Слово в неделю сыропустную

“And this is the leading time, for it is already time for us to rise from sleep. Now salvation is closer to us than when we believed. The night has passed, and the day is drawing near: let us therefore put aside the dark deeds, and put on the weapons of light.” (Rom. 13:11–12). With these instructive words of the Apostle Paul, the Holy Church admonishes us, my brothers, in the field of Holy and Great Lent. Among other incentives to repent of our sins, it also indicates greater convenience for us during the coming holy days. In fact, although our salvation is never far from us, with the onset of the Holy Pentecost, the matter of salvation comes so close to everyone that, one might say, it involuntarily and persistently demands a place in the soul and heart. Truly, the time of Great Lent in all respects should be compared with a wonderful day for faith and piety; just as the week, now ending, from all sides cannot but be likened to a dark, stormy and cold night. What works of darkness are not being committed everywhere during this week! How many souls, willy-nilly, are cast into the abyss of sin! How many people who have to spend their whole lives mourning a few minutes of the current crazy fun! Of the most careful and vigilant over themselves and their actions, not many can boast that over the past days they have not suffered any damage to the purity of their hearts and the peace of their conscience. But, thanks be to the Lord, “the night has passed, and the day has come” (Rom. 13:12)! This evening will put an end to temptations and spiritual dangers: in the morning we will wake up in a different element and, as it were, in a different world. With one advent of holy fasting, everything will take on a new, better form: people, things, both the animate and the most soulless. As after Noah’s flood, the abysses of evil will close by themselves and dry land will appear. There is already something to stick to for those who are floating in the sea of ​​everyday vanities and temptations! There is already something for the feet and knees that are most relaxed from carnal knowledge to gain a foothold on! For the Church cannot yield to the world in zeal. If he, the evil one, used all means to drive us crazy, to take us captive to passions without fighting, then the Holy Church will find even more ways to bring us to reason and captivate us again into the sweet obedience of faith and love, even about Christ. We are unclean and defiled by sinful lusts: at the throne of Grace, in the churches, many fresh springs will flow for our spiritual washing. We are covered with ulcers and scabs: the mother of our Church has all the plasters and healing duties ready for us. We are glad in spirit: she will establish such a meal that could nourish the Angels themselves. With such an abundance of spiritual resources, the most inattentive to his soul will be forced to confess and say that now, during holy fasting, “salvation is closest to us” than on all other days; for from tomorrow, the world itself with its temptations, persecuted visibly and invisibly by the power of Holy Fasting and church prayers, will move away from us, hide itself, lose its power to blind and drag us into hell. Let us not, beloved, be cold and inattentive to our salvation; Let us use the precious time of fasting to heal our souls and hearts from the poison of sin; let us let our mother, the Holy Church, act upon us for our salvation, as she knows and can; let us turn our eyes and hearts away from everything that fed in us the lust of the flesh and the pride of life; Let us diligently delve into our lives and conscience and hasten to leave the path that clearly leads to the abyss of hell. Yes, my brothers, let us do all this for the eternal good of our souls! For it is not in vain that the Apostle of Christ exclaims: “For it is now time for us to arise from sleep” (Rom. 13:11). It’s time for all of us to wake up from our spiritual insensitivity and think about where we are and what’s happening to us, where we’re going and what awaits us. Time already because there is almost not a single sin that we have not committed in one form or another. Which of our abilities is not used for evil, not humiliated and not defiled by passions? How else will we irritate our Lord and Savior? What will we indulge in and what else will we use for our eternal destruction? What idol of vanity have we not bowed to the ground a hundred times? If you look at us through the eyes of a non-prophet, you can’t help but say for a long time that from head to toe there is no integrity in us. The very cup of sin, with its imaginary, fleeting sweetness and its real deadly poison, has apparently already become impoverished for us. Will we still fill it again and poison our entire being with it? “It’s time for us to wake up from sleep”! At first, when we were inexperienced, it was still somewhat excusable for us to chase, like little children, after the ghosts of earthly vanity, and to imagine that in the obstinate crossroads of sin only joys and joys awaited us. Now, after so many bitter experiences, it would be absolute madness to allow our enemy to deceive us again. For what have we gained by being away from God? What has the world given us with its manifold lusts? – There was an abyss of assumptions, plans, hopes, promises; but in reality it turned out to be all vanity of vanities. For most of us, lawless life has taken away what they had from nature and favorable circumstances; some of the sinners, apparently, are still growing and blooming: but how lethargic and lifeless this unfortunate flower is, how palpably it emanates decay and destruction! Outside, around these so-called lucky ones of the world, there are honors, wealth, contentment and joy; but inside, ask them themselves, inside is empty and cold, dead and disgusting: the conscience denounces, the heart yearns, the soul hurts, the body itself apparently suffers and asks for mercy from the poison of sin. And after this we will still chase our shadow, we will still catch the wind, we will still build in the air, we will still drink poison just because it is sweet? “It’s time for us to wake up from sleep”! It’s time to come to our senses and take pity on our mother, the Holy Church, which has hitherto been heartbroken from our oblivion of its holy Rules and from our unclean life; time to remember and feel sorry for our Guardian Angel, who, from the time we began to remember ourselves and act, has been following us with tears until now through the wilds of passions and iniquities, not seeing our correction; it is time to be ashamed and to pity our Savior Himself, Who from morning to evening daily stretches out His hands to us from the Cross and until now cannot draw us to His heart; time, time, my brothers, for us to take pity on ourselves and to rejoice with our repentance heaven and earth, the Angels and all the good people who have grieved and grieve over our corruption, who have prayed and are praying, that we may not perish in our sins! “It’s already time for us to rise from sleep,” for can we really remain in captivity of passions, sin and the devil until the end of our lives? Can we really wait for the abyss of hell to finally open up under our feet and swallow us up forever? Ah, my brothers, it will open up someday, and perhaps very soon, if we do not stop angering the Lord with our sins: but what will happen to us then? Remember the rich man of the Gospel, remember the flame of Gehenna; put yourself mentally in the position of this unfortunate person, and judge what kind of madness is he guilty of who, having, like us now, every opportunity to avoid such a terrible lot, will continue to go straight to the abyss of hell? – It’s an hour, “it’s an hour for us all to rise from sleep”! Amen. You might be interested in: