February 25th, 2026: Remarks after Clean Week Presanctified Fr Lawrence

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Before we do the dismissal, let me express my

gratitude to the singers and to the servers,

and especially to God who has led us to this

day and fed us, nourished us, our souls and bodies

with his most immaculate life -giving. glorified

body and blood. What could stand between us and

God after that? In the hymns, we are then asked

to fulfill the commandments. You heard some hymns.

These are hard to do. We're only starting Lent,

so maybe we trip up a little bit right now before

we can... do with that first hymn in tone 8 that

the choir sang, to follow through with something

like that. It says, let us fast, not just with

the body, but spiritually. Most of what we do

is driven by some kind of internal process, an

internal, sometimes an obsession, an impulse.

That statement, let us fast not only with the

body but spiritually, is so that we tame that.

And then it says, because we can fast, because

we fast, then we have something to give to the

poor. It was very insistent about that. It says,

let us feed the hungry. We try to do that. We

try as a parish to do that. But this is asking

us as individuals, servants of God, who carry

the body and blood of Christ within them to do

that. Feed the hungry. And even the thing which

we'll find totally impossible to do, give shelter

to those who have no place. This is not an easy

task. Most of us would find every excuse, me

included, to not do that. We have to find a way

to actually carry out that commandment in some

way. I don't know how that's going to be done.

Each of you, before God, can figure that out.

And then it says in that hymn to tear up every

contract. In other words, this is where it gets

really hard. All the loans, anything that anybody

owes you, gone. Any blame, any money, any property,

any situation, you give it all away. What this

is asking you to do is what in the Old Testament

law, the Jubilee celebration asks the faithful

to do. Let the land, this land set aside. If

anybody owes you anything, all debts totally

forgiven. And all of those things that I just

mentioned, that happens every what? Is it 49

years? 49 years. We're asked to do that every

year. It's just a part of being Christian. This

is like the power and the adventure, the excitement,

the fire of being a Christian is find how to

do those things because the Lord himself has

done that for us. Here we are. We're sheltered

in this beautiful church. We're nourished, we're

fed, although we are poor and destitute and unworthy,

the Lord feeds us and enlightens us. And each

one of you that received communion tonight, I

remember Father Meletius Weber, the Archimandrite

Meletius, saying this at a diocesan assembly,

when you receive holy communion, this is an act

of theosis. Your heart, your soul, is becoming

like Christ. Do we have room in there for that

to happen? Only if we fulfill those commandments.

It's not about doing it. It's about doing it

with the Spirit of God. Enlightening us so that

we can do it in a joyful way. So it becomes a

natural thing. A natural thing. Like Adam and

Eve were told to have dominion, lordship over

the fish of the sea. We go out with a hook to

try and catch something that doesn't want to

come to us. But those that are saintly, everything

around them is in harmony. So let our struggle

this Lent be to just keep the basic commandments,

and maybe God will give us more. Let's start

simple. That's why that hymn was so great. It

just said, do these things. This is how Christians

are if you want to be the child of the Heavenly

Father. The blessing of the Lord and his mercy

be upon you, through his divine grace and love

for mankind, always, now and ever and unto ages

and ages. Amen. Glory to thee, O Christ, our

hope. Glory be to thee. Glory to the Father,

and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.