Notes from Great Lent

Short reflections

During Great Lent of last year I wrote a series of very short reflective posts on Instagram. Now that we are near the end of this year’s fast, I thought to post some of them here. Wishing you all good strength.

In our age even the best of us, even priests and monastics, greatly struggle with faith. Our world is so disconnected from God that even those who profess to believe are unable to believe in the same way that the ancient fathers did. And even those ancients, Christ called them “ye of little faith”. If they were small, how small must we be?

Christ tells us that with faith as small as a grain of mustard seed, we could move mountains. And we know the stories of the saints that had this kind of faith. Prophets and heroes who accomplished great deeds of legend, performed miracles, slew dragons. Kings who won battles against impossible odds through the power of the Holy Cross. Women with courage greater than that of warriors. In Christ, all things are possible.

We do not choose our times, but we have a responsibility to seek this kind of faith even amongst the spiritual decay of our age, we must seek it even if we fall short. It is our duty not to become lethargic and lukewarm. Our faith should shake the foundations of the Earth.

“If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Christ came not to bring peace but a sword.

To fulfill the law of His Father, not to cast it aside. He came to set the world aflame. Christ brought about a new age for Men, a new Dawn, but the end of this age is yet to come. And until that day we are to be watchful. As wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

We rejoice in Christ’s victory over death while remembering that the last stage of His Holy War is still brewing. Christ promised us peace, but not until after much trial. One must endure to the end.

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

To take up your cross and follow Christ is to take up a sword.

In the absence of the King who is and is to come, we are the wardens of this world. Our duty is to protect all that is beautiful, innocent, and pure.

Some have said that beauty will save the world. But I think it is more accurately said that it is the love of beauty that will save it. Love for what is beautiful inspires all good deeds, all courage, honor, and sacrifice.

The beauty of women inspires the great deeds of heroes. The beauty of small children inspires the sacrifices of their fathers. The beauty of a country inspires the sacrifice of her sons’ blood on foreign soil.

It was for love of the beauty of all His creation, and especially of Man, that Christ gave His own life. So do not look to beauty for salvation. Look first to beauty- then save it.

Christ has promised us a Eucatastrophe, to come at an hour we do not expect, like a thief in the night. So we must be like the wise servant, always expecting his master, always ready. We have been told signs of the turning of the Age, but it will still come unexpectedly.

Like the old world we will be eating and drinking, and taking and giving in marriage, up until the end.

We live in a state of tension between two truths. Christ has already come and conquered, and He is with us until the very bitter end of the age. It is finished.

Yet we also await his return, and still wage war against sin and death until that day. Are we abandoned? No - Christ is with us, and He has allowed one more age of this world to turn for the purpose of letting us win crowns of our own, battling sin and death in His name.

The evil of the last days will be the greatest ever seen on the Earth, greater even than the evil that sank the old world, that turned the work of giants to dust- but even that evil will be powerless to stop the coming of the Son of Man who will be as lightning. With such surety of victory, what excuse do we have to be fearful? We should not be found hiding with sheathed swords when the King returns. We know our role in this great tale- we have only to play it out.

So until the last day we look to the East - for He is coming at the final hour when all seems most lost and He is least expected.

“An axe age, a sword age, shields shall be cloven,
A wind age, a wolf age, ere the world totters…”

Who is our enemy?

Some act as if all that are not entirely on their side in all thing are their enemies. Those of other faiths, sometimes even other Christians. But should we view life in such an antagonistic manner?

Christ told his disciples, “For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward”.

We have no true enemies but the demons themselves. The demons, and men who have given themselves over to doing their work. Christ’s enemies are our enemies. But in finding friendship we should not be so dogmatic. Christ does not judge those outside the faith by the same standards as us. Even the smallest kindness towards his flock he may repay ten fold.

We must concern ourselves not with judging the whole world, but only with fighting the true enemy. We should be slow to judge those who also resist the our enemy in their own fashion. Christ will judge their deeds in His own Wisdom. Christ came not to tear down Rome, but to defeat Death itself.

Your lifestyle will never be enough if you do not posses inner strength and purpose.

Saints have lived lives that looked miserable on the outside- but they remained filled with a love, peace, joy, and vitality that we can hardly imagine. How? Because they were filled with light, and this light illumined them and the world around them. They did not need the outward things of world to be fulfilled.

No matter where you go or what you do, you will remain yourself. If you can find true purpose, you can then adapt to any situation or lifestyle that you find yourself in. But if you can’t, if you’re filled with jealousy, or resentment, or insecurity- a change in lifestyle won’t fix those things.

All of the outward things of life could be stripped away in an instant, and you could be left with only what you’ve cultivated inside yourself. The things of true value are stored in your heart.

As children we take the innocence and simplicity of our lives for granted. But if children think less often of God, perhaps that is only because they are so close to Him already.

As we age we stray further and further from God as a consequence of our sinfulness. We lose our childhood innocence and find ourselves adrift in a dangerous and cold world. God is never any less present, but we grow blind and callous towards Him. Despite this, God turns our adulthood into a great blessing.

Adulthood is the true test. When true faith is required of us, faith even when we may rarely feel the presence of God or any sort of spiritual “feeling”. In allowing us an opportunity to strengthen our faith without seeing, God allows us to strive in a way we could not as innocent children.

So rather than resent the struggles of adulthood, we should give thanks for them, and look ever forward to the day when we may reclaim that childlike faith and wonder we lost.