Слово на утрене, в пяток недели 1-й Великого поста

After days of fasting and prayer, the day of repentance arrived; It’s time to appear at the spiritual court to confess your sins. They appear in worldly courts to justify themselves; they come to the spiritual judgment seat in order to accuse themselves. There, the one who has the most time to prove his innocence enjoys the greatest freedom; here the greatest pardon is given to the one who most admits his sinfulness. What does this mean? Or do they love truth less in heaven than on earth? No, in heavenly judgment the Angel himself cannot stand before the eyes of the Lord; according to the prophet, the sun itself is unclean. If we, weak and half-bowed, can stand at this judgment and not fall; if we, defiled and unclean, can appear before this gaze and not disappear, it is because they deal with us not according to the severity of truth and law, but according to pure mercy. Why don't they act according to the severity of the truth? Because this truth has already been done; because the law has already been satisfied for us in all its power; because all our debts have already been paid in full; because, finally, the very execution to which we were all subject for indignation against the King of Heaven has already been suffered for us. Do you know, brothers, who provided us with this manifold, priceless and unparalleled service? – Our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Do you also know how He turned the wrath of heaven into mercy for us? This was done by His suffering and death on the Cross for us. After this, brethren, when approaching the judgment seat of confession, you will first of all hasten to clothe yourself with living faith in the merits of our Redeemer. Without this, the sacrament of confession will not be for remission, but for the conviction of sins. How can one dare to confess sins in the hearing of the heavenly Judge if the eye of faith does not gaze upon the country of His Intercessor and Supporter? How will the altar server dare to speak peace to you if you do not have the sign of peace on you - the all-reconciling Blood of the Lamb? Words of confession not dissolved by faith, both on your part and on his part, will not ascend to heaven, but will dissipate in the air and fall to the ground. Without faith, neither the Lord will hear you, nor you will hear the Lord. Having thus been inspired by faith, you will try, brothers, to free yourself, through confession, from the full weight of sins as completely, completely and irrevocably as possible. Why hide spiritual poverty? Here, whoever reveals his poverty more, will accept it more. Why hide wounds of conscience? Here, whoever discovers them more fully will receive the surest healing. And from whom to hide? Our Judge and Savior is omniscient; He has long known not only all our deeds, but also all our thoughts; not only all the past, but also all our future. Therefore, our confession is not at all necessary for Him. But it is necessary for us, so that we have the motivation to delve deeper into our condition, to know ourselves more firmly, our lives and our ailments; so that they have the opportunity to hate sin more, seeing how difficult it is to open it; so that through oral confession they would, as it were, cast out all the filth of iniquity from the inside of the soul and heart. Reluctance to reveal sin is already a strong sign that you have not stopped loving sin and do not want to part with it. When you saw earth in your bosom, would you hide it? Wouldn’t he immediately use all his strength to throw her away from him as far as possible, even if it was in front of the whole world? If it was impossible to do it yourself, would you scream and call everyone for help? But sin is to the soul what a snake is to the body. Therefore, whoever has recognized its poisonousness is ready to confess it before the face of heaven and earth, just to be freed from it as quickly as possible. This is what the ancient confessors did: they repented not before one confessor, but before the whole Church; They confessed not just once, but over the course of entire months and even years. And who are we, altar servers, to be ashamed of us? Aren't you sinners like you? Be ashamed of your Guardian Angels, not of us. We ourselves are ready to confess our sins to you; and we beg you to pray not only for yourself, but also for us, so that we may shamelessly stand and intercede for you at the throne of grace. Having made confession of your sins, you, brothers, will receive forgiveness in the name of the Lord Jesus. This happens, apparently, so simply, so easily, so quickly that our carnal man, even from the excess of this mercy, can take cause for passionlessness and impunity, can imagine that sin is something unimportant, when one only has to admit it in order to receive forgiveness. To drive away this dangerous thought from yourself, you will remember that in order to carry out this simplicity of confession, it was necessary for the Wisdom of God itself to invent a plan for the salvation of people, the greatest in scope, endless in continuation, incomprehensible in its beginning and foundation; that in order to achieve this ease in reconciling a sinner with God, it was necessary to move the very omnipotence of God, and together with oneself to move heaven and earth, time and eternity; that in order to achieve this speed of forgiveness, it was necessary to concentrate all the torments of hell over the cleansing Sacrifice offered for the sins of the world on Calvary. After this, the reason for temptation and impunity for sin will be destroyed by itself. No matter how simple and unadorned the holy lectern, before which confession will be made, you will stand before it, as Israel stood before Sinai; no matter how small the Gospel and the Cross, from which mercy will be spoken to you, you will depart from them, as the apostles departed from Golgotha. Yes, brothers, if you intend to bring true repentance (and why bring it if it’s not true?), then repentance that takes place in a short time, but acts for all eternity; if, I say, you intend to be reconciled with God not in words alone, but in reality, then you will leave the judgment seat of repentance not with a scattered thought about who confessed you and how, not with just a cold recognition that you have fulfilled the duty of the Church and conscience, not with just a superficial determination to be better from now on and avoid gross vices. No, you will return from the house of God, just as grave state criminals would return from the house of the Tsar, who, having appeared there to hear a sentence of death, suddenly heard pardon and oblivion of their crimes; return with the deepest feeling of gratitude to the Savior of our souls, with a firm determination to devote the rest of our lives to Him and His law, with an eternal, unrepentant aversion from all past sins, with a quick, irresistible desire to reward and blot out everything that is possible. May these advice and good wishes come true for all of you! May the Lord Himself give you a spirit of tenderness and contrition for your sins! We pray for this and will not cease to pray for His almighty grace for you. Amen. You might be interested in: