The view from our dining room at dusk.Today marks the first day of Lent.
"The Lenten worship is...a school of repentance. It teaches us what is repentance and how to acquire the spirit of repentance. It prepares us for and leads us to the spiritual regeneration without which ‘absolution’ remains meaningless. It is, in short, both teaching about repentance and the way of repentance. And since there can be no real Christian life without repentance, without this constant ‘re-evaluation’ of life, the Lenten worship is an essential part of the liturgical tradition of the Church.”
— Alexander Schmemann
Father Anthony spoke yesterday of his perspective of Lent as a "reversal of the Fall" - in a manner of speaking - through our choice to turn from sin through repentance. In addition, he made another new-to-me point when he spoke of how fasting is integral to the process because it is another counterpoint. Where Adam and Eve's decision not to physically deny themselves had spiritual ramifications, fasting is the exterior part of the interior "renunciation of our self-will and desires"*.
My previous post (quite unintentionally) segues into this one as, once again, I see nature paralleled - this time through the Lenten period of internal renewal. We begin Lent at the end of winter, when all around us is evidence of death: the trees shed of their leaves, the grass brown and lifeless, the landscape devoid of color. But we are on the cusp of spring - and of Easter Sunday. The regeneration has already begun where we cannot yet see it. Soon we will.
Father Anthony spoke yesterday of his perspective of Lent as a "reversal of the Fall" - in a manner of speaking - through our choice to turn from sin through repentance. In addition, he made another new-to-me point when he spoke of how fasting is integral to the process because it is another counterpoint. Where Adam and Eve's decision not to physically deny themselves had spiritual ramifications, fasting is the exterior part of the interior "renunciation of our self-will and desires"*.
My previous post (quite unintentionally) segues into this one as, once again, I see nature paralleled - this time through the Lenten period of internal renewal. We begin Lent at the end of winter, when all around us is evidence of death: the trees shed of their leaves, the grass brown and lifeless, the landscape devoid of color. But we are on the cusp of spring - and of Easter Sunday. The regeneration has already begun where we cannot yet see it. Soon we will.
*From "These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings". Compiled and Edited by A Monk of St. Tikhon's Monastery. Copyright 1986 by the St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania 18459.
Definitely gives me something to think about. I want to join you for Easter at the Orthodox church this year!
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome to :) Pascha was the most meaningful Easter service I've ever attended.
ReplyDelete