Preparing for Great Lent
By Brother Christopher
During our winter retreat I had the
opportunity to spend several days at St Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer,
Massachusetts. It is a community with which we have had a long friendship, and
they have always been gracious in letting us spend a few days of retreat
whenever one of us feels the need. As it happened, this year I was present for
their celebration of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Western Lent. Seeing
everyone walk around that day with the cross of ash marked on their foreheads
reminded me of the timeless truth that is spoken during the ceremony: “Remember
that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” It is a vivid sign of what
Lent is all about.
One might think that because Great
Lent starts for us so late this year (almost five weeks after Western
Christians begin Lent), I would have felt something of a liturgical disconnect
in witnessing that ceremony. However, I didn’t find it so at all. Not only was
the ceremony dignified in its simplicity and beauty, but it was like a sonorous
gong echoing deep within me, making me vividly aware that Great Lent is indeed
approaching and that I have the opportunity to transition into its atmosphere
gradually, something akin to getting into a hot bath. Going in slowly gives the
body time to adjust instead of experiencing it as a sudden shock to the system.
Actually, I believe that this is the
intent of the Church in giving us several Sundays in advance of Great Lent to
prepare for the seriousness of the season. In celebrating the Sunday of the
Publican and the Pharisee, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Judgement Sunday,
and Forgiveness Sunday, we have the opportunity to transition gradually into
the theme of repentance, of changing our minds and the associated shadow sides
of our behavior. Repentance is never simply a one-time event. It needs to be
renewed throughout our lives. Each of these Sundays presents us with a somewhat
counter-intuitive Gospel lesson that turns the tables on what we might at first
glance expect to occur. It is the publican whom Jesus puts forth as the proper
example of one at prayer, not the Pharisee; it is the prodigal son whose
expectation of punishment is swallowed by the compassion and forgiveness of his
father, and the elder son who unfortunately doesn’t get the significance of his
father’s gesture; it is what we do to our neighbors that Jesus emphasizes as
being the true sign of our dedication to God, not disconnected devotions;
finally, it is our forgiving others that is the condition of God forgiving us.
Should we meditate on these Gospel stories in an honest manner, we will no
doubt see how we fall short of the ideal each one expresses. This, in turn,
will help us to appreciate the challenge that Great Lent as a season offers us:
the opportunity to grow ever more closely into the image we are called to
reflect.
As we enter into the atmosphere of
repentance, transitioning from the season of the Incarnation and looking
forward to Great Lent, might we reflect on the Kondakion of the Prodigal Son,
which we sing here at New Skete during the Sunday matins service:
Like fools, we left behind our father’s glory,
and by our sins we squandered all he gave us.
So now, filled with shame, we beg him like the
prodigal:
We have sinned against you, father, and all we
have is our sorrow.
In your tenderness, do not turn us away;take us back at least as hired hands.
