Spiritual preparation.  Basically, if we don’t take Lent very seriously, then we won’t feel a need for any type of preparation.  If this is how we feel, then we will sail through Great Lent again this year, never “jumping into the water” to allow it to become a life-transforming event.  Unless we truly understand the purpose and benefits of Great Lent, we will have no reason to approach this holy season with any sense of appropriate preparation.  In other words, if one is not planning on running a race, why should he prepare for one?

Church attendance.  Yes, Great Lent is all about going to church!  The Church directs us to temporarily put aside all worldly desires and interests, in order to focus on our spiritual lives during this holy season.  The heart and soul of Great Lent are the divine services – specifically, those offered on the weekdays which, in essence, are the services proper to Great Lent.  Here at the Annunciation, we offer a very full Lenten experience through the chanting of the Great Compline each Monday evening, the liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday evenings and Friday mornings, and the Salutations to the Theotokos each Friday evening.  (Please see the enclosed February calendar for a list of the daily services offered during the first week of Great Lent.)

As I say every year, if we only come to church on Sunday mornings during Great Lent, we will never feel or experience the unique beauty and spiritually of Lenten services.  Saturday evening vespers and Sunday liturgy for the most part, are no different during Lent than the rest of the year, with the exception of the special rituals held on the Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Sunday of the veneration of the Holy Cross.

With so many opportunities for Lenten worship, we should try to overcome the annual excuses and justifications for not attending, and make a plan that is workable for our individual situation.  Why not strive for the goal of attending at least one different Lenten service each week?  These services are what motivate us to deepen our spirituality, making for a very full and beneficial Lenten experience.

Prayer, fasting, and good works.  Our prayer lives can never be over-emphasized.  We need prayer in our daily lives in order to grow in the image and likeness of God.  This need obviously receives even more attention during Lent.  Besides prayer, an indispensable tool that will help us achieve – to a greater or lesser extent – the goals of Great Lent, is fasting.  Again I stress, as I do every year, that fasting should not be seen as a burdensome, negative task.  If understood in its proper context, we should see that fasting is a spiritually cleansing, liberating, and humbling experience.  Of course, the other element which completes this “holy trinity” of virtues, is the practicing of charitable works.  The Church Fathers have always emphasized the emptiness and futility of fasting, when it is not coupled with the performing of good works.

If we continually resist fasting, then we will never have the proper motivation to increase our prayer life, and to want to reach out to others as the Lord has instructed us to do.  The Church is wise enough to know that not everyone is able to uphold a full fast.  As with many other things in life, we provide you with the proper tools and complete, “by-the-book” instructions.  Your spiritual father and priest, is always available to guide you to an appropriate method of fasting, without shunning the total process.

Repentance and confession.  If we make a serious effort in all the above, then our Lenten experience should move us to repentance.  Proper preparation for Lent, increased church attendance, fasting, increased prayers, and doing good works, collectively bring us to a state of contrition and humility.  “A contrite and humbled heart, God will not spurn” (Ps. 50), for this is the true fruit of Great Lent.  With a heart that is forgiving to those who may have hurt us, we too, approach Christ for His forgiveness which He grants through His Holy Church.

Beloved in Christ, our celebration of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ is brought to a higher spiritual level, when we precede it with a full and meaningful Lenten experience.  There are so many similar examples in our lives to which we can relate.  The elation of a graduation celebration, is based on years of hard work with a specific goal in sight.  Our wedding day became special and meaningful through the preparation of courtship and our engagement.  The excitement and satisfaction of winning felt by athletes, comes from much toil and sweat which led to victory.  The examples could go on and on, but I believe the point has been made.  Again I ask, how do we plan on experiencing this Great Lent differently than prior ones?

 Wishing everyone a most blessed Lent with the blessing of the Lord,

 +Fr. Anthony