2024 Great Fast Pastoral Letter

“Yes, O Lord and King, let me see my own sins
and not judge my brothers and sisters
for you are blessed for ever and ever. Amen.”
– Lenten prayer of Saint Ephrem of Syria

As we enter this Lenten season, we all experience darkness around us. We all have been living in the shadows of two years of war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East and other places throughout the world. We all struggle with extended time of darkness that has impacted each of us, our families, our communities, our church, our nation and the world.

At the same time, we are invited to embark on the Lenten pilgrimage. The doors of repentance are opening! The Great Lent is beginning! Every year Great Lent is repeated, and each time it brings us great benefit if we as individual, our families and church community entrust ourselves to start this journey. It is a preparation for the life to come and, more immediately, a preparation for the Bright Resurrection. Repentance for us as individuals is the conscious transformation of our hearts, ours minds, and the very essence of our lives. This is at the heart of the Great Lent. This experience gives us a deeper understanding of God’s love in living through the darkness of the death of Christ that reveals to us the saving death for our salvation – the life-giving death. But, Christ’s death is the not the final event!

Only when we acknowledge our need to repent, when we enter the “wilderness of the desert of our hearts” and focus inward that we take the first step on the road to repentance. Then we start to understand why we are terrified, afraid, and uncertain.

During the Lenten days, we are offered the opportunity to seek release from those things we have allowed, often unconsciously, to hold us captive, yet which in and of themselves have no real power over us. Now, during the forty days, we are challenged to do away with our passions, our preoccupations, our pride, our jealousy and anger. Now, we are assured that the doors of repentance are opened to those who knock. Repentance stands at the very heart of our spiritual lives. Repentance is our ongoing, continuing and daily pursuit.

We enter this Lenten journey as individuals, but we are not alone, at the same time we enter this pilgrimage with our families and our church community. Together, we stand at the doors of repentance. Together, we knock and implore the Giver of Life to lead us from the desert of our lives into the joy of being with God.

On this journey will be able to see in the new light people around us. We will be able to listen more attentively to those in need, those less fortunate than us in our community. We will be able to walk together through trials and tribulations, assist and help each other. We will be able to live our Christian vocation to preach the “Good News” of Christ in our lives. We and our communities will become welcoming and hospitable both for its faithful and for strangers. We will manifest this spirit of service toward those who are closest to us, to our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, to fellow parishioners, and even to total strangers, whom we meet for the first time. Let us also remember that in our midst there are many, who have left the Church for a variety of reasons, or they don’t attend simply because no one has ever said to them: “Come and see!” (John 1:46). Let us invite them to start this Lenten journey together.

Great Lent is a perfect time to strive to live for our church community in unity. It is a time for our community to be resplendent with evangelical joy and godly life. Our spiritual life will be a sign of God’s presence in the world, through our prayer and our service to others. This Lenten journey allows us to touch all aspects of our inner life, our church community and in a broader sense encompasses the fullness of Christian life. Let us be not afraid and with joy enter this Lenten pilgrimage which will lead us from darkness to the joy and brightness of Christ’s Resurrection.

May God bless our Lenten pilgrimage toward the glorious Feast of the Resurrection!