Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
One of the most beautiful but under-appreciated services during the Lenten season is the Compline Service, or Apodeipnon. In the service, there are two well-known hymns, For God is With Us (Μεθ᾽υμων ο Θεός) and Lord of the Powers (Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων). Both of these beautiful hymns point us to a significant dimension of our Lenten journey, the one we begin again these coming days. In Lord of the Powers, we cry out for God to “be with us,” because we have no other help. In the other, we affirm “God is with us.”
Great Lent is our time to return to God to experience His presence in our lives. In our Lenten journey, we recognize that we have strayed, perhaps far, from the path that He would have us walk. We have been reminded of this in the Gospel lessons in the weeks just before Lent begins: the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, the Last Judgement, and the command to forgive one another in the lesson of Cheesefare or Forgiveness Sunday.
We live in very troubling times where it is difficult, if not impossible, to escape the atmosphere of division and mistrust, the cynicism and negativity, and the loss of direction that these can lead to within ourselves. We may feed this by “doom-scrolling,” searching for the negative stories in the media, that only feed a sense of disillusionment in our world today. Yet, even a momentary reflection on this situation reveals that this is not what God had intended for us.
Great Lent is our invitation to redirect our attention and recognize from where our help and salvation comes: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Church provides us with the means to experience Christ during these days. Our parishes offer retreats and educational programs so that we may “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).
You should devote time each day to read the holy scriptures on your own. And while we will focus a great deal of our attention on fasting and the foods we eat, we should devote equal attention to our rule of prayer. Saint Gregory Palamas wrote, “Connect intense prayer with fasting. The saints practiced prayer and fasting more than anyone else” (On Fasting). During Great Lent the Church offers many services, especially the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts, where we can nourish our souls by receiving the Holy Eucharist. Many parishes also offer the Compline service regularly so that you may pray for the Lord of the powers to be with us and affirm that God is with us.
The goal of our Lenten journey – the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ – is to return to our true selves, which is a return to God and to communion or fellowship with Him, to dwell again in His house, so that we may live as God intended us to live, with Him at the center of our lives.
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, answer the invitation of this Great Lent to call upon the Lord to be your help, and to proclaim that God is with us. Experience the reality of Christ in our Lenten services and practices with your family, in your personal life, and especially with your fellow parishioners. Arm yourself with these as a shield against the cynicism and negativity of our times, knowing full well that in the resurrection of Christ, a new way of life is given to us.
Καλή Τεσσαρακοστή! May you have a peaceful and spiritually fulfilling journey through Great and Holy Lent! God bless you!
