Our Venerable Father John Climacus, Author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent (c. 649)
Isaiah 41:4-14; Genesis 17:1-9; Proverbs 15:20-16:9
Great Fast Day 31. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Proverbs 15:20-16:9
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Sins are cleansed by almsgiving and faithfulness,
And by the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil.
All throughout this Great Fast, we have been joining to our prayers various forms of fasting and almsgiving. And while we do spend some time looking interiorly, at our state before the Lord, that interior gaze is not the end. Rather, the end is to be more god-like, that is, to have our gaze outwardly, first to the Lord, and consequently to our brother and sister whom we find before us at any given moment.
This small selection from today’s reading from Proverbs also reminds us that the fear of the Lord will turn us aside from evil. There are those who would like us to think that the fear of the Lord is the type of fear in which we cower before the Lord, that He will, with unthinking and without compassion, smite us simply because He wills it. Rather, we understand the fear of the Lord to be simply being in awe of the Lord and the incredible and awesome works that He does in our midst as a result of His love and compassion for us. The fear of the Lord as we find in Holy Scripture helps us to lift our minds and hearts out of ourselves and to look at Him, and our neighbour.
In many parishes tonight, we will sing the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. As we hymn the Lord and bow in penitence before Him in our prostrations, may we let the fear of the Lord overcome us and realise His compassion and desire for us – to live His very life, to become partakers of divine nature.