Our Holy Father Leo, Pope of Rome (461)
Great Fast Day 4
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 2:11-21; Vespers – Genesis 2:4-19; Proverbs 3:1-19
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Isaiah 2:11-21
Within this prophecy of the impending calamity that Israel faces, we catch a glimpse of the relationship between humanity and creation.
We read that the Lord will have a day of reckoning not only against everyone who is proud, but also against the oaks of Bashan, the cedars of Lebanon, the lofty mountains, and the hills. He will have a day of reckoning against nature, the nature that He created.
How does this make any sense?
Recall that, according to our faith, the sin of Adam brought about more than the fall of human nature. It also brought about the chasm between God and all of creation. At the fall of man, death, sickness, and violence entered the world.
It follows that there is an important cosmic link between humanity and creation. When humanity is in the right relationship with God, then creation is also in the right relationship with God. When humanity is in a fallen and damaged state, then creation is fallen and damaged as well. When Christ redeems humanity, he redeems all of creation. This is why we can utter hymns such as this Christmas hymn: ‘All creation is filled with rejoicing, for Christ is born of a virgin!’.
Back to Isaiah. The people of God have descended into pride, haughtiness, and idolatry. They are doomed to destroy themselves by their rejection of God if they don’t change their ways. But not only are they set to destroy themselves, but bring drag along creation.
God, through the Prophet Isaiah, is trying to warn His people what happens when they dwell in sin and violence. The result is the destruction of self, of kin, and of creation.
Take that lesson to heart. Use this time of the fast to put away your pride, slothfulness, anger, and any other destructive tendency. Turn to the Lord with all honesty and intensity, and allow Him to heal you and your kin, and all of creation.