The Flower of Repentance

From the Matins Hymns for Wednesday of Cheesefare Week (the week before Great Lent Begins) comes two hymns which offer us thoughts for Great Lent.  The first is a jubilant proclamation of the arrival of the Lenten Season.

THE LENTEN SPRING HAS COME!   

Lenten Rose

THE FLOWER OF REPENTANCE!                                       

BRETHREN, LET US CLEANSE OURSELVES FROM ALL EVIL,

CRYING OUT TO THE GIVER OF LIGHT:

GLORY TO YOU, LOVER OF MANKIND! 

For Christians a season of repentance is joyful not mournful for it is exactly an entire season devoted to obeying Christ’s very first sermon: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.”    Time has a unique relationship to the Kingdom of God – time is fulfilled by the Kingdom.   Time was set in motion by the Creator to be fulfilled, and now we come to that season in which we experience the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom –  a time of repentance.

We are called not to cleanse ourselves of meat and animal products but of evil!

The second hymn challenges us to consider what this season of fasting and abstinence means for our lives.  Food fasting for a period of time in itself means nothing, for devils never eat!  Food fasting is just a way to practice abstinence – what we really are to be fasting from is sin, evil and the passions.

The healing of St. Paul (Acts 9:17-18)

IN VAIN DO YOU REJOICE IN NOT EATING, MY SOUL!

YOU ABSTAIN FROM FOOD, BUT ARE NOT PURIFIED FROM PASSIONS!

IF YOU HAVE NO DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT,

YOU WILL BE DESPISED AS A LIE IN THE EYES OF GOD!

YOU WILL BE COMPARED TO EVIL DEMONS, WHO NEVER EAT!

IF YOU CONTINUE IN SIN, YOU WILL PERFORM A USELESS FAST:

THEREFORE, REMAIN IN CONSTANT WARFARE,

THAT YOU MAY STAND BEFORE THE CRUCIFIED SAVIOR,

OR RATHER THAT YOU MAY BE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM WHO DIED FOR YOUR SAKE://

REMEMBER ME, LORD, WHEN YOU COME IN YOUR KINGDOM!

Our warfare, Chrysostom said, is not to make the living dead but rather to make the dead to live.  The constant warfare is a spiritual battle against our own self-centered passions, against temptation and anything that turns our lives away from a dependency on God.  The human does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).

Take up the cross and follow Christ

Fasting, prayer, scripture reading, repentance, seeking forgiveness, forgiving and generously giving charity to others are the ways in which we practice the faith especially during Lent.   Being a disciple of Christ is not a spectator sport:  note the hymn’s reference that we are not just to stand before the crucified Savior.  Rather we are to be crucified with Him!   When we deny ourselves, we imitate Christ who died on the cross for humanity.  He did not please Himself, but served us in love.  Lent is a season devoted to imitating Christ not just contemplating Him.