Sunday of Forgiveness (Cheesefare)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This week we begin our spiritual journey to the Holy Feast of the Resurrection of Christ wherein we pass over from death unto life.

As we begin the spiritual journey of the fast for Great Lent, let us remember the words of Saint Philaret the Confessor:

“We pray in the Great Fast that the Lord grant us to behold our sins – our sins, and not other people’s. But it is necessary to pray about this not only in the Fast, but at all times – to pray that the Lord may teach us to see ourselves as we should and not think about our supposed ‘righteousness’. But we must remember that only the mercy of God can open a man’s eyes to his true spiritual condition and in this way place him on the path of true repentance.”

In all of our spiritual endeavors, we begin with God and then turn to our neighbor. This is a time to first examine ourselves, lest we labor in vain. It is good to ask one another for forgiveness, but there are those that observe this ritual of the Church and do not benefit from it. If a man has an outstanding sin against God, the ritual of forgiveness is to no avail. If a man embraces heresy, the ritual of forgiveness is to no avail. If a man harms the good witness of the Church, the ritual of forgiveness is to no avail. If a man undermines Apostolic Tradition, the ritual of forgiveness is to no avail. Let every man examine his conscience and truly repent before God and then approach his brother and sister and ask for forgiveness.

As our Savior said, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Love and fear God first, and add to this the love of your neighbor.

Today we commemorate the fall of Adam and Eve from Paradise. In this tragic history we see that our first parents were reconciled to each other and in league with each other in order to rebel against the order that God had established for them. This soul destroying “reconciliation” was the origin of all sin and the cause of death for the race of Adam.

From the time of our First Parents until today, throughout the history of the people of God, there has been a great divide between those that have had reconciliation with God as their highest goal in life and those that ignored the order of God in order to be reconciled and in league with those around them. This is a divide between blessed godly reconciliation and a life of compromise and spiritual ruin.

The New Adam, the God-Man has come to raise us up from the fall of our First Parents. Let us use the opportunity of the fast to seek to know ourselves and judge ourselves that we might find reconciliation with Christ Jesus our Savior and Redeemer, and then seek reconciliation with our neighbor that we might participate in the Pascha of God and be translated from death unto life. Amen