Preparing for Great Lent

Each year, I am struck by the wisdom of the church for easing us into Great Lent.  We are not thrown into it without preparation and warning.  Sometimes I think that Zacchaeus Sunday wakes us from the sleep and laziness of the festivals of the incarnation.  We move from the party time into a wake up Sunday were we are reminded that the Lord will come, and maybe unexpectedly.  I love Zacchaeus Sunday.  I start to pay attention.

Not only are we warned that we are entering the Great Lent by a series of "Wake-Up Sundays"  that culminates in to the Expulsion from the Garden,  where we had better wake up and start the great exercise, but we enter also train ourselves physically.  We start to prepare to fast, by having the fast free week, then a week were we dip into the fast just a bit.  We then have the meat free week, and finally The Fast begins.  As I said last year, we begin where we end, in the glory of the resurrection of Christ.  How wise it all is to me.  The deck is stacked, we are to all end in the light of the Risen Lord, so there's no need to despair.  The Fast is never to be a chore, but a joyful preparation to receive the joy of Pascha. 

The work of The Fast is so much more than controlling the mouth.  I, for one, find controlling what I put in it and what comes out of it to be a great exercise.   I like to shoot off my mouth from time to time, what my mother calls being smarty pantsy.  It is a great temptation for me.  The other part of The Fast is to pray more and give alms.  We are to let go of our egos, and turn toward The Living God for the fullness of life.  That requires us to love those he has given us in our life.  (Another task I find difficult.)  Sure, I find loving those who are a delight to be easy.  Those who challenge me in love are those I have difficulty because for one reason or another they threaten some part of me.  I am not asked to love those who are easy.  I am asked to love my enemies.  What a better time to practice this than in the season of The Great Fast where I can put away the extra distracting things, focus on what I am doing to pollute the world and make an effort to repent and change, and not for myself alone but for my brother. Praying for those I find difficult, so my heart is changed toward them might be the only action I can do at first.  Sometimes it takes awhile to turn the heart to flesh.  God willing, it will.  So wise is the Church.  How hard is it to enter the season of fasting without first preparing for it! I am grateful for the wisdom to give us a chance to prepare and enter into the joy of the fast awake and willing.