The beginning of Great Lent resounds in the Church’s hymnography as an unexpected invitation to light, Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada said in a message issued for the occasion.
“Great Lent is a season which, although it calls for bodily and spiritual effort on our part, remains a time of light and of the joy of the Spirit,” the hierarch wrote.
A Luminous Season
He noted that the Lenten season culminates in the contemplation of Christ’s Passion and His Resurrection on the third day from the tomb for our salvation. “This is the goal that gives it its full spiritual meaning.”
The Bishop spoke of a “paradox of luminous asceticism,” even if the emphasis on repentance might appear to lead toward sorrow.
“The sense of joy, light, and hope springs from the very purpose indicated by the Vespers hymn – to behold the Passion of Christ our God and the Holy Pascha – and also from partaking, along this entire path of spiritual growth, in the gifts of the Spirit that are offered to us,” he explained.
Rebuilding the Inner Architecture
Bishop Ioan Casian recalled that Great Lent is also a time for “rebuilding our inner architecture, of renewing personal and social relationships,” as reflected in the appointed readings of the Old Testament (the Paremiæ) during Vespers in the first week of the Fast.
“Within the order of Great Lent, asceticism is interwoven with practical wisdom, teaching us that obedience to the divine word is like a “wreath upon the head” and a “chain around the neck,” granting us the discernment needed to distinguish good from evil,” he wrote.
From Self-Denial to Fullness
Fasting involves abstaining from things that give us pleasure in order to make room for spiritual blessings — the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he added.
“As the mind and heart are emptied of passionate, impure, or merely material thoughts that hinder the contemplation of God and the work of the Holy Spirit within us, they are filled with the radiance of divine light. They receive ever more gifts from above, transforming the life of the one who receives them into a living participation in the divine life,” the Bishop of Romanians living in Canada explained.
“The Christian life thus continues its ever-deepening movement from the image of God toward His likeness.”
This transformation, he noted, is best expressed in the Prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian, which accompanies the faithful throughout Lent: “not merely a plea for forgiveness, but a program of life.”
Bishop Ioan Casian concluded by wishing the faithful a blessed Lent marked by spiritual progress.
Photo: Diocese of Canada
