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The pre-Lenten Season With the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, a gradual change of mood occurs in the Liturgy. To affect a transition from the joyous spirit of Christmas to the sober and serious character of Lent, the Church has inserted a period of mental conditioning before Lent. Pre-Lent, as this period may be called, consists of four Sundays. The first is the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, so called because Christ’s parable concerning them is read as the Gospel during the Divine Liturgy. The main obstacle to all virtue is pride. For this reason, the Church in her methodical teaching presents us with the example of the proud Pharisee and humble publican. The publican went to the Temple to pray, to beg God for forgiveness of his sins, to seek His love and grace. The Pharisee, on the other hand, went to praise himself. Haughtiness and conceit filled him with spiritual blindness and led him away from God. The publican, however, won newness of soul in spite of his sins, for his repentance was humble. His soul was filled with the knowledge of his own misery and he sincerely sought the grace of God. Because of his humility, he obtained the forgiveness of his sins and the grace of God. By this means, the Church wants to teach us, even before Lent begins, the value of humility as the foundation of Christian life. During the week which follows this Sunday, there is no abstinence throughout the whole week. The Church, by granting this dispensation, wants to stress the fact that the inner humility of the Publican is the true trait of a Christian heart rather than the merely external mortification which generates pride, as it did in the heart of the Pharisee who boasted that he fasted twice a week. The next Sunday is called the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. It also takes its name from the Parable read during the Divine Liturgy. The second step in preparing for Easter is the recognition of one’s sins and awakening of sorrow. Both of these stem ultimately from love of God. The Church presents the story of the prodigal son, teaching us by this example that God forgives everyone his sins as long as he is repentant. The father of the prodigal son received his erring but repentant son. He did not beget him only to extinguish the spark of supernatural life hidden in him. With his love, he gave him new strength and a fresh start. This is what we need: to be purified during the Lenten season, to become aware of being sons of God, to enjoy the presence of God. That is why it is so important, even before Lent, to awaken some consciousness of our dignity, nobility, beauty and strength. The Kontakion prescribed for this Sunday expresses this awareness of having lost a supernatural treasure. “I have foolishly estranged myself from your fatherly glory, and squandered the riches which you have given me. Wherefore, I offer to you the prayer of the prodigal son: O bountiful Father, I have sinned before you. Receive me when I repent and make me one your servants.” The third Sunday before Lent is Meat Fare Sunday. In Church Slavonic, this Sunday is called “meat-fare,” a term corresponding to the word “carnivale-farewell to meat,” used in Latin countries. On this Sunday, the Church sets before us the Last Judgement. Those whom the Church was unable to reconcile through her instruction on the mercy of God in the parable of the Prodigal Son might yet be reconciled by the fear of hell. The liturgy is interwoven with fear of external damnation and a firm resolution to reform. The intention of every hymn and every stichera is to awaken us from our spiritual sloth by reminding us of the terrible day of the Last Judgement, by arousing our energy to the work of virtue and by urging us to compassion, mercy and charity. The Sunday immediately preceding the beginning of Lent is Cheese Fare. The main theme of liturgy of this Sunday is the lost paradise and ways to regain it. In the Gospel, we are admonished to forgive men their transgressions, to observe the law of fasting in a truly humble way, and to “lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven,” not on earth. Our individual human psychology is a misty, treacherous, and uncertain world full of unruly instinct, falsehood and illusion. These can only be overcome by serious self-examination and well disciplined self-education. Let us examine ourselves to see how much there is in our hearts which is still instinctive and animal, denying our human dignity. Let us discipline and continually educate ourselves especially during the forthcoming Lenten season. |