Слово второе в пяток недели 6-й Великого поста

“Having completed the soul-beneficial Forty Day and the Holy Week of Your Passion, we ask you to see, O Lover of Mankind, to glorify in it Your greatness, and Your ineffable look for us, with one wisdom crying out: Lord, glory to You.” Day after day, week after week, and now the entire Holy Pentecost has passed, although to others, due to unaccustomment to abstinence and fasting, it seemed, perhaps, endless. The fast will continue for one more week: but these days no longer belong to Lent, but have a special name, being dedicated to the remembrance of the Passion of the Lord. It's like the head and cross on a church. Therefore, the Holy Church itself stops our attention on this day, repeatedly exclaiming: “Having celebrated the soul-helping Pentecost”! She does this so that we, having reached the end of Lent, gather our thoughts and consider whether the goal of Holy Lent has been achieved in us? For it is possible, even after sowing a lot, to reap nothing; You can take different medicines, even spend, as the Gospel says about the bleeding woman, all your money for doctors, and not receive healing (Luke 8:43). So, what now happens to us, that is, to our soul and conscience? Do we feel any beneficial change in ourselves? Can we say with the bride described in the Song of Songs: “Behold, the winter has passed, the rain has departed... the blossoms have appeared on the earth... ours”! ( Song 2:11–12 ). Ah, we are accustomed to calling the nature that surrounds us unreasonable: but look how rationally it fulfills its duty and does its job! As soon as the face of the summer sun turned to her, she immediately began to undress, and now completely got rid of her heavy winter clothes; consecrated, warmed by the rays of spring, she was immediately washed from the impurities of winter; gave in full all the tribute of the waters to the sea; and now every day, more and more, everything that the farmer’s hand entrusted to the fields and fields last autumn wears out from its depths. For the bright Holiday, new festive clothes made of greenery and flowers will appear everywhere on the earth; the mountains and hills will be girded with joy, and a new choir of birds will proclaim a new song of joy and thanksgiving to the Creator of nature. And to us, my brothers, from the very beginning of Holy Lent, one might say, the spiritual Sun, our Lord and Savior, has approached: for it was not in vain that the Church then proclaimed the words of the Apostle: “now... our nearest salvation”! (Rom. 13:11). What did this approach to us and this increase in spiritual light and warmth around us produce in us? Has the ice of heartfelt insensibility melted inside us? Have we been washed from the impurities of sin with tears of faith and repentance? Is our soul, like the earth, ready to bear the fruits of love and truth? – As we meet the day of the Resurrection of the Lord, can we say that we are no longer dead in spirit, that in us, by the grace of God, there is at least a small beginning of eternal life? – This is exactly what this post was intended for. For what did the Holy Church want by imposing it on us? Of course, not in order to save a few foods from consumption, or to deprive us of certain pleasures. No, fasting was supposed to curb our sensuality; tame and then mortify our passions; purify our thoughts and desires; give greater freedom of spirit and conscience; awaken in us sadness for God and holy longing for the heavenly fatherland; bring us closer to the sky; cleanse, enlighten and sanctify our entire being. For this very reason, the Pentecostal Day is proclaimed to be beneficial for the soul. – Was she like that for us? What have we gained from so many readings, prayers, genuflections, especially from our confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ? We, my brothers, do not demand from you the fruits of fasting with the air of stern enforcers; and, like doctors, for your own benefit we want to draw your attention to the state of your soul and heart. For it can easily be that some, even desiring the salvation of their souls, did not know how to take advantage of the Lenten field. This happens, for example, when during Lent we limit ourselves to one abstinence from food and drink, one more or less frequent going to church, one superficial confession of one’s sins before the priest, the correction of some unimportant shortcomings in one’s behavior and life: whereas for our salvation much more is required - a complete change in our carnal thoughts and feelings, a complete renewal of our spirit and heart, or, as the word of God expresses it, a whole new birth from above. If anyone had the imprudence to dwell on the unfruitful surface of piety indicated by us, let him know that, although he apparently did a lot, he has not yet done anything as he should; he needs to work again, and start, so to speak, all over again. That is, what to do? - Go deeper into your heart and conscience, make sure that, without sanctification from above, the root of all his actions, even good ones, is self-love, and not holy and true love for God and neighbor, that everything that grows from this root is unclean in the eyes of God and is not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven; he must know this and pray to the Lord, may He Himself lead him out of the captivity of passions and evil habits, may He Himself create a pure heart in him and give him a contrite spirit - that heart from which truly good thoughts and deeds will appear by themselves; that spirit; which alone can be the companion of the gifts of grace and the abode of the Spirit of God in us. But how can all this be done, someone will ask, when the Holy Pentecost has already passed and the time most convenient for that has passed? - Exactly, the time of fasting is very convenient for this important matter; but the coming days of the Lord’s suffering, one might say, are even more convenient. Just as in the middle of the globe, under the equinox line, or the so-called equator, the sun acts so strongly that in one day it grows more than in our week, so the same can be said about the coming days of the Passion of Christ. This is our spiritual equator: all the rays of the spiritual Sun are concentrated here. If only there would not be a lack of tears of true repentance on our part, otherwise in an hour and a minute something can happen to our soul and heart that at other times is difficult to expect from entire weeks and months. So, let no one lose hope! May everyone else gather under the banner of faith and the cross! May the fugitives return to their place! At Calvary all believers have access; forgiveness to all who repent; to all who truly love - eternal life! Amen. You might be interested in: