Sunday of Cheesefare – Sunday of Forgiveness; The Holy Apostle Archippus
Romans 13:11-14:4; Matthew 6:14-21.
Read Romans 13:11-14:4
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Being awakened in an emergency is an intense experience – all your senses are on high alert, but you are disoriented. When everyone reacts with alarm people can bump into and hurt each other. That is why there are evacuation plans and emergency procedures.
In today’s reading St. Paul is telling Christians in Rome that a higher level of spiritual alertness is required of them. He says, Wake up! Night has gone. Stop doing dark things. Get properly dressed and start doing things of the light. Then he orients them to how not to bump into each other, so to speak. He says, Do not start judging each other. Christ is the judge and He is able to make us stand. What’s going on here?
Times of spiritual intensity are times of growth and maybe also anxiety. When the pressure is on, we can accelerate movement toward God but sometimes under pressure we get anxious about how well we are doing and look to others for validation by comparison.
Imagine a balloon, blown up to its full size but not tied closed, with dots put all over it. Imagine Christ is at the center of the air inside the balloon and that each dot on the balloon is a person. As the air is slowly let out of the balloon all the dots move closer to the center – each person moves closer to Christ, but they all move closer to each other too. To the extent that they keep their focus on Christ, that is good. But if they take their focus off Christ, people can turn on and hurt each other.
The Fast is a time of heightened spiritual intensity. We may find ourselves suddenly waking up disoriented. Don’t get preoccupied with each other. Focus on Christ.