Thursday, March 01, 2007

"All things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon" Luke 18:31. This fragment of Holy Scripture gives us a chance to ponder on Our Lord's forthcoming Passion and can be helpful in developing proper Lenten attitude to unable us to accept all difficulties and annoyances awaiting us in the spirit of sacrifice and in union with Christ's suffering. Our Lord gave us excellent lesson on fasting. He did it for forty days! And He did not have to fast at all for he was "holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners" (Heb. 7:26). Therefore, fasting must be particularly meaningful. The Holy Church also recommends fasts telling us that through it we can win God's special blessing which can strengthen us in particular against sensuality and that His mercy can be directed also to the world in reparation for sins. Shall we dare to miss blessing like this and neglect Lenten fasting and self-denial? If however, for some reason, it is impossible to put it into practice, we can give up something we are particularly fond of and offer it lovingly to Our Lord. But most importantly, we need to practice spiritual fasts, by fighting some addiction or imperfection, particularly those annoying to others "Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly" Joel 2:15.