36th Sunday, Cheesefare
Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 6:14-21

We stand before the door of Lent. As conscious members of Christ's Church, we need to know what this Lent is for, how to begin it, what we should do during Great Lent, and what we hope to achieve.

And where would we find the answers to these? The Church provides answers to these questions, gives instructions not from human reasoning, but from God - these are the instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles.

First of all, fasting has a purpose - the purification of our souls and bodies and union with God.

Why purification? We know that dirt does not mix with purity, or rather, it is useless to combine the two it in this way, for dirt will overwhelm purity. In order to feel clean, it is not enough to put on a clean shirt or clean clothes in general, for a person needs to bathe, wash, and then put on fresh garments. Similarly, dirty walls need to be cleaned, wiped, and only then painted with a fresh coat of paint.

Thus, Great Lent was established to purify the soul from sins, to wash away spiritual grime and to unite with Christ through Holy Communion, through the acceptance of His teaching of the Word of God.

Our body needs food, drink, care, protection from cold, warmth, and so on. In these ways, it resembles the bodily needs of every animal. But an animal needs nothing beyond the care of its body.

But a human being consists of two beings - body and soul. Our soul needs spiritual nourishment and care. The human soul strives for unity with its Creator, but if it is contaminated with the impurity of sins, it cannot unite with the holiness of God; if it is contaminated, it will not feel unity with God.

The Lord is aware of our imperfection and sinfulness, and that is why He instituted the Sacrament of Penance-Confession so that a person might have a font of spiritual purification and could unite with God. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of Confession (Penance) on the first day after His Resurrection, when He appeared to His disciples, the apostles, and said:

"Receive the Holy Spirit! Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven, and whose sins you retain, they will be retained." (John 20:22-23)

Yet, in a similar way, Christ spoke to His disciples even before His sufferings:

"Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18)

For this reason, the Church of Christ has a sacrament of spiritual purification, the Sacrament of Confession.

But before the Sacrament of Confession, a person must make certain spiritual efforts, examine the soul before his conscience. Conscience, like the soul in general, is invisible, immaterial, but as we all know, it exists. The Creator gave us all an awareness of conscience in order that we might control and discern our deeds and actions.

Because in Confession we ask God to forgive us for our sins, both willful and involuntary, Christ tells us where to begin Great Lent - with forgiveness. This is so that we forgive the sins of our neighbours first:

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15)

That is why, on the basis of this clear instruction of Christ, we must begin our Great Lent with forgiveness. In a family, a wife and husband going to Confession, must ask for forgiveness from each other, and likewise, children from their parents and vice versa...

We should also be aware that bodily fasting is not an end in itself; we practise it so that the spirit can more easily reign over the body and over bodily desires. Fasting is not only about not eating meat, not dancing, not going out for fun, but fasting is about growing spiritually, becoming richer, acquiring the treasures of the soul.

Spiritual fasting is about ridding oneself of evil deeds and trying to do good deeds as much as possible.

"What good is your fasting if you do not eat meat but devour your neighbour with hatred?" - asks St. Basil the Great.

The holy fathers of the Church teach us that we should fast not only with our stomachs, but with our whole being.

"Let your mind be restrained from evil, evil thoughts; let your memory be restrained from remembering evil, unclean things; let your tongue refrain from speaking lies, Let your tongue abstain from slandering your neighbour; let your ears abstain from hearing immoral jokes and dissolute songs; keep your hands from reaching for the possessions of others, and keep your feet from leading you to places of sin."

So a person should fast not only with his stomach, but also with his mouth, with his whole being, and direct his mind, willpower, and daily actions to doing good, to giving charity. We should not only try to visit the sick, the infirm, and those in need and help them, but parents should also try to pay more attention to their children during Lent.

We often neglect our responsibilities to our children in the midst of work, anniversaries, and amusements. We should ask them what might be bothering them, how their studies are going, what they need help with, and offering encouragement. Let us talk to them about God, read with them Christ's instructions from the Gospel, teach them to pray, and endeavour that they attend all Sunday services, the Passion Service, and the Carrying-out The Shroud Service with us.

Let us take care of the treasures of the soul for ourselves and for our children, those treasures “where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. " (Matthew 6:20-21)

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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