Our Venerable Father Gerasimus of the Jordan (475)
Isaiah 3:1-14; Genesis 2:20-3:20; Proverbs 3:19-34
Great Fast Day 5. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Proverbs 3:19-34
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
With any journey we take, the first steps are full of energy and vigour, perhaps even quickened, with a bright vision of the end of the trip. The realisation of the length of the journey then starts to take hold and our pace becomes a little more reserved, we work through any pangs we might encounter; we may even have to focus our mind all the more as we become distracted with other things along the road. At times, we even forget about the end. So, too, this can happen with our Lenten journey toward Pascha each year.
I’m sure that each of us has embraced some sort of fasting practice. Many of us continue practices like giving up chocolate, alcohol, etc. That is good… but it is not enough. St. John Chrysostom writes about how we need always to practice virtue alongside any other ascetic practice. We always need to keep the face of the Lord in front of us. The best way to do this is to keep the faces of our brothers and sisters in front of us. It gives us the chance to practice the corporal acts of mercy – to do for the Lord what we do for whomever we meet this day.
Do not withhold doing good to the needy,
When you may give a helping hand;
Do not say, when you are able to do good,
“Come back tomorrow, and I will give you something”;
For you do not know what the next day will bring forth.
Pope Francis, in his 2015 Lenten Message, reminds us
“Indifference to our neighbour and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Usually, when we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure… Our heart grows cold. As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about those less well off. Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalisation of indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to confront.
“When we fast from this indifference, we can began to feast on love. In fact, Lent is the perfect time to learn how to love again…If you want to change your body, perhaps alcohol and candy is the way to go. But if you want to change your heart, a harder fast is needed.”
Let have our hearts changed today!