Optina Monastery
I was sitting right next to it! And then it went off! And I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was an alarm that let you know when someone was “breaking into the house.” I didn’t realize I was that close when they were going to test it and it scared me to death. But I guess that’s what an alarm is suppose to do: get your attention.
Nowadays, though, most alarms are just ignored. When was the last time you called the police when you heard a car alarm go off? Right. My only feeling is a bit of mild annoyance that someone sets it off by accident. When I was a police office, our department had to institute a fine system for businesses when their alarms went off and we responded to a “false alarm.” It was happening so often at some businesses that we simply began to ignore the alarms. That’s not very helpful.
But what is true with alarms is also true in our lives when there doesn’t seem to be an effective way to shock someone’s life out of a dangerous pattern. We have multiple warnings on this or that package, all meant to warn us of health problems. We have good intentioned relatives “warning” us to avoid this or that relationship. We even have priests and preachers that warn us of spiritual dangers to our lives and yet, we sleep through the warnings. By the way, I never will forget responding to what I thought was another false alarm at this jewelry store, only to pull up outside the back door to see the door open and flashlights moving around inside! Better change my approach!
Look at our Lesson for this morning. By the way, we are really close to the beginning of Great Lent because starting today, we start looking at Old Testament passages! This is an opportunity not to miss! Look at Joel (yep, “Joel.” He’s one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament) 2:12-26:
“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare thy people, O Lord, and make not thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?'” (Joel 2:12-17, please read the rest. You’ll really love it)
This Sunday is Forgiveness Sunday and we will step into Great Lent on our annual spiritual labor toward Pascha. So, how do we do Lent well? We do Lent well by not trying to do it on our own. We do Lent well by paying attention to the wisdom the Church gives us in all the tools provided to prepare us for this journey. And one of the main tools is the wake up call of Fasting! Fasting is tied closely to repentance because the heart of repentance is finally waking up to the wrong way of thinking in our lives that produces wrong actions, choice, and behaviors. And what makes them “wrong” isn’t some violation of a rule as much as it is a revelation of a lack of love for God and too focused a love on myself. So, what’s the remedy for unhealthy self-focus? Deprive the stomach of every little thing it wants! Learn to discipline my desires and to channel the power of desire towards a healthy spiritual life. The path to doing this is the gift of fasting and a purposeful Lent.
All too often it’s easy to miss the warnings in my life because my life, my soul, my mind is flooded with my own “voice.” The selfish wants drown out that “still, small voice” that is screaming at me that I am going down a wrong path. I am only going to wake up to those loving warnings if I stop the routine of spiritual deafness and listen to wisdom that calls me to another path.
Today, are you planning right now how you and your family will keep a spiritually profitable Great Lent? Have you gone through the frig and the pantry to make sure “Clean Monday” is really clean? Don’t let this beautiful alarm of Great Lent be ignored because you’ve heard it so often before. Step up to a more purposeful Orthodox life by hearing the call in your soul from your Church to approach with love and confidence the gateway of Great Lent on Forgiveness Sunday!
