" during these sacred forty days. May our many lenten practices - beginning with prayer, alsmsgiving and fasting - be the outward signs of our inward repentance as we return from a "far country" into the embrace of our loving heavenly Father.

Forgiveness Vespers

This return journey to God begins with our willingness and capacity to forgive others, as God has forgiven us. We will hear this teaching of Christ in Sunday's Gospel. Following the Liturgy and some refreshments, we return to the church for the service of Forgiveness Vespers. This is a long-standing tradition in our parish as it is in most Orthodox parishes.

What is unique and special about this service?

It is the Rite of Forgiveness that is the climax of the service, but the beginning of our lenten efforts. What does this rite entail? Starting with me as the parish priest, and then with our deacons, we basically form a line and approach one another asking for, and then extending, mutual forgiveness to one another. We do this by making a bow at the waist before one another, accompanied by the words, "forgive me," with the response "God forgives." We then exchange the "kiss of peace" - the same "three-cheek" kiss as on Pascha - and then move on to the next person. (As we are doing this, the Paschal Canon is being chanted in anticipation of our final destination for Great Lent). Before we are done, every person has come before every other person in seeking and granting mutual forgiveness.

Every face-to-face encounter with another person is always challenging. One more lenten practice that removes us from the safety of our comfort zones. It takes a certain humility and courage to participate, as we open ourselves up to the next person, hopefully with sincerity. Over the years, many parishioners remain for this important service and rite. Hopefully, that will continue this year.

I hope and pray that everyone enjoys a blessed Great Lent as we move toward the Feast of Feasts - Pascha - and our celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ!

Great Lent - Beginning with Forgiveness

Dear Parish Faithful,

GREAT LENT - The Second Day

"The ceremony of mutual forgiveness,  so far from being merely a ritual form, can be and often is a profoundly moving moment, altering the lives of those who participate. Symbolic gestures of this kind have a decisive effect.  I can recall occasions when this exchange of forgiveness on the threshold of Lent has served as a forceful catalyst, suddenly breaking down long-standing barriers and making possible a true re-creation of relationship. What the Vespers of Forgiveness surely proclaims, in actions that speak louder than words, is that the Lenten voyage is a journey which none can undertake alone. (emphasis added)

"Lent teaches each person to say, not simply 'I', but 'I-and-Thou'; not simply 'me', but 'us'.  In our present-day consumer society, dominated as it is by selfishness and the lust for possessions, that gives Lent a direct contemporary relevance."

"Lent and the Consumer Society" by Archbishop Kallistos Ware (from Living Orthodoxy in the Modern World, p. 79)

"Participating" in Lent

Dear Parish Faithful,

I still stick by my contention that a "good beginning" for Great Lent will give us the "momentum" and resolve for a "good ending" to Great Lent.  And this good beginning is not simply based on our well-planned lenten menus and recipes. I would like to here concentrate on the liturgical services unique to Great Lent.  Our participation in these services may just pose a greater challenge than fasting from certain foods and drink.  And that challenge is again probably the result of our "busy schedules" which almost seem immutable and unchangeable in their demands on our time and energy.  This is an old problem and one that will not disappear any time in the near future. This is a component of life that is here to stay. And it certainly challenges our role as "stewards" of our time.  Our schedules control us far more than we control them. The "world" is decidedly indifferent to the liturgical calendar of the Orthodox Church!  But is it really "impossible" to make some adjustments and expend some effort for the sake of our spiritual lives that are nourished in the Church and nowhere else?

I will again turn to Fr. Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent in order to share some of his thoughts on this interminable challenge to perhaps find some guidance on what to do:

    No one, as we have already said, can attend the entire cycle of Lenten worship.  Everyone can attend some of it.  There is simply no excuse for not making Lent first
    of all the time for an increased attendance of and participation in the liturgy of the Church. Here again, personal conditions, individual possibilities and impossibilities
    can vary and result in different decisions, but there must be a decision, there must be an effort, and there must be a "follow up."  From the liturgical point of view, we
    may suggest the following "minimum" aimed not at the spiritually self-destructive sense of having fulfilled an obligation, but at receiving at least the essential in the
    liturgical spirit of Lent:

    In the first place, a special effort must be made on the parish level for a proper celebration of the Forgiveness Sunday Vespers.... It must become one of the great
    "parish affairs" of the year and, as such, well prepared.... For, once more, nothing better than this service reveals the meaning of Lent as the crisis of repentance,
    reconciliation, as embarking together on a common journey...

    The next "priority" must be given to the first week of Lent. A special effort must be made to attend at least once or twice the Great Canon of St. Andrew.  As we
    have seen, the liturgical function of these first days is to take us into the spiritual "mood" of Lent which we described as "bright sadness."

    Then, throughout the entire Lent, it is imperative that we give at least one evening to attend the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts with the spiritual experience it
    implies - that of total fasting, that of transformation of at least one day into a real expectation of judgment and joy.  No reference to conditions of life, lack of
    time, etc. are acceptable at this point, for if we do only that which easily "fits" into the conditions of our lives, the very notion of Lenten effort becomes absolutely
    meaningless.  Not only in the 20th (and 21st!) century, but in fact since Adam and Eve, "this world" was always an obstacle to the fulfillment of God's demands.
    There is, therefore, nothing new or special about our modern "way of life." Ultimately it all depends again on whether or not we take our religion seriously, and
    if we do, eight to ten additional evenings a year at church are truly a minimal effort...

To repeat what Fr. Alexander wrote (emphasis added):  "There is simply no excuse for not making Lent first of all the time for an increased attendance of and participation in the liturgy of the Church."  Excuse the cliché, but if "there is a will, there is a way." Strong desire can assist us in overcoming certain obstacles.  If we cannot do the "impossible," then we may have to strain ourselves a bit to do the "possible."  I fully agree with Fr. Alexander's guidelines as expressed above as something to aim for as a family or as an individual.  Great Lent demands some effort.  And that is a basic precept of the Gospel.