In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today is a big day in the Orthodox Church!  It is forgiveness Sunday.  I can’t tell you what an important day today is, and how critical today’s message is for your salvation.  Tomorrow is Clean Monday.  It’s the first day of Great Lent, the first day of our journey through the 40 day fast period which culminates in Holy Week and the incredible joy of celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at Pascha. 47 days from now we will all be gathered in the church, each of us with an unlit candle in hand.  It will be pitch black inside, all the lights off.  The only light in the place will be that little oil lamp on the Altar Table, and then the clergy will light one candle, and few from the congregation will approach to light their candles from the one the priest holds.  Then they will offer their candles to those in the pews, and the light will pass from one person to the next until, before we know it, each of us will be holding a lighted candle and the whole church is bathed in soft candle light as we proclaim again, singing for the first time in our new church, ‘Christos Anesti!’ Christos Voskres!’ ‘Chirstos Inviat!’ ‘Christ is Risen!’

Great Lent is a wonderful spiritual time but the Anastasi is truly incredible. The Resurrection celebration of the Orthodox Church is a profound experience, even if it is the first time we’ve set foot in church for year.  But I promise you that if you allow the celebration of Pascha to be the culmination of a sincere and concerted Lenten effort, if  we really immerse ourselves in all that is offered for worship during Great Lent and Holy Week, if we spend Great Lent and Holy Week in true repentance, looking to soften our hearts and minds to the Gospel, then the celebration of Pascha will touch a new depth in our souls.  We will know, in a new way, the profound love of God.

Tomorrow we start our fast for Great Lent.  If Christ’s resurrection is the ultimate victory, and Great Lent is the Superbowl of our spiritual lives, today is the locker room pep talk before the game begins.  The church is our coach.  The coach is giving us the critical message, the one thing we have to keep in mind to make it through the game, and emerge as victors.  What is the coach telling us?  What is the one thing that will give us that yard, that inch that we need to win?  It’s forgiveness!  We have to seek forgiveness, and we have to give forgiveness.  It’s very simple to say but terribly difficult to do. Read what Jesus commands us in today’s Gospel reading.

“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Powerful, daunting words, not to be taken lightly.  The criterion for salvation is to give and seek forgiveness, throwing ourselves on the Grace of God. After all, isn’t this what we pray every time we say the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. No way can these be just words or platitudes. This is our solemn prayer before the Lord God Almighty.  We need to ask God for his forgiveness.  We need to seek the forgiveness of those we have wronged, and we need to forgive those who have wronged us.   With out forgiveness, there is no salvation.

As I have said before, forgiveness is not easy so how can we put ourselves into that state of grace?  It is only by a miracle.  It is only by plugging ourselves into God, by inviting his will into our lives.  And how do we do that?  We do it by entering into prayer, by listening to his word, by receiving his Grace through the sacraments of the church, and that is what this period of Great Lent is all about.  Now is the time to reset our lives.  Now is the time to orient our hearts and minds to the Kingdom of God.  And look at the opportunities the Church provides with in order to do just that:

On Wednesdays we will be holding our evening Pres-sanctified Liturgy services followed by Orthodoxy 101 lectures and discussions along with a Lenten meal.   We will also have Salutation Services on Fridays and of course the annual Zoullas Lenten Retreat weekend, this year lead by James Skedros, a Professor at Holy Cross. All the details are on-line and in the Sunday bulletin.  Please, come and spend a little more time with God. Open your hearts to Christ.  Lent and Pascha are the time!

Now I want to ask you to take a deep, deep breath.  Hold it.  Now let it out… Let it all the way out.  Do you feel that release?  We are used to holding onto our spite and our anger. We are so used to clinging to what has hurt us.  It is so liberating to let it go!  There is such joy allowing yourself to forgive.  When Jesus Christ we dying a terribly painful death on the Cross, what did He pray?

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”

Is there any one thing we can do to make the Anastasi even more meaningful and spiritual than to listen to Jesus and go out and truly, from the depths of our hearts forgive those who have trespassed against us?  Today is the day to forgive and be forgiven, so that when we proclaim His resurrection, the truth of that proclamation will penetrate our hearts and enlighten our lives.

The Gospel of Matthew 6:14-21

The Lord said, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

“And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”