Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Last Days of Lent

When I write my own words about Orthodox spirituality I tend to confuse people, so today I am going to quote Fr. Schmemann, whose books have helped me so much.
" ...fasting is the only means by which man recovers his true spiritual nature. It is not a theoretical but truly a practical challenge to the great Liar who managed to convince us that we depend on bread alone and built all human knowledge, science, and existence on that lie. Fasting is a denunciation of that lie and also proof that it is a lie....
....
"Let us understand ...that what the Church wants us to do during Lent is to seek the enrichment of our spiritual and intellectual inner world, to read and to meditate upon those things which are most likely to help us recover that inner world and its joy. Of that joy, of the true vocation of man, the one that is fulfilled inside and not outside, the 'modern world' gives us no taste today; yet without it, without the understanding of Lent as a journey into the depth of our humanity, Lent loses its meaning."

from Great Lent by Fr Alexander Schmemann

1 comment:

Jeannette said...

"...meditate upon those things which are most likely to help us recover that inner world and its joy...." YES!