Clergy Reflection: Wednesday Of The Fourth Week

Wednesday of the Fourth Week

In his book The Lenten Spring, Father Thomas Hopko writes that Great Lent is a time in which try to do the things we should be doing all the time, which for us means seeking the kingdom of God. Great Lent gives us this opportunity to embark on this jour- ney in faith. It is an inward journey, within the heart and the mind towards understanding oneself and coming toward repentance before Christ. When we seek God’s Kingdom, we don’t physically journey anywhere, yet we travel a great distance. We move from the mundane or everyday events of our lives to a heightened state God’s Kingdom. The church offers us this journey to allow us to truly experience our faith. It allows us to establish and reinforce our Orthodox Christian rule of prayer and to practice the disciplines of the fast and scriptural readings that we ought to be doing all the time. The journey in faith takes effort and regularity in prayer and attendance at weekday Lenten services. Fr Alexander Schme- mann, of blessed memory, says, the experience of Lenten journey is to transform us from one spiritual state to another and its destination is ultimately Pascha, a sacred and spiritual Pascha which becomes for us a transformed and elevated spiritual state.

Fr. Constantine Cambas