Preparing for Lent Fr. Seraphim (Aldea)

And so we begin. We begin this journey of ours

towards the resurrection. And from the very beginning,

from the onset of everything, Christ puts before

us what is at stake. And it is very important

to pay attention to that. We begin. this time

of preparation and we are being told from the

very beginning what we are preparing for. And

that is we are preparing for the last judgment.

We are preparing our state, our being, our eternal

fate as it shall be decided at the last judgment.

Nothing less than that. Lent is not about being

kinder in a general way to people. Lent is not

about a diet of sorts. Lent is about nothing

but the eternal outcome of our life here on earth.

And it's important, I think, especially for us

today to remember this, because in a strange,

perverse way, I think we've become a bit too

civilized to talk about the final judgment. or

to talk about the devil, or to talk about condemnation.

We've become so nuanced or so complex, so full

of ourselves ultimately, that these have become

antiquated notions, something that has to do

with times long past that do not affect us anymore.

I remember once when I was traveling to the south

of England. and there was a tiny beautiful church

where they had just discovered underneath the

many layers of whitewash they had discovered

the iconography that was hiding behind the oldest

layer that was hidden by the local people at

the reformation they refused to take it down

as it had been commanded to them and instead

they just covered it with whitewash and they'd

forgotten it was there And I've asked the local

minister about that. And I said, without any

intention of any sorts to look for an argument.

You know, it's beyond arguments at this point.

But how does it sit within yourself to preach

against iconography in a church where you're

surrounded by iconography? So it is so obvious

that your ancestors clearly used icons in their

prayer life. And the answer was, we now know

better. And with that, a chasm, a cut between

true faith, true Christianity, and what they

are experiencing today was created. And in a

subtle way, although we don't actually allow

ourselves to say it. The same thing I've seen

in confession amongst the Orthodox Church. Slowly,

slowly, the devil is managing to trick us into

thinking that he's nothing but the creation of

our minds, a figment of our own imagination.

And so we become almost ashamed when we give

witness to our faith. to include things such

as the devil or the idea of a judgment, an actual

moment of judgment when people are going to be

split between those who are righteous and those

who are sinful, between those who go into heavens

in eternity and those who go into hell for eternity.

We've become too complex somehow. Much better.

We know much better today so we can leave aside

these antiquated notions. And yet here we are

in the Orthodox Church this year like every single

year of the 2 ,000 that have passed since Christ's

crucifixion, with the Church teaching us that

the entry into Lent is bringing back before our

minds this central truth that the time will come

for every single one of us to face God's judgment.

and that there are two possible outcomes as clear

as black and white. This is what the Church places

before our eyes today. And as it does that, it

also places before our eyes what I was trying

to tell you yesterday, the height of our calling

at the end of that judgment and the depth of

what it means to fail that calling. When Christ

says to those on the right side that they've

done the right thing, he says, go now into the

kingdom which has been prepared for you since

the creation of the world. And it's in those

words that you see the aim, the purpose for which

God has created us. When he created the first

human being, and in that first human being, all

of us, The purpose, the aim, was to join this

kingdom of heaven which was created for us from

the creation of the world. And the depth of the

failure to fulfill that calling in ourselves

is also in this gospel today. We shall join the

demons who go in the darkness prepared for them.

Mind you, Christ doesn't say it was a darkness

that was prepared for us, but for the devil.

And he doesn't even say that it's a darkness

that was prepared for the devil since the creation

of the world. Because when God created the devil,

the devil was supposed in God's hope and love

to join him with everything he created in that

kingdom. It's because of the free will which

was badly exercised by the devil that darkness

had to be created, not with the creation of the

world, but later on after the fall of the evil

one. We learn today with no uncertain terms that

there is a judgment awaiting us. We learn today

that God's hope for us, the purpose of his creation

is there from the very beginning to join him,

to be one with him in that kingdom prepared for

us from the moment of creation. And we learn

that to fail that is to join the devil in the

darkness created for him, not for us. And we

also learn what is the criterion. What is that

one thing that will work as the criterion that

will spin some of us to Christ's right side and

others to the left side? And that is love. It

is so clear. It is love in no high philosophical

terms. Love manifested in any way that is available

to us. From a good word to a good meal. to visiting

someone who's in prison, to giving some comfort

to those who are in pain, who are grieving, who

are in bereavement. Love. Not self -fulfillment.

Not a love that builds you up, but a love, if

you pay attention, that means doing something

for the other. As Saint Silouan... puts it much,

much clearer for our minds today. Our brother

or our sister is our salvation or our perdition.

If we go through life trying to simply affirm

ourselves and to use the others to affirm ourselves,

there's no sacrificial love in there. There's

nothing done for the other. Pay attention to

the examples that are placed before us today.

It's all about love manifested for the sake of

another. It's always doing something for another.

It's always taking something of yourself, your

time, your mood, because you're not always in

the mood to help someone. You're not always strong

enough yourself to be able to strengthen someone

else. But you have to take from yourself, even

when it doesn't come easy, and even when you

don't have it, because God will give it to you.

You have to take from yourself your mood, your

food, your time, and give it, sacrifice it for

the other. And I know that from my monastery.

I know that without always creating space, by

denying myself space, so that the others of my

community can find who they are, so that they

can become the holy people God created them to

be, without me doing that, I fail in my obedience

towards God. And you, because I imagine most

of you are married, know that from your own marriages.

If your marriage becomes about you, affirming

yourself through the other, that is no longer

a marriage anyway. A marriage, if you remember,

you have all walked around that holy table with

the gospel, singing to the holy martyrs. Not

any other saints, but the martyrs. Because through

marriage, each spouse is martyred for the salvation.

The affirmation of the other one, the brother

and the sister that has become a spouse. There

are, and I'll finish with this, there are two

dynamics in this world. They've always been here

and they will be here until the end of time.

There's a dynamic of salvation and there's a

dynamic of perdition, of destruction. Christ,

when you look at the world as seen through Christ's

eyes and you pick and choose of the truth, you

select that which fits you and you let aside

that that doesn't fit you, that troubles you

or pains you or challenges you, then you are

not joining the dynamics of salvation. The dynamics

of salvation is to pick and choose of yourself

that which fits the description of a holy man

or a holy woman, and to fight against those parts

of yourself that do not fit that description,

that vision. One dynamics is us striving our

whole life to become God -like. to join that

image, to make us grow into the image of God.

And the other dynamic is to try to make God and

those around us and the world fit our own fallen

image. And if we become like God, we shall join

God in the kingdom. If we become like the world,

we shall join the world into its fallenness.

We start today the journey towards the cross,

my dear ones, towards the cross and nothing else.

Without allowing that cross to crucify who you

are in this world, you'll never learn who you

are in the resurrection. Because there is no

other gate, there is no other path towards the

light. of the resurrection except the darkness

and the suffering of the cross. I pray that when

the time comes your Christ is risen here and

our Christ is risen far far away in the Scottish

Isles will sound strong and powerful and will

be heard all the way up to heavens, and even

more importantly, all the way down to hell, bringing

the good news of the resurrection and a hope

of salvation, even to those who are trapped down

there in that pain. Amen, my dear ones. Amen.