We cross into Lent with a desire for healing. We seek freedom from bitterness, envy, anger, judgment, pride, lust—all the sins that defile us and cause us spiritual sickness, and death. Christ calls on us to interject into our brokenness—the brokenness of ourselves and our relationships with others—this act of grace, loving, forgiving one another. But how? It’s so difficult.
There’s no getting around it: Lent, if taken seriously, is hard work; it’s struggle. There’s no ‘comfortable’ or ‘armchair’ road that leads us into the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, Lent, being cannot be ‘comfortable.’ ‘No pain, no gain’ could also perhaps be an apt slogan for our Lenten struggles too. Anyone who’s been to a physical therapist knows that without some pain, stretching muscles and joints, there’s no chance for healing. So it is also for our souls.
We want to follow the prescription given by Christ to His Church as closely as we can. We don’t go to a doctor, receive the diagnosis and the prescription, but then say, oh, I’ll just take half of the prescription, thank you. Or, I know this has been proven to be effective, but I’ll just make up my own. We fast, as close to the ‘prescription’ of the Church as we can, always with a blessing from our spiritual father, because accountability is also part of the redemption and healing from our pride and disobedience. We pray the Prayer of St. Ephraim with prostrations or metanias twice a day, as we are physically able. We carve out time from our busy work and family life to attend the Wednesday Presanctified Liturgies and the services of Holy Week. We demonstrate to our children the priority of putting Christ first.
Tomorrow is clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent. In all Orthodox cultures, this is a day of strict fasting. Many of the faithful use the day to clean out the house of anything that may be a distraction during Lent—anything that could be considered purely for ‘entertainment.’ The house is given a thorough cleaning as well. But all of these ‘external’ practices are really meant to be at their heart a reflection of the inner commitment to change, to cleansing of the soul, to return to a closer communion and relationship with God—to return to paradise.
In order for this return to happen, in order for us to be able to participate more fully and faithfully in Great Lent, we begin Lent with an interior cleansing of the soul, forgiving one another and asking forgiveness from one another for all the ways that you and I, through our sinfulness, ‘pollute’ the world and our relationships which God has made as good.
Those of us who have grown up in a culture with Christian roots—however lapsed—often take forgiveness for granted. But being forgiven, asking forgiveness, is certainly not universally known throughout the world or in other religions, or even in our own culture today. Even in Judaism, the adage was, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
For this reason, forgiveness is often a struggle for us because it is, in its sincerity, truly an act of the Kingdom of that return to Paradise. To forgive involves both love and humility; where pride reigns, forgiveness and love will both be lacking. As we enter Lent, we remember the parable of the Publican and Pharisee. We remember and carry with us St. Paul’s words to us today, “Who are you to judge another’s servant.” This is a hard teaching for us in our self-righteousness.
Against the background of this teaching, Jesus speaks to us in today’s Gospel, reminding us: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
As with everything Christ God teaches us, there’s nothing arbitrary here. When we ask forgiveness, we’re recognizing that we’re sinners too, that my sins, my fallenness, affects others; our sins dim the light of Christ meant to illumine the world around us; our sins mar the beauty and goodness of creation and darken the image of God and His likeness in us.
So we learn that forgiveness is truly a work of the Holy Spirit. This is why so much of the world doesn’t understand it or practice it; in our fallenness, we naturally nurse grudges. In a twisted sort of way, we think we somehow feel better holding onto our bitterness, our enmity.
Tragically, in the end, it’s we who suffer for our bitterness. Whatever harm has been done to us, real or imagined, we suffer twice over and more, when we allow ourselves to build resentment. Once we begin to nurse a grudge, it gnaws at us like some spiritual cancer of the soul.
God loves us and because He loves us, He desires to liberate us from such bitterness and pain—the natural consequence of living in a world of sin and evil, which we by our own sins contribute to. Yes, we play a part in the darkness and evil we see around us. But, we can also be a means of healing as well, repenting and striving to love and forgive others as God loves and forgives us.
Sometimes this journey to healing and growth is painful; it always involves struggle because the coping patterns and habitual sins we’ve become accustomed to are so ingrained in us. They’re part of the fallenness around us and inside us.
Forgiveness is a big part of this healing, which is why it’s not an ‘optional’ part of our life in Christ. Christ commands us to forgive so we can be healed and grow in our participation in the communion of the Holy Trinity.
While forgiveness isn’t always easy, it’s also not always instantaneous. Forgiveness can sometimes necessitate an active and ongoing decision and attitude, e.g., “I want to want to forgive. Help me, Lord!” We may need to pray for that ability to forgive daily. This can also be part of the healing and growth in humility. When we actively forgive, we become more like God Himself, who forgives us willingly, and we become more fit to be in communion with holy God.
If we fast, pray, attend all the services of Lent, but don’t practice mutual love and forgiveness, we’re deceiving ourselves and possibly doing ourselves grave harm. But when we actively forgive—even if we can’t forget—we’re able to grow and heal. Then our fasting and prayer yields much fruit. We’re given a new opportunity, a new beginning in Christ. We can find freedom from our sins and from the sins and evil done against us.
With this objective in mind, I invite you, I encourage you, to participate in the Rite of Forgiveness we’ll experience at the end of Forgiveness Vespers this day. My prayer for each of us is that we may each see Lent as a new beginning, a new opportunity to grow in the knowledge and love of God, to cooperate in bringing the healing of Christ into ourselves, our relationships, our Church. With the renewed spirit of mutual love and forgiveness, we can abide with Christ, we can make the most of the spiritual hospital of Lent as fellow pilgrims on our journey to holy Pascha, the resurrection. May we all find increased freedom and healing from our sins and growth in Christ’s divine grace this Lent; may we keep it holy.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday of Forgiveness, 17 March 2013
Epistle: Romans 13:11-14.4
Gospel: Matthew 6:14-21
