Today is the beginning of Great Lent for most Orthodox Christians (a handful of Western Rite Orthodox Christians will begin with their Ash Wednesday the day after tomorrow), and I’ve decided to try my hand at doing 40 days of blogging—posting at least once a day from today through the Friday before Lazarus Saturday. This is my first post for Great Lent. Today I…
Beginning Clean (on fasting and failing) Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and bites the body of his neighbor. —St. John Chrysostom The Lenten journey is not about what you cannot eat. It’s about what you pray from…
Lent is coming. I dread it every single year. I don’t dread the practice of fasting or the season Lent. In fact, I really dig it. The trouble comes in the fact that a)my family is picky and unaccustomed to the vegan thing and b)I’m a terrible cook. I need handlers. This is what I need. I need to be Oprah during long fasting periods. I could be awesome if I…
I’m suspended here, in this floating space just before Pascha, in the air, in the water, it’s hard to explain. Before I have coffee in the morning there’s that groggy brain poking through, telling me I have to get up, get going, get things done but I’m not really listening. It’s automatic now, this waking up at 6am whether I need to be up or not. And so I get up, stretch…
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -Matthew 6:14-15 In the Orthodox tradition Lent begins like wading into water. We spend time transitioning from where we’ve been to where we want to go. We spend a week preparing to remove meat from our diet, offering prayer and awareness and…